rachel.forbes@tworiverscs.org

**Rachel Forbes Manwaring, MSW (she/her), **is an Associate Professor of the Practice of Social Work and the Western Colorado Master of Social Work (MSW) Program director at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. She is an appointed member of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Commission on Educational Policy, the inaugural cochair of the CSWE Committee on Environmental Justice, and a former member of CSWE’s Council on Global, Learning and Practice. Rachel was the taskforce cochair for the CSWE Curricular Guide for Environmental Justice (2020). She is co-editor of the book Ecosocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy (2023) and co-author of the book *The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community and the Ecology of Life *(2021). Rachel is an elected member of the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Board of Directors. She has taught coursework on sustainability, ecological justice, culture and place-based equity, and fostering sustainable behavior across undergraduate and graduate programs for over 10 years. Rachel’s current research and teaching looks at the impacts of climate change on mental health and ecological justice social work practice. Her work has been published in Environmental Justice and has been funded by the CSWE Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work. Rachel lives in Glenwood Springs with her husband, Shawn, and her children Dawson, Sawyer and Ella. Rachel's local service includes her Board of Directors appointments at the Our School Preschool and the Western Mountain Region Health Alliance. As a professional social worker, Rachel is dedicated to the health and well being of the Roaring Fork Valley and Colorado's Western Slope. She is an avid reader, who can be found curled up with a book in her free time or outside enjoying nature