Pamela Woodman-Kaehler is a member:
Fear pervasive in the foster care system, ombudsman finds
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Based on her first report to the state, the new foster care ombudsman has found success for people throughout the child welfare system, but fear and lack of information is pervasive. The report by the director of the Foster Care Ombudsman Office, Pamela Woodman-Kaehler, spans from November 2019 through the beginning of 2021. Woodman-Kaehler found fear of retaliation was a key factor for those who made complaints to the office. More than 90% of complaints to the office cited “fear of retaliation.”

Lori Osachy is a member:
[Video] Dress code violations tripled over previous year in St. Johns County schools
News4Jax
Lori Osachy is the director of the Body Image Counseling Center in Jacksonville and has been a licensed clinical social worker for three decades. Osachy said the disparity between male and female students creates the potential for serious mental health issues. “It can be internalized, those messages that ‘When I express myself with my clothing, I am not appropriate,’ or that ‘My body shouldn’t be showing.’ It can make you ashamed of your body,” Osachy said. “When you have one gender being targeted more than the other gender, and when it’s sexualized, then it becomes a problem.”

Amanda Ross is a member:
[Video] Mother-daughter duo to graduate from Fayetteville State University Mother’s Day weekend
abc11.com
[Marcia Thomas] returned to school many years later and will be earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Fayetteville State University. But there’s one twist. “We’re graduating together! I think I’m more excited this time,” said Amanda Ross, Marcia’s oldest daughter. Ross is an alum of Fayetteville State University, who is graduating with her Master’s degree in Social Work. “We lined it up so that if she took classes both summer sessions, she’d graduate the same time as I was. We lined it up and started in the fall of 2019,” said Ross.

Liz Wetmore is a member:
HMHI Expert Spotlight: Q&A with with Liz Wetmore, LCSW
Huntsman Mental Health Institute
Liz is a passionate social worker and a member of HMHI’s team of addiction specialists. She is a Psychiatric Program Specialist with the Recovery Works Intensive Outpatient Program for addiction treatment, where she has worked since 2013. As part of the incredible network of professionals at the University of Utah Huntsman Mental Health Institute, we were pleased Liz could share a bit of her story and what she loves about her job.

Nancy Kislin is a member:
Fixing the Problem With School “Lockdown Drills”
Psychology Today
Even now, during a pandemic, schools conduct security, or “lockdown,” exercises to prepare for the threat of violence. Forty-two states, including New Jersey, mandate once-a-month lockdown drills, in addition to the 10 fire drills that are required. These exercises, designed to simulate active-shooter situations, are often not called drills while they are happening.

Michael Cruse is a member:
How to Process the Death of an ‘Ex’
AARP
“Bereavement really means it’s the permanent separation between you and the person that you loved or that you had an attachment [to],”  says Michael Cruse, a licensed clinical social worker and the bereavement services manager at Hospice of Santa Barbara, a California nonprofit.  “But in that depth, it connects that bereaved person to all the other losses in their life. And usually there’s a loss in that marriage as well, because nobody plans to get divorced when they get married.”

Lisa Ferentz is a member:
6 Gaslighting Phrases People Say To Manipulate You
Huffpost
Gaslighters will do or say something abusive and then deny it ever happened to sow seeds of self-doubt in the victim, said licensed clinical social worker Lisa Ferentz, who specializes in treating trauma. “The victim starts questioning her instincts and relies more and more on the ‘reality’ that gets created and manipulated by the abuser,” she said. “It also heightens a sense of dependency on the abuser.”

Caitlin Ryan is a member:
Family Acceptance of LGBTQ Kids is Caitlin Ryan’s Project
KALW
What should you do when your child comes out to you, or you learn some other way that your child may be lesbian, gay, bi, transgender, non-binary or otherwise “queer”? Meet Dr. Caitlin Ryan, a social worker and the Director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University. Dr. Ryan has been working to promote the health and well-being of queer youth since the 1990s and co-founded the Family Acceptance Project in 2002 to help parents and families learn to support their LGBTQ kids.