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Thomas McLaughlin

Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin, M.S.W., Ph.D.

Professor

Co-Director for the Social Work Center for Research and Evaluation

Location

NONE
Portland Campus
Eligible for Student Opportunities

Born and raised in rural Maine town with no traffic lights and a limited number of stop signs, Tom is a consummate Mainer. Tom savors all things Maine which are loosely defined by the four seasons of "sea scallop season"; "maple syrup season"; "raspberry season" and, of course, "apple picking season". 

Tom is humbled by the Maine accent in his speech as it reminds him of his sense of place, where he comes from.  However, Tom’s international colleagues and friends from away claim he is saving his “r’s” for later in life.

Two Mainers who Tom considers to be heroes are Francis Perkins, the longest serving Secretary of Labor in US history and Marjorie Standish whose cookbooks "Cooking the Maine Way" and "Keep Cooking the Maine Way" provide a daily source of inspiration.

Tom's has been fortunate that his research and teaching has taken him all over the world. He has taught classes to graduate MBA students under a Banyan tree in Nitte, India-(a huge honor reserved for special guests), trudged across a Finnish college campus in snow to a meet and colleague and discuss the concept of “social exclusion” in Seinajoki-(they have never heard of the concept of cancelling school or a meeting because of snow and he had never heard of the term social exclusion); and taught a class to Czech social work students on the “ism’s” associated with capitalism after visiting Dina Babbitt exhibit in Brno.-(Babbitt, a holocaust survivor and amazing painter)

Tom and his wife enjoy the sport of triathlon racing and can often be found running and biking the streets of Portland and beyond and swimming in Casco Bay.

Credentials

Education

PhD
Union Institute and University
2004
MSW
Թϱ
1997
BA
University of Southern Maine
1993
A.A.S.
Southern Maine Community College
1985

Expertise

  • Homelessness

Research

Current research

Cost effectiveness of social services with people who are homeless; cost shifting analysis of people with mental illness from traditional funding sources to emergency care, assessment of service deliveries and systems for people with mental illness.

Selected publications

Toikko, T&, Seppala, P., & McLaughlin, T, (2022) Additional Income Support Buffers The Demand for Child Protection Services at The Municipality Level, International Journal of Social Welfare. DOI:  http://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12569 

Praveem, S., McLaughlin, T & Sankaran, K., (2022) Reverse Consumer Preference: A Case Study of Indian and American Shift towards Locally Produced Beverages, Interscience. DOI: DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2020.10030311

Ammons, D.N., & McLaughlin, T.C. (2020). Discovering servant leader relations with new followers in nonprofit organizations: Does a servant leader always serve first? Open Journal of Leadership, 6(2), 1-24.

Teemu, R, McLaughlin, T & Toikko, T., (2015), Do Finnish Young People Support the Welfare State? International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 35, issue 1, pp 47-63.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers & Bradley, Jon (2014), Preble Street Florence House:  How Research and Advocacy Made it Possible in Clark (eds) Homelessness: Prevalence, Impact of Social Factors & Mental Health Challenges, Nova Publishers, New York

Other scholarly activity

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, 2012, Strategic Plan to End Homelessness, City of Portland, Maine.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, 2012, Sexual Exploitation of Homeless Youth:  What We know, Preble Street.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, 2012, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program Evaluation, City of Portland, Maine

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers & Butler, Sandy, 2011, TANF study.  Funded by Maine Equal Justice Project, www.mejp.org

Mondello, M, Bradley, J. and Chalmers-McLaughlin, T. 2009 Statewide Cost of Homelessness Study, funded by the Corporation for Supported Housing and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Funded grants

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers (2020) Follow up evaluation of State of Maine Child Welfare Prevention programs, funded by the State of Maine, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers (2020), Evaluation of the Portland Anti Trafficking Coalition, US Department of Justice.

Invited plenary presentation

Bradley, Jon, Chalmers McLaughlin, Thomas (2014), Operating a low barrier teen center:  Issues and possibilities, Annual Conference on Runaway and Homeless Youth, Phoenix, AZ.

Amato, Cynthia, Chalmers McLaughlin, Thomas (2014), Moving at the Speed of Sound:  Reflections in developing an online MSW program, 5 years later, Invited presentation at the Council on Social Work Education, annual program meeting, Tampa, FL

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, Bradley, Jon (2014), Logan Place 7-Years Later.  Is it still cheaper?  Second Housing First Conference, Chicago.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers (2012), American Housing Policy:  Implications for homelessness.  Third International Conference.  Nitte, India.

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, (2012), The Cost of Doing Nothing:  Why providing housing to people who are homeless is cheaper than doing nothing.  Invited lecture at the Mandel School of Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH

McLaughlin, Thomas Chalmers, (2012), Home for Good Campaign, How Research made Florence House Happen, National Housing First Conference, New Orleans, LA, March.

Research interests

Youth and adult homelessness; social welfare program best practice and program implications; cost effectivess analysis of social service systems; collective impact of social service work; mental health policy and practice analysis; non-proft fund raising.