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Eileen Brennan
Eileen
M.
Brennan,
Ph.D.
Biography:
Eileen Muench Brennan is an Associate Dean and Professor of Social Work at Portland State University. Dr. Brennan and her colleague Dr. Julie Rosenzweig serve as Co-Principal Investigators of the Work-Life Integration Project at the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health (RTC). For the past 14 years, they have been pursuing an ongoing program of research at the RTC which is funded by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Their research projects have examined the challenges faced by employed parents of children and adolescents who have emotional or behavioral disorders, and the strategies the families have used to meet these challenges. The current Work-Life Integration project focuses on improving the extent to which families have awareness of and access to employment-based supports. Through a series of focus groups of family members and human resource professionals, and a major survey of the membership of WorldatWork and the Alliance for Work-life Progress, the Work-Life Integration research team has examined paths to gaining access to workplace supports including flexible work arrangements, use of family medical leave, workplace-based crisis plans, and employee assistance programs. The results of the research program have been reported in the popular press, most recently in the Wall Street Journal. A developmental psychologist, Dr. Brennan has also examined the importance to families of the successful inclusion of children with mental health difficulties in child care through the Models of Inclusion in Child Care project, funded by NIDRR as part of the RTC. Child care administrators, staff, and family members were interviewed in this national study of model child care centers. The interviews revealed that stable and inclusive child care arrangements for children with emotional or behavioral disorders were an important source of family support. The author of monographs, book chapters, and articles related to work-life integration for parents of children with disabilities, Dr. Brennan has presented the results of the research team’s studies at numerous regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Brennan and Dr. Rosenzweig are co-authors of the forthcoming book, Supporting Families of Children with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders: Achieving Work-life Integration in the Community. Expertise: Families with Disabilities/Special Needs; Child Care; Diversity and Inclusion; Community, Work and Family; Work/life Integration
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