Public Health Social Work Coordinator
Oklahoma State Department of Health
James Craig is the Public Health Social Work Coordinator in the Maternal and Child Health Service (MCH) at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. He is also co-lead of the Infant Safe Sleep Workgroup and Maternal Mood Disorders workgroup. He is a licensed clinical social worker, and has been a professional social worker for the past twelve years.
James’ professional experience started in child welfare working through investigative casework, family reunification and permanency, and ending his time as a supervisor of a group of child welfare caseworkers. He then transitioned into clinical social work, working as a clinical therapist in inpatient and home-based mental health for several years before entering into public health social work. James began his first foray into public health at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department working in the Health at School program where he collaborated with a set of targeted schools focusing on enhancing family engagement, and worked collaboratively with teachers to create supportive environments and co-creating a curriculum that focused on the social and emotional well-being of the students.
He began his current role with the Oklahoma State Department of Health in April of 2017, and has been working to promote the efforts of the Child & Adolescent Health Division as well as the Perinatal and Reproductive Health Division within Maternal and Family Health at the state level. In his role as infant safe sleep coordinator, this has included working with 29 hospitals across the state on implementing infant safe sleep policies and practices; while working with the same entities, OBGYNs, community partners, mental health providers, and others on implementing education and screening for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs).
Recognizing fathers as a vital part of the fabric of the family, James worked with his colleagues in MCH, Ira Farley and Tony Fleshman, to create a pilot program for a fatherhood initiative at the Oklahoma State Department of Health in 2018. The program is designed to be a structure for stakeholders at the county level to focus on the fathers they see as in need of building stronger engagement in their lives with their children, and working on being the best co-parent they can be.