The National Catholic School of Social Service

 

Susanne Bennett, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

  

Phone:  202 319 4779
Email:   bennetts@cua.edu 

Education:

Ph.D., School for Social Work, Smith College, Northampton, MA
M.S.W., School of Social Work and Community Planning, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD
B.A., Religion, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC

 

Biographical Information:

Dr. Bennett joined the NCSSS faculty in 2003, bringing with her 28 years of clinical social work experience in the health and mental health care arenas. She has been on the faculties of Smith College School for Social Work in Northampton, MA, and VCU School of Social Work in Northern Virginia, where she taught for five years. At NCSSS, Dr. Bennett teaches Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Psychodynamic Theory, and Attachment Theory in the MSW program; in the doctoral program she teaches Advanced Qualitative Research Methods.

 

Dr. Bennett’s primary area of scholarship is the application of attachment theory and research to clinical practice, supervision, and multicultural and nontraditional families. In particular, she examines attachment processes within professional and familial caregiving. Current research projects focus on attachment patterns within the social work student-field instructor supervisory relationship. Additional research examines the ethical dilemmas and therapeutic challenges for social work professionals who use client case material in their publications and presentations. Her mixed method dissertation explored attachment processes and the presence of an attachment hierarchy in families of lesbian co-mothers with internationally adopted children.

 

Dr. Bennett has published numerous journal articles on her areas of research and is on the editorial boards of Clinical Social Work Journal and Smith Studies. She has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 1983 and maintains a private practice in adult psychotherapy and supervision. Previous professional experience includes eight years as a social worker in the NICU at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, Washington, DC.

 

Selected Publications:

Bennett, S., & Saks, L. (in press). Applications of attachment theory and research to the social work supervisory relationship. Journal of Social Work Education.

Bennett, S. (2005). Clinical writing of a therapy in progress: Ethical questions and  therapeutic challenges. Clinical Social Work Journal. DOI: 10.1007/s10615-005-0011-7.

Bennett, S. (2003). Is there a primary mom? Parental perceptions of attachment bond  hierarchies within lesbian adoptive families. Child & Adolescent Social Work  Journal, 20(3), 159-173.