Faculty

Malitta Engstrom, Ph.D.

Malitta Engstrom

Malitta Engstrom is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Service Administration. She is also a member of the Associate Faculty at the Chicago Center for Family Health and a Faculty Affiliate with the Graduate Program in Health Administration and Policy, the Center for Health and the Social Sciences, and the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy. Her fields of special interest include women and families affected by substance use problems and co-occurring concerns, such as trauma, physical and mental health problems, and incarceration; multigenerational social work practice with families; linking research and practice; and advanced quantitative methods.

Professor Engstrom was recently granted a competitive Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholars Award to design and pilot-test a family-oriented intervention with grandmothers and mothers affected by maternal incarceration and substance use problems. Her current research also includes examinations of relationships between trauma, substance use, mental health and HIV risk among women in methadone treatment; and exploration of the ways in which social service providers think about and address substance use issues in their direct practice with clients. In addition to the John A. Hartford Foundation, Professor Engstrom’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and by institutional programs at the University of Chicago

Professor Engstrom teaches two courses in the Master’s program: “Social Intervention: Direct Practice,” the two-quarter direct practice foundation course; and “Family Systems: Health and Mental Health,” an advanced clinical practice course in the Family Systems sequence. Professor Engstrom brings nearly a decade of direct practice experience in the social services to her scholarship and teaching. This experience includes working with individuals, couples and families affected by trauma, substance use problems, mental illness, HIV, and incarceration—often as various combinations of co-occurring concerns; providing clinical supervision; and developing programs. Professor Engstrom is a Consulting Editor of Social Work: A Journal of the National Association of Social Workers and a Leadership Council Member of the Midwest Harm Reduction Institute.

Before joining the SSA faculty, Professor Engstrom was a research scientist in a collaborative position with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She has taught “Direct Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups” and “Advanced Clinical Practice with Families and Children” at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Professor Engstrom has also provided field instruction for students from Columbia University, Antioch College, and Sacred Heart University.

Professor Engstrom received her Ph.D. in Social Work with distinction from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. As an NIMH National Research Service Awardee, she focused on mental health services research in her doctoral studies. Professor Engstrom also holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Columbia University School of Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Professor Engstrom received her undergraduate degree from Brown University with an A.B. in Educational Studies (with honors) and in Women’s Studies.