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charlotte ncSocial worker shortage continues at Mecklenburg DSS
The Charlotte Observer
Mecklenburg County’s Social Services Department continues to grapple with a caseload backlog as the agency searches for ways to recruit and keep social workers.… With calls about abused children up, [DSS Director Peggy] Eagan asked UNC Charlotte’s social work school last year to help find ways to recruit and keep social workers who investigate child abuse and neglect. She delivered some results of the study Tuesday night to county commissioners.

Robert Herman-Smith is a member:
[Audio] Social Worker Retention
WFAE (Charlotte, NC)
One of the major issues facing social workers around the country is the high number of cases they must juggle. That results in heightened stress in an already stressful job and it is stress on the job that results in a very high turnover rate – that, in turn, leads to people being less likely to get the help they need. The director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services is working to change this and we hear about those efforts.
Guests:
Dr. Bob Herman-Smith 
– Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director at UNC Charlotte’s School of Social Work.
Peggy Eagan –  Director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services

Stacey Broton is a member:
Training Programs for Parents Tied to Better Behavior in Kids With Autism
US News & World Report
Parents of children with developmental disorders may feel that a referral for parent training indicates they lack basic parenting skills, but that’s not how parents should think of it, according to Stacey Broton, a social worker at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, who was not involved with the study. “Parents spend significantly more time with their child than any other therapist, and we need to empower parents to view themselves as an integral part of the intervention team,” said Broton, who works in the hospital’s Autism Center.

Diana R. Garland is a member:
Baylor names School of Social Work after outgoing inaugural dean
Waco Tribune
The Baylor University School of Social Work will be renamed in honor of its outgoing inaugural dean, Diana Garland, who is stepping down from the post this summer. The surprise unveiling of the new Diana R. Garland School of Social Work was made Friday night at the school’s annual Family Dinner banquet, which coincided with the school’s 10th anniversary. “I burst into tears and I have just been sort of speechless ever since,” Garland said of first learning about the renaming. “It’s just an incredible honor and it’s not something I ever would have dreamed.”

UTSA students promote health in West Side community
San Antonio Express-News
Since January, 18 college students have reached beyond their campus to help revitalize a West Side neighborhood through a project called Transform Your Health SA. The students enrolled in the University of Texas at San Antonio master of social work program joined with the Madonna Neighborhood Center and the Edgewood Independent School District to promote healthier lifestyles for children and beautify the center’s community garden.

Lynn Lyons is a member:
Let kids feel uncertainty, learn to solve problems, author says
Times Colonist (Victoria, BC)
Worry is natural and even helpful, but when it’s fuelled by imagination and allowed free rein, it leads to anxiety, says psychotherapist Lynn Lyons. Lyons is the author of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop the Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous & Independent Children. Lyons spoke to St. Michaels University School parents, faculty and students last week as part of its third annual brain awareness week. The clinical social worker from Concord, New Hampshire, also spoke at St. Margaret’s School the previous week.

The writer, Brant Duda, is a member:
Aging out of foster care meant trying to keep myself afloat while starting college — but Ohio has a chance to change this system: Brant Duda (Opinion)
Cleveland.com
For me, being on my own at 18 meant trying to stay afloat while putting myself through college. I was dropped off at college with a bag full of clothes, my television and a single box with my possessions. I had to learn how to be an adult in a hurry. Things such as opening a bank account, doing laundry in a laundromat and shopping for food were new experiences for which I had no teachers.… I am proud to be a social worker who strives to help people who are coming up through the same circumstances I did. I earned my bachelor’s degree — something only about 2 percent to 9 percent of former foster youths can say — and am working toward my advanced degree. To say that I am among the 2 percent to 9 percent is an honor, but I should be in much larger company. It is our job as a community and as human beings to help this disadvantaged population.

Some Question Bill Mandating Training on Veteran Mental Health Issues
WNPR
Steven Karp is the Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers, Connecticut chapter. “This is one of those pieces of legislation on the surface that sounds great and makes people feel good,” Karp said. “But two hours doesn’t make you an expert. Reality is if you work with vets you need a lot more and if you don’t work with vets you probably don’t need two hours [of training].” Karp’s organization submitted testimony opposing the bill, as well as the Connecticut Psychological Association.

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