Lawrence "L. Ray" McKamy

M.S.S.W., LSCSW
Practicum Coordinator, Instructor

L. Ray came to the Social Work profession later in life. A Korean War vet, he received his undergraduate degree at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, and seminary training at Brite Divinity School at TCU, subsequently serving several Central and West Texas congregations. He left the ministry to enter the Texas Department of Social Welfare in 1964, first as a caseworker, then supervisor in the Fort Worth, Texas office. After earning his Masters in Social Work from the University of Missouri in 1967, he was posted to the Dallas, Texas office as Director of Social Services for the 11-county Dallas region. It was at that time that he began his involvement with Social Work education, arranging practica for students from the University of Texas, LSU and Tulane.

In 1970, he moved to Topeka, and assumed the position of Chief Social Worker at the Kansas Neurological Institute. He began working with the University of Kansas and Washburn BSW programs, providing placements and supervision for undergraduate students. He moved to Topeka State Hospital in 1972, and in addition to his own clinical responsibilities, assumed direction of the Social Work Education program, providing practice experience for undergraduate and graduate level students. He also enjoyed his dual role as field instructor for most of those years. During that time, he served on the Social Work Licensing Study Board, to research and develop a viable Social Work licensing process. He studied with H. Peter Lacquer in the area of Multiple Family Therapy, published several papers on, and conducted workshops in MFT around the country. In 1975, he presented his paper, "Multiple Family Therapy on an Alcohol Treatment Unit", at the World Health Organization in Geneva.

Ray joined the Menninger Clinic in 1981, and, as Director of Social Work Education and Training, headed up the Menninger post-Masters Fellowship program. The Clinic utilized graduate Social Work students in various areas, and Ray continued his relationship with area universities, occasionally teaching a Family Therapy section at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. Ray also performed the following roles: He served as an adjunct instructor in the Social Work Department at Washburn, he worked with Smith College to develop a non-residential PhD program in Topeka, and he taught Family Therapy Group Dynamics and assisted in Clinical Hypnosis workshops in the Menninger School of Psychiatry.

He left Menninger in 1993 and joined his wife Liz in their private practice. At this point in his career, he takes great satisfaction in "working with the other side of the street." He continues to teach and to aid in the development of would-be Social Work professionals, this time from the academic perspective. Theatre, movies, and the adventures of his four children (industrial equipment parts manager, football coach turned high school principal, senior toy designer at Hasbro, and theatre and film actress in Los Angeles, California) occupy much of his time and energy.