Pablo Arriaza, MSW, PhD, LCSW

Pablo Arriaza, MSW, PhD, LCSW

Associate Professor 
Anderson Hall, Room 404A
parriaza@wcupa.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Degrees

  • BS, Psychology: Florida State University
  • MSW: Florida State University
  • PhD, Social Work: University of Alabama

Main areas of interest

  • Bilingual social work practice
  • End-of-life care and bereavement social work with linguistically isolated individuals
  • Clinical social work supervision

Inspiration

I am a social worker because I believe in the mission of our profession. I believe in the next generation of social workers who continue translating the core values of our profession into interventions focused on addressing societal needs across the lifespan. Social workers hold core values that place human dignity, social justice, and integrity at the center. After 24 years of social work practice and 11 years of teaching, I have many real-life examples to share with students that helped me grow as a social worker, scholar, and researcher. I enjoy teaching social work because it is both a science and an art which intersect in a critical place to enhance students’ capacity, critical thinking, and self-awareness.

I strive to find innovative, creative, evidence-based, and expressive ways to teach across the social work curriculum. I do so by infusing my extensive clinical practice skills, vast international and life experiences, but most of all by being aware of students’ learning needs. To be most effective, teaching needs to be bidirectional and reciprocal. In other words, learning is not a unilateral process, but a dynamic, interwoven, and multi-systemic process placing both the student and the teacher at the center of the interaction. Consequently, many aspects of social work practice parallel this same process of person-centered and reflective practice approaches. I enjoy walking along with students, side by side, as I encourage and show them how to look at the world from different perspectives and question reality and the truth.

Bilingual social work practice

Presentations

  • Arriaza, P. (2016, October). Negotiating "insider / outsider" dynamics in bilingual social work practice: The experiences of four bilingual social workers. Keynote paper presentation at the meeting of the Latino Social Workers Organization, Chicago, IL.
  • Arriaza, P. (2014, October). "I am bilingual": Language self-efficacy beliefs among Spanish-speaking social workers. Paper presented at the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, Tampa, FL.
  • Arriaza, P. (2011, April). “Si, of course hablo español”: Self-perceived language abilities and professional needs of Spanish-speaking social workers. Presentation at the meeting of the Latino Social Workers Organization, Chicago, IL.
  • Arriaza, P. (2011, April). Professional needs of bilingual social workers: A roundtable discussion. Roundtable discussion at the meeting of the Latino Social Workers Organization, Chicago, IL.
  • Arriaza, P. (2011, January). Cross-cultural community-based participatory action qualitative research: Social workers’ ethical and methodological challenges. Presentation at themeeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, Tampa, FL.

Publications

End-of-life care and bereavement social work with linguistically isolated individuals

Publications

Additional areas of research

 Presentations

  • Arriaza, P., Dutton, S., & Simpson, D.B. (2016, November). Eco-systemic, integral practice in military social work across all military service trajectories. Paper presented at the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
  • Arriaza, P. (2011, October). Responding to the needs of military families. Presentation at the University of New Hampshire Outreach Center Speaker Series, Dover, NH.

Additional projects