Kenta Asakura
Founding Director
| Degrees: | MSW (Smith College), Ph.D. (Toronto) |
| Email: | kasakura@smith.edu |
| CV: | View |
| Website: | School of Social Work Profile |
As a licensed/registered clinical social worker, Dr. Kenta Asakura has spent the last 20 years working with a variety of marginalized client groups in the USA and Canada, such as queer and trans* people, newcomers, and youth and families involved in the child welfare system. His clinical practice took place in outpatient mental health, residential treatment, settlement services, youth centres, and most recently in private practice. Kenta was first introduced to simulation-based education while working on his PhD at the University of Toronto, where he had opportunities to train under Professor Marion Bogo, Officer of the Order of Canada and a pioneer in simulation-based social work education. Building on the questions that emerged out of his education and clinical practice, Kenta is committed to revitalizing education and practice of clinical social work through simulation-based research.
During his seven years (2015-2022) at Carleton University’s School of Social Work as an associate professor, Kenta founded the SIM Social Work Research Lab. Now, at Smith College School for Social Work (Massachusetts, USA), he currently chairs the Practice sequence of the MSW program. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Smith College Studies in Social Work, a peer-review journal dedicated to advancing clinical social work practice, education and research. He continues integrating simulation in his research and education. Read more about his work at Smith College here.