Bill Lamb is a member:
NC Senate votes to guarantee patients the right to visitors, even during a pandemic
Raleigh News & Observer
Bill Lamb, board chair of Friends of Residents in Long Term Care, a Raleigh-based nonprofit, told The News & Observer that the bill is looking ahead to future situations, not just the COVID-19 pandemic of the past year. “This pandemic has been really hard not just on [long-term care] residents but their families as well. We’ve been saying over and over again that family and loved ones are an integral part of the care system. Keeping them out of long-term care facilities, you’re doing them harm,” Lamb said.

In a pandemic social workers offer municipalities answers to service needs
CT Mirror
Municipalities are excellent places for MSWs and BSWs to be employed. In a municipality the social service worker sees a wide range of residents in age, economic status, and social needs. The social work degree best prepares the employee to address this wide range of issues and present the municipality as a responsive government that is capable of improving the lives of its residents, thus enhancing the community as a whole.

Amanda Ross is a member:
[Video] Good News: This Mother and Daughter Graduated Together on Mother’s Day Weekend
Live Ryan and Kelly
Marcia Thomas and her daughter Amanda Ross of Raeford, NC share their story of graduating on the same day.

Annie Miller is a member:
How Loneliness Might Be Compromising Your Sleep, According to a Sleep Expert
Well & Good
According to Annie Miller, LCSW, a therapist and licensed clinical social worker who specializes in treating insomnia and other sleep disorders, loneliness in itself, though, is likely not what’s causing restlessness. More likely, she says, the root cause is symptoms of depression or anxiety. “Research says that depression can cause sleep problems and that sleep problems can cause depression,” she says. “They’re bi-directional.”

Dead bills are haunting the Capitol. Here’s one worth reviving.
Iowa Capital Dispatch
Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, has shepherded legislation through the Iowa House twice so far that would require insurers and Medicaid to pay mental health care providers the same rate for telehealth services as they would receive for an in-person patient visit. It’s an important issue to mental health advocates and providers, who have described telehealth as one of the few bright spots to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rachel Sussman is a member:
What Is a Platonic Marriage?
Brides
To understand platonic marriages, we consulted relationship experts Amie Leadingham and Rachel Sussman. “Platonic marriages are when people that are friends who are not sexually involved decide to make a commitment in marriage for life with each other,” explains Leadingham. Platonic marriages aren’t new, but couples are becoming more vocal about them and they’re generating conversations online that might just inspire more friends to walk down the aisle and make a major commitment, sealing the deal with or without a friendly kiss.

Kara Houser is a member:
Supporting and being supported: Mothers navigate life over a year of COVID-19
The Daily Iowan
Kara Houser, a lecturer in the UI School of Social Work and clinical social worker/family therapist at a private practice, said before the pandemic, her household was broken down pretty traditionally. Her husband had a longer commute and less flexibility in his job than her, so she took on the bulk of childcare of her four children, all between the ages of 11 and 16. Due to the confidentiality of her work and the access to privacy and internet her offices give her, Houser wasn’t able to stay home to work during the pandemic, while her husband’s work allowed him to work from home while the kids did online schooling. This resulted in an almost switching of roles; Houser out of the house and her husband taking on the primary role in their kids’ lives during the day.

Carrie Roberts is a member:
The anxiety that comes with re-entering society after the COVID pandemic
News Center Maine
With re-entry into society looming, experts are seeing a little bit of everything. “There are some who are, you know …  it’s almost like a cautious optimism, and then others that are more anxious and worried. You know, are we going out too quickly?” Carrie Roberts, a licensed clinical social worker in Yarmouth, said. Roberts specializes in couples therapy and said the pandemic has been hard on a lot of couples and family units.