Lee Westgate
Lee Westgate, MSW, MBA, LCSW-C (he/ him/ his) is an out transgender advocate with more than 15 years of professional experience in social work policy, practice, research, and education. He is a board approved clinical supervisor in the state of Maryland, has held numerous organizational leadership roles, and has served as an educational consultant to a variety of associations and organizational clientele. He has served as a medical social worker in the fields of oncology, critical care, as well as in integrated behavioral health settings. Mr. Westgate has participated in a CSWE-sponsored National Trauma Task Force workgroup that focused on the intersection of ethics and trauma-informed practice, and he was awarded an immersion fellowship through Boston University to study addiction and behavioral health. Mr. Westgate continues to serve as a Clinical Instructor at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work and his scholarship includes integrated behavioral health, clinical work with LGBTQIA+ populations, working with individuals with chronic and life-threatening illness, healthcare policy, and health equity. As a faculty member, he has received numerous teaching awards and has been published in The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, The New Social Worker, The Journal of Employee Assistance, Infusion Magazine, Provider Magazine, and Social Work Today.
Wednesday Morning 2024
Unshakeable Hope in Action: Our Enduring Tradition of Caring
In his work, “September 1, 1939”, poet W.H. Auden began with, “All I have is a voice” and went on to reflect upon the power of that voice in disrupting divisive narratives spun. The divided world that we collectively occupy does not feel far away from the urgency embedded in Auden’s reflection. This divided context has a unique effect on helping professionals across all practice and service spaces – whose collective calling is intrinsically linked to community, beneficence, and connection. This makes it all the more essential helping professionals to reflect upon our expansive tradition of caring and the ways in which that tradition remains both unshakable and a mechanism to enact change during critical moments in human history. This keynote will reflect upon our collective traditions of social and political action and will explore the transformative and essential power of what it means to courageous care in the face of division.
This sessions is eligible for 1.0 CEs.