Dr. Gila Acker Presents Her Latest Research in Hungary

Kudos to Dr. Gila Acker, who recently presented her original research at a peer-reviewed conference held in Budapest, Hungary in early March!

Dr. Acker presented at the Mediterranean Region Counselors Association 2023 Conference-Budapest, under the title, “Self-care for providers.” She noted that “Self-care is an important factor in the wellness of those providing care to others. Infusing self-care strategies in education and training of service providers may reduce work stressors and increase job satisfaction and the desire to stay at the job and continue providing services to consumers.”

Asked how the invitation came about, Dr. Acker explained that she receives invitations from different professional societies regarding their annual conferences.

"Those are peer-reviewed, she said. "So I submit an abstract and wait for a possible acceptance of my abstract for presentation.”

Professor Acker said there were approximately 20 presentations, and that hers “went very well” with good attendance, including several students from Virginia, USA in attendance.

“The topic of self-care is very popular these days as professionals pay more attention to their survival at the job and minimizing burnout,” she said. “Some aspects of this research have been published and my plans for new research may include some of those ideas."

**Dr. Gila M. Acker, DSW, LCSW, is Professor of Social Work. She teaches social research and generalist social work practice courses. Her research interests include Burnout among mental health care providers, role stress, social support, social workers' attitudes toward managed care, role expectations of social work students and transphobia among helping professionals. She is certified as a Psychoanalytic oriented psychotherapist by the Long Island Institute for Mental Health. Dr. Acker received her BS degree in social work from Haifa University in Israel, MSW from Fordham University and DSW from Adelphi University. She has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals including Journal of Social Work, Social Work in Mental Health, The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work and Health & Social Work. She has received several PSC-CUNY awards, York College internal awards and an NIH grant.