SuperTalk to Broadcast Live from USM on August 6 Promoting Child Advocacy Studies

Wed, 07/31/2024 - 06:01am | By: Karelia Pitts

SuperTalk Mississippi Media will broadcast live from The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) Hattiesburg campus for 12 hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, in partnership with the School of Social Work at Southern Miss and the Children's Advocacy Centers of Mississippi (CACM).  

Throughout the day, interviews on SuperTalk will promote CACM’s Child Advocacy Studies Training (CAST) program while sharing information about workforce development in Mississippi to improve the response and investigation of child abuse. 

“We are thrilled to partner with CACM to bring SuperTalk Radio to our campus! USM was the first school in the state to offer the CAST minor in 2017, and we produced the first CAST graduate several years ago, so promoting child abuse awareness and prevention is a huge mission of our program,” said Rachel Lahasky, coordinator for USM’s Bachelor of Social Work degree. “We are proud to welcome advocates from across the state, including faculty and students from our Southern Miss campus, to promote this important mission. We hope our local community will tune in next Tuesday to support us!” 

Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi provides training, funding, technical assistance and leadership on a statewide level to ensure professionals are prepared to identify and respond to reports of child abuse. The CAST initiative is a part of their mission to revolutionize  

Mississippi’s response to child abuse through leadership, innovation and education.  

CAST curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary, ethical, trauma-informed, realistic and culturally proficient content that provides professionals with a foundation for responding to child maltreatment. With more CAST programs than any other state in America, Mississippi is leading the national initiative to expand experiential learning opportunities for college students related to child protection. 

“CACM offers consistent training and support for professionals to enhance and empower workers in their day-to-day environments. What those of us in the field have known for a long time is that most professionals learn how to respond to complex child abuse cases on the job,” said Karla Steckler Tye, chief executive officer of CACM. “CAST is an opportunity for us to create a better prepared workforce by allowing students to receive practical knowledge on the dynamics of abuse and how to respond to those cases through a multidisciplinary team response prior to graduating college. This will truly be a changemaker for the child welfare field in Mississippi, so we are excited to partner with USM through this awareness event to share information about CAST and the impact this curriculum is having on our state.” 

With a vision to transform Mississippi and defeat child abuse, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi is a non-profit, membership organization that supports and advocates on behalf of children’s advocacy centers and teams statewide. The organization promotes a multidisciplinary team approach to ensure that felony child abuse cases in Mississippi have a systematic response for investigation and intervention. 

Learn more about Children’s Advocacy Centers of Mississippi. Learn more about USM’s School of Social Work and their CAST offerings.