Kimberly Shackelford

Education

About Me

Kimberly K. Shackelford, LCSW, is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work at Auburn University. She received her bachelor of science degree in sociology from Iowa State University, her MSW from the University of Southern Mississippi, and her PhD in leadership and higher education from the University of Mississippi. Her career has involved direct work in the field of child welfare, child welfare training, directing and curriculum development, clinical work in an adult psychiatric unit, child advocacy, and obtaining full professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Mississippi. She served as deputy director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services – Division of Family and Children’s Services for three years.

During her years at the University of Mississippi, she led a four-year service learning interdisciplinary project in Belize and developed the Mississippi Department of Human Services grant-funded Mississippi Child Welfare Training Academy. She also participated in a Children’s Bureau QIC grant through the University of Kentucky that enabled the study of child welfare supervision and the creation of supervisory learning labs for the public child welfare agency. She also was awarded the Thomas A. Crowe Outstanding Faculty Award.

Shackelford has worked on a variety of public child welfare services improvement projects in Mississippi, Nevada, Northern California, Los Angeles, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, South Africa, Belize, and Canada. Her systems analysis, organizational assessment and improvement work is centered on improvement of professional development opportunities, supervisory and leadership practices, community partnerships as well as the need to create healthy work environments with recognition of the effects of working with victims of trauma and the need for the promotion of healthy self-care practices of staff.

Shackelford is a co-author of two books with Dr. Josephine Pryce and Col. David Pryce: Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Child Welfare Professional and The Costs of Courage: Combat Stress, Warriors, and Family Survival. Her research areas are traumatic stress and also the best practices for supervision in the field of child welfare. She has several published journal articles in these areas.

Upon retirement from the State of Mississippi, after 30 years of service in various capacities to improve services to children and families, Shackelford continued to work with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi to infuse a child advocacy curriculum in public and private universities and colleges and all community colleges in Mississippi and to improve family/victim advocacy programs.

Research Interests

traumatic stress, best practices for supervision in the field of child welfare

Publications

Books

• Pryce, J., Shackelford, K., & Pryce, D. (2011). The Costs of Courage: Combat Stress, Warriors, & Family Survival. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.
• Pryce, J., Shackelford, K., & Pryce, D. (2006). Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Child Welfare Professional. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.

Published Training Manual

• Pryce, J., Shackelford, K., & Pryce, D. (2006). Secondary Traumatic Stress and the Child Welfare Professional. Training Manual for Professionals. Chicago, IL: Lyceum Books, Inc.

Book Chapter

• Shackelford, K., Sullivan, K., Harper, M., Edwards, T. (2007). Systematic case review data and child protective services outcomes: The development of a model in Mississippi. In Jones, J. and Sundet, P. (Eds.) Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative, Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press.

Dissertation

• Shackelford, K. (May, 2006). Preparation of undergraduate social work students to cope with the effects of indirect trauma. Dissertation. University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS.

Journal Articles

• Shackelford, K. (2012). Occupational hazards of work in child welfare: Direct trauma, secondary trauma and burnout. CW 360 University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare.
• Camargo, C., Shackelford, K., & Kelly, M. (2011). Collaboration research in child welfare: Rationale for rigorous participatory evaluation designed to promote sustained systems change. Child Welfare, 90(2), 69-85.
• Wright, B., & Shackelford, K. (2008). The State of Texas vs. The Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints: Child protection or abuse? Paper published in Conference Proceedings: Al-MS Social Work Educator’s Conference.
• Shackelford, K., Pryce, J., & Pryce, D. (2008). Warriors, stress, & family survival: Challenges for social work educators and students. Paper Published in Conference Proceedings: AL-MS Social Work Educator’s Conference.
• Shackelford, K., Harper, M., Sullivan, K., & Edwards, T. (2007). Systematic case review data and child protective services outcomes: The development of a model in Mississippi. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 4(3/4), 117-131.
• Shackelford, K., Sullivan, K., Harper, M., & Edwards, T. (2006). From Isolation to Teamwork: Mississippi’s Story of Cultural Change in Child Welfare. The International Journal of Continuing Social Work Education: Professional Development, 9(3), 65-77.

Documentaries

• The Road to San Mateo – 30-minute documentary of the student project in Belize. Participated in the development, script writing, editing to tell the story. Credit also goes to Jake McGraw, Taylor McGraw and Deborah Freeland. (September 2011)
• The Road to San Mateo – 5-minute documentary of the student project in Belize. Wrote the script and guided the videographer and designer (Deborah Freeland) during the process as to the needed content and story. Morgan Freeman is the narrator. (May 2012)

Webinars

• Child Welfare Supervisory Learning Labs: Enhancing Supervision to Achieve Organizational Change - Produced and delivered a webinar to Ontario Children’s Aid Society Directors and Supervisors for the University of Toronto PART (Practice and Research Together). (May 1, 2012)
• Secondary Traumatic Stress & The Child Welfare Professional: A Refresher Course – University of California at Davis Northern California Child Welfare Training Academy. Designed and wrote the script for a webinar for child welfare professionals. This is a follow-up to training that is delivered regularly for Northern California Child Welfare Training Academy on Secondary Traumatic Stress. (August 2012)