NASW-OK Member Spotlight
June 2026
Dwain Pellebon, Ph.D., LCSW, MSSW
Member Since: 1987
Why did you join NASW?
I joined NASW to strengthen my professional identity, collaborate with colleagues, contribute through presentations and scholarship, and refine my areas of expertise within an ethical and justice‑oriented framework.
What company or organization do you work at right now? If you’re retired, where did you last work?
Positive Outcomes Therapeutic Services, LLC
How has your career benefited from being a member?
My career has benefited from being a NASW member both as an academic and a clinician. It has kept me connected to high clinical standards, best practice, cultural competence, and community service.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter social work?
We are living through a period of extreme socio‑political regression. Enter this work with integrity and honor. Pay attention to signs of anti‑Blackness and to the inconsistent application of rights, benefits, and authority. When you see those cues, name them and act to restore equity.
What do you love most about social work?
What I love most about social work is its mission to pursue social justice, equity, cultural understanding, and the care of human relationships. As someone who remembers ‘For White Only’ signs in New Orleans as a child, social work has always been more than a profession — it has been a calling.
What’s a project you’re working on right now? Why is it meaningful to you?
The project I am most proud of is the Police and Community Trust Initiative (PACT) which I developed over six years to improve relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Currently I am building a public scholarship platform to make my academic work on the Multidimensional Model of Oppression, Political Distraction, Race/Ethnicity development, and the concept of Love more accessible to practitioners, students, and the public.
List any professional awards you have received: I have received the Oklahoma Alliance for Human Rights and the United Nations Association Human Rights Award. I was also awarded tenure at the University of Oklahoma, elected to the CAS Executive Committee, nominated for Academic Advisor of the Year at OU, invited to present at an Oxford University diversity conference, and gave other presentations through NASW and academic venues.
Share a fun fact about yourself!
Black, male, Ph.D., LCSW — Fun fact: I’m the only clinician in Oklahoma with this exact credential mix and one of fewer than 50 nationwide — I bring a rare, culturally informed perspective to clinical practice.
Anything else?
Beyond my professional work I am deeply grateful for my wife Maria and our four adult children, who have been the foundation in every season of life.