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St. Olaf hosts international social work conference

By David Gonnerman '90
June 23, 2009

St. Olaf Professor of Social Work and Family Studies Mary Carlsen '79 recently led her department's effort to host the first international conference on the use of representational family sculpture technique in working with families.

RepFamilySculpture
Some 40 people attended the conference, called "Family Sculpting: an International Tool for Brief Assessment and Intervention," that included a keynote address by Australian psychologist Anne Hollingsworth. The conference, sponsored by the David H. and Karen Olson Endowment for Marriage and Family, also was the college's first collaboration with the National Association of Social Workers. Julie Thorsheim '63, who learned the technique from its Norwegian creator, helped organize the event.

Read more about the Olson endowment in "Family Matters" (in PDF format) from the fall 2003 issue of St. Olaf Magazine.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.