“Sexting” cited as high risk behavior in tweens and teens
Health Canal
“These findings call attention to the need to train health educators, pediatricians and parents on how best to communicate with young adolescents about sexting in relation to sexual behavior,” said lead author Eric Rice, assistant professor at the USC School of Social Work. “The sexting conversation should occur as soon as the child acquires a cell phone.”

[Video] Mental health clinic adopts brain-training treatment
localnews8.com [Idaho Falls, ID]
One mental health clinic in Ammon Idaho is working to combat mental illness and addiction with neurotherapy. Neurofeedback supervisor Bonita Avery and licensed clinical social worker David Spencer have been working with patients at Pearl Health Clinic since 2012 to regulate brain activity. “We have a lot of chronically mentally ill patients that we see at our clinic,” said Spencer. “For some, they’ve tried different types of things. They’ve tried medications, they’ve tried counseling, but even though they have seen some improvement they’re looking for that next step.”

Friends and Neighbors: Independence Day a great chance to honor our military heroes
Miami Herald
[Navy Lt. Louis] Sanchez is the second clinical social worker to deploy in support of an Amphibious Ready Group. The number of clinical social workers in the Navy has gone from 20 to 85 in the past five years. “As a Navy Social Worker my skills can be utilized in a broad variety of billets such as substance abuse, family advocacy, medical/surgical social work, outpatient mental health, and inpatient mental health,” Sanchez said.

North Carolina Social Worker Honored with NDM Award for Excellence
UNOS
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) presented Barbara Lee, M.S.W., of Greenville, N.C., the 2014 National Donor Memorial Award for Excellence in recognition of her work as a donation champion for more than two decades.  The award was presented during UNOS’ June board meeting in the National Donor Memorial at UNOS’ headquarters in Richmond, Va.

Nancy Smyth is a member:
Facebook’s secret ‘mood experiment’ ignored ethical safeguards, says expert
UB Media Center
The University at Buffalo’s dean of School of Social Work has canceled advertising for her Facebook pages and urged others to considering switching to other social media sites after Facebook carried out an “unethical” mood manipulation experiment on 700,000 subscribers without following proper protections for human subjects involved in psychological research. “It’s entirely possible that people who were already feeling bad, and then felt worse as a result of the experiment, may have been harmed, perhaps through increased depression, anger, anxiety or suicidality,” Nancy J. Smyth wrote on her Social Work blog, “Virtual Connections.”

Children with mental illnesses struggle to find help as schools, hospital systems are decentralized
The Lens [New Orleans, LA]
Overwhelmed families often struggle to distinguish between the great and the shoddy providers, turning to school counselors or whomever else they can find for advice. “If they don’t get a referral from someone they trust, they are kind of lost,” said Penny Conner, a social worker at Lafayette Academy Charter School.

Mark Lusk is a member:
Mark Lusk: Central America influx is humanitarian crisis
El Paso Times
For generations, individuals and families from Mexico and Central America have migrated to the United States for economic reasons — to escape poverty, find jobs, and send money home to desperate relatives. That has all changed. The new migrants are not so much here to look for a job, but are fleeing for their lives. The drug wars in Mexico and the outbreak of mass violence in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua have created untenable situations for thousands.

José Ramirez, Jr., is a member:
Living with leprosy
The Financial Express
Throughout his adolescence, José Ramirez Jr, now a clinical social worker in Houston, had a shifting array of bewildering symptoms. Sometimes, he was feverish; at other times, nauseated. He’d find swellings on his hands and his feet and open sores that wouldn’t heal. He’d grow hypersensitive to touch, unable to bear even the slightest rustle of a bedsheet. Or his forearms would turn numb. Dermatologists were baffled. Eczema? Lupus? Spiritualists spoke of demonic possession. Finally, Ramirez’s sister, who worked at the local hospital, persuaded two doctors there to take on her brother’s medical mystery. They did every possible test. They sent biopsied tissue to federal researchers in Atlanta. “Within 24 hours, the director of the Texas Health Department came to see me,” Ramirez said. “He told me I had leprosy.”

[Video] Officers patrol, protect despite their grief over fallen brother
Fox59 [Indianapolis, IN]
“When they’re saying, it’s not as safe in this town as it used to be, it has an effect on them,” said Allen Rader, a licensed clinical social worker. Rader said a traumatic experience like an officer’s killing can harm an officer’s sense of safety, developed through their bond with one another. “It’s just going to be tougher,” said Rader.