Elspeth Slayter

Dr. Slayter is a Professor in the School of Social Work who does disability services research related to addictions and child welfare. 

She teaches social welfare policy, research, evaluation, internship seminar, disability practice and forensic social work courses at Salem State since 2005. Dr. Slayter has also taught practice evaluation at Simmons University’s School of Social Work, introductory social welfare policy at Boston College’s School of Social Work and a course on qualitative research methods for public policy research at the United Nations University-MERIT program in the Netherlands.

Dr. Slayter coordinates the School of Social Work's Certificate on Equity-Minded Practice, a partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. She is the co-founder of #SWEduActs, a national group focused on anti-racist practice in social work education. Dr. Slayter co-facilitates the NASW-MA Disability Justice Shared Interest Group.

Dr. Slayter obtained both a master’s and doctoral degree in social welfare policy from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University where her scholarship focused on the disability and health policy arenas.  During her time at Heller, Dr. Slayter was a pre-doctoral trainee supported by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) and an American Fellow supported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW).  Dr. Slayter received her Master’s degree in social work at New York University in 1995 after completing her undergraduate work in history (with a focus on women’s studies, medical history and medical anthropology) at Macalester College in 1990.

Prior to her doctoral work, between 1995-2000, Dr. Slayter practiced as a forensic social worker in a variety of court-based settings in New York City. These settings included Washington Square Legal Services, where Dr. Slayter partnered with New York University law students in the co-representation of parents charged with child abuse and/or neglect. Dr. Slayter went on to work as a social worker and educational consultant for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division in Brooklyn, where she partnered with guardians ad litem in the representation of children on cases related to child protection, juvenile justice and special education law. Dr. Slayter also worked as a social worker in partnership with public defenders at The Bronx Defenders, an early adopter of the “holistic advocacy” model of criminal defense. In the Bronx, Dr. Slayter developed a special interest in the behavioral health concerns of people with disabilities (especially people with intellectual disabilities).

Dr. Slayter’s research has been published in a range of peer-reviewed journals.  Additionally, Dr. Slayter has presented her research at a range of domestic and international conferences in both sociology, social work, psychology and public health.

Elspeth Slayter's Google Scholar page

Elspeth Slayter's Academia.edu page

Elspeth Slayter's Researchgate page

Dr. Slayter’s research agenda addresses addiction treatment and child welfare services research related to the disability community in the following areas:

–Implementation of the “dignity of risk” concept for people with disabilities in community life

–Access to care, quality of care and pathways to and through addiction treatment and child welfare services for the disability community in the United States

–Human service workforce development in the disability and child welfare sectors

–Child protection social work with immigrant children and families in the United States (with Dr. Katrin Kriz, Emmanuel College)

--Addiction and substance use disorder concerns for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (with Dr. Marc Copersino, McLean Hospital/Harvard University)

ACADEMIC SERVICE – SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY

2022-2023

Interim Associate Graduate Program Coordinator, School of Social Work

2021-present

Faculty Support Coordinator, School of Social Work

2020-present

Chair, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, School of Social Work

January-June 2020

Acting chair, School of Social Work

2016 – 2019

Member, Working Group on Racial Justice (university-wide)

2008 – present

Chair, Technology & Communications Committee, School of Social Work

2018 – 2020

Chair, Graduate Curriculum Committee, School of Social Work

2016 – 2017

Member, Faculty Search Committee, School of Social Work

2015 – 2017

Member and Chair, Institutional Review Board Committee (university-wide)

2015 – present

Member, ADA/504 Committee, (university-wide)

2015 – 2017

Member, NEASC Standard II Sub-Committee, (university-wide)

2014-2019

Chair, Assessment Task Force, School of Social Work

BOOKS

Slayter, E. and Johnson, L., Eds. (2023). Social work practice and the disability community: An intersectional anti-oppressive approach.  Pressbooks.

Slayter, E. (2020). A primer on social work practice evaluation: How to participate in the process of evidence-based practice. Pressbooks.

PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES: 2019-PRESENT

Johnson, L., Slayter, E., Flynn, S. and Thomas, C. (2024-in press). Attention to Disability in Child Protection Policies across Four Liberal Welfare Regimes. Journal of Public Child Welfare.

Singh, R., Yakas, L., Wernick, L., Kattari, S., Slayter, E. and Taylor, S. (2024-in press). Anti-ableist and disability justice pedagogies in social work education. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare.

Goldkind, L., Slayter, E., Parga, J., & Shelley, P. (2023-in press) It all started with a Tweet: Calling White social work educators in - to a professional learning community. Reflections: A journal of professional helping. Volume and issue to be determined. 

Simmons, L.D., Slayter, E., & Johnson, L. (2023-in press). Using anti-racist, equity-minded lens in assessment of teaching and learning. Social Work Education. 

Slayter, E. (2023-in press). Tough nuts to crack: Initiating an imperfect racial justice accountability process within one School of Social Work from one perspective. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping. Volume and issue to be determined. 

Flynn, S., Slayter, E., Johnson, L., & Thomas, C. (2023). Cut from the same cloth: A comparative policy content analysis of disability in child protection and welfare policies within Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. Child and Youth Services Review. Volume and issue to be determined. 

Slayter, E., Kattari, S. K., Yakas, L., Singh, R. C. B., Goulden, A., Taylor, S., Wernick, L. J., Simmons, L. D., & Prince, D. (2023). Beyond Ramps, Curb Cuts, and Captions: A Call for Disability Justice in Social Work. Social Work, 68(1), 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac045

Thomas, C., Flynn, S., Slayter, E., & Johnson, L. (2023). Disability, Intersectionality, Child Welfare and Child Protection: Research Representations. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 25(1), 45–64. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/sjdr.963

Copersino, M., Slayter, E., McHugh, K., Shedlack, K., Scott, L., & Weiss, R. (2022). Clinical utility of a hybrid secondary and relapse prevention program in adults with mild intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning in community residential and day habilitation settings. Disability and Health 5(2S):101293. Doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2022.101293. 

Leotti, S., & Slayter, E. (2022). Criminal legal systems and the disability community: An overview. Social Sciences, . 11(:225). .https://doi.org/ 10.3390/socsci11060255 

Slayter, E., Kattari, S. K., Yakas, L., Singh, R. C. B., Goulden, A., Taylor, S., Wernick, L. J., Simmons, L. D., & Prince, D. (2023). Beyond Ramps, Curb Cuts, and Captions: A Call for Disability Justice in Social Work.?Social Work,?68(1), 89–92. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac045 

Johnson, L., Slayter, E., & Livingstone, A. (2020). Disability, race and ethnicity: An exploration of adoption outcomes among foster children. Adoption Quarterly,. 23(:2),  110-134. DOI: 10.1080/10926755.2020.1719252 

Slayter, E., & Jensen, J. (2019). Parents with intellectual disabilities in the child protection system. Children & Youth Services Review,. 98,: 297-304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.01.013

PEER-REVIEWED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: 2019-PRESENT

Goldkind, L., Parga, J. & Slayter, E. (2023). Social work faculty utilizing peer support to explore and practice their anti-racist pedagogy. Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting. Atlanta, GA.

Goulden, A., Singh, R. & Slayter, E. (2023). Accounting for Ableism: A Content Analysis of Disability Related Mentions in Prominent Journals. Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting. Atlanta, GA.

Parga, J., Goldkins, L. & Slayter, E. (2023). #SWEduActs: Creating virtual spaces for faculty to connect, develop, and practice anti-racist pedagogy. Social Work Distance Education 2023 Virtual Conference. https://www.ollusa.edu/worden-school/swde/index.html 

Erle, S. & Slayter, E. (2022). Providing Reasonable Accommodations Toto Disabled Parents Inin Child Welfare Cases: How To Implement The Law. National Association of Social Workers – Massachusetts Annual Symposium. April 28, 2022. https://www.naswma.org/page/symposium2023workshops 

Chase, B., Partridge, J. & Slayter, E. (2022). How To Build Anan Accessible Social Work Practice Through A Disability Justice Lens. National Association of Social Workers – Massachusetts Annual Symposium. April 27, 2022. https://www.naswma.org/page/symposium2023workshops 

Slayter, E. (2022). Navigating The Dignity Of Risk: Substance Use And People With Intellectual Developmental Disorder. National Association of Social Workers – Massachusetts Annual Symposium. April 28, 2022. https://www.naswma.org/page/symposium2023workshops 

Slayter, E. , Parga, J. & Goldkind, L. (2022). Infusing Anti-Racist Pedagogy in your Teaching: Peer Support with #SWEduActs. Council on Social Work Education. Anaheim, California. November 9-13, 2022. https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/8c000804-1df9-4da5-8d19-3f2438752276/2022APM_FinalProgram.pdf?lang=en-US 

Slayter, E. (2022). Infusing an Evidence-Based Practice Theoretical Framework Into Research ?Courses: Revising to Foster Student Engagement. Council on Social Work Education. ?Anaheim, California. November 9-13, 2022. ?https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/8c000804-1df9-4da5-8d19-?3f2438752276/2022APM_FinalProgram.pdf?lang=en-US 

Thomas, C., Flynn, S., Slayter, E. & Johnson, L. (2022). Disability, Intersectionality, and Child Protection: A Scoping Review. IPSCAN. Tallinn, Estonia, June 13-16, 2022. https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/disability-intersectionality-and-child-protection-a-scoping-revie 

Kessler, Z., Slayter, E., Earner, I., & Telitsyna, A. (2022). Using a cultural lens to look at the position of disabled social orphans in post-Soviet Latvia. IPSCAN. Tallinn, Estonia, June 13-16, 2022.  

Slayter, E. (2021). Civic virtues related to the conduct of disability social work in the American context. Research on Civic?virtues?from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: Past and Present. National Research University. Moscow, Russian Federation. November 30, 2021. 

Simmons, L., Slayter, E. & Johnson, L. (2021). Using an antiracist, equity-minded lens in assessment of teaching and learning. Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting. Orlando, Florida. November 5, 2021. https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/e36f3d50-043f-48ce-b4b9-d10b6c6a9d19/2021APM_FinalProgramWEB_(150).pdf?lang=en-US 

Singh, R., Johnson, L. & Slayter, E. (2021). Disability social work: Connecting critical cultural competence, intersectionality and anti-oppressive practice. Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting. Orlando, Florida. November 5, 2021. https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/e36f3d50-043f-48ce-b4b9-d10b6c6a9d19/2021APM_FinalProgramWEB_(150).pdf?lang=en-US 

Copersino, M. & Slayter, E. (2019a). Clinical utility of an alcohol and drug refusal skills group in individuals with borderline mild to moderate intellectual disability. McLean Hospital. January 30th, 2019. https://participate.salemstate.edu/file/files-for-emails/SSU-Social-Work-spring-2020-newsletter.pdf 

Copersino, M. & Slayter, E. (2019b). Pilot study examining the clinical utility of an alcohol and drug refusal skills group in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and borderline mild to moderate intellectual disability. McLean Hospital. January 30th, 2019. https://participate.salemstate.edu/file/files-for-emails/SSU-Social-Work-spring-2020-newsletter.pdf 

Working hard to maintain my tentative Turkish, rusty Russian, finicky French and so-so Spanish language skills!