Anita Lightburn

M.S.S., M.Ed., Ed.D., Columbia University

B.A., Wheaton College

Mental Health and Child Welfare

Family Support, School-based Practice

Capacity Building in Faith Communities

Program Evaluation and Research

Community-based clinical practice

Dr. Anita Lightburn, is Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. She is the Director of the Beck Institute for Religion and Poverty.

Dr. Lightburn’s professional interests are in community-based clinical practice, capacity building, and evaluation research and cross national studies in children and family services. Recent work on capacity building has been in leadership development in mental health and child welfare services, and with faith communities. Program evaluations and work with community-based clinical practice has been in school-based mental health, family support, early childhood intervention and systems of care for children and adolescents with severe emotional disturbance.

Dr. Lightburn has a background in both program evaluation and intervention research, and is a founding member of the International Association of Outcome-based Evaluation and Research in Children and Family Services. Current research focuses on the application of complexity theory to community based program evaluation, particularly the dynamic of synergy as a mediating factor in change and a salient dynamic in human service partnership collaborations.

Teaching assignments in recent years include Clinical I and II, Methods of Group Intervention, Capacity Building in Faith Communities and School Social Work in the MSW Program; and Mental Health Services in the PhD program.

Publications focus on community-based clinical practice, synergy in community mental health, family support, theories of change for evaluation and practice in family centers, methods of outcome evaluation, studies of innovative mental health service programs, managed care, special needs adoption, and the social worker as educator.

Anita Lightburn and Phebe Sessions, (Eds.) (2006). Handbook of Community-Based Clinical Practice, New York: Oxford Univeristy Press.

Chapters

Anita Lightburn (2008). Synergy and generativity in social work practice. In A. Roberts, (Ed.) The Social Worker’s Desk Reference. Pp. 3 - 8. New York: Oxford University Press.

Anita Lightburn and Chris Warren-Adamson (2008) An integrated practice model for family centers. In A. Roberts, (Ed.) The Social Worker’s Desk Reference. New York: Oxford University Press.

Anita Lightburn (2008). Actualizing synergy in community mental health system of care through assessing leadership collaboration. Pp. 266-269. In C. Canali, T. Vecchiato, and J. Whittaker, (Eds.) Assessing the “Evidence-base” of Intervention for Vulnerable Children and Their Families. Padova: Italy. Fondazione Emanuela Zancan onlus.

Articles

Anita Lightburn and Chris Warren-Adamson (2006) Evaluating family centers: The importance of sensitive outcomes in cross-national studies. International Journal of Child and Family Welfare. Vol 9, pp. 11-26.

Berry, M., Brandon, M., Chaskin, R., Fernandez, E., Grietens, H., Lightburn, A., McNamara, P., Mumford, R., Palacio-Quintin, E., Sanders, J., Warren-Adamson, C., & Zeira, A. (2006) Identifying sensitive outcomes of interventions in community-based centers. International Journal of Child and Family Welfare. Vol 9, pp. 2-10.

Anita Lightburn (2006) Ending Intimate Abuse, Journal of Aggression and Violent Behavior Vol..11:5, p. 546.