Socialworkersspeaks on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterRSS Feed

News Items – December 22, 2022

News Items – December 22, 2022

Hannah Ware is development associate for NASW-OH:
Social workers: advocating for the world around them
LimaOhio.com
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, social workers help others prevent and cope with problems in their everyday lives. Social workers provide this support for others through years of training in the classroom and in person. Hannah Ware, Development Associate for the Ohio National Associate of Social Workers, weighed in. “We are a very values-based profession,” said Ware. “A lot of our orientation comes from our code of ethics. The way we look at situations is the way that we determine self-determination. The center is systems focused we don’t just look at the individual we look at all the systems that are impacting them. Their family, their community, and the larger political and social systems.”

Bryan Mares is government relations director of NASW-TX:
Texas Fights Anti-Discrimination Policy For Adoption
Local Profile
The National Association of Social Workers Texas government relations director, Bryan Mares believes this could create a deficit in foster homes supply for LGBTQ+ children. “It makes it much more difficult to find families who might already identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community to bring children that are in the system into their home,” said Mares (via Texas Tribune). “It really just impedes our ability to prioritize LGBTQ+ youth placements into homes where they are being supported in a way that they need.”

Dawn Apgar is a member of NASW-NJ:
Fighting for the Rights of Others: Dawn Apgar’s Research Is Shaping a New Era of Social Work Practice and Activism
Seton Hall University
Many people who would excel in the field of social work aren’t even aware the profession might be their true calling—which is why Seton Hall’s Dawn Apgar, a nationally recognized leader in social work, is on a mission to demystify what social work is and recruit future leaders to the field. “Do you want to help people, through individual-level therapy or as a social activist? Are you fighting for the rights of others? If so—social work is for you,” Apgar says.

Isabel Logan is a member of NASW-CT:
Winning Over Skeptics: More Police Departments Enlist Social Workers For Crisis Intervention
Connecticut Health I-Team
Milford’s chief, Keith Mello, chairs the state’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council and attended the state task force meetings on police accountability. After the bill was passed, there was a mandate but no template for exploring police social work. Mello learned about the fledgling program in Willimantic from its founder, Isabel Logan, Ed.D, LCSW, and signed on in the fall of 2021. Logan, 48, had worked in the court system for 20 years, first as a social worker in the public defender’s office in New Haven, then at Hartford juvenile court.

Rick Miller is a member of NASW-MA:
For Many, Holidays Were Never Picture-Perfect
Psychology Today
For LGBTQ folks, finding a meaningful and relevant way to enjoy the holidays and share joy with others poses many challenges. For many of us, it’s a dreaded time: while the rest of the world (it seems) is busy being merry and bright, we are still often ignored, ostracized, and alienated. The special rituals of family and faith are not available to many of us, and loneliness is magnified. The Hallmark movies don’t help. When will there be greeting cards and movies that speak to a different experience of the winter holidays? 

Gail Flack is a member of NASW-OK:
Mental Health Expert Shares Ways To Find Support During The Holidays
News on 6
“The lack of light,” Gail Flack, a licensed clinical social worker at Parkside Hospital explained. “We have shorter days. Financial stress. Family stress, and just a lot of emotional stuff that can go on during the Christmas time.” Flack understands that at this time of year, a lot of people want to do everything it takes to get ready for the holidays by themselves. However, it’s better to let others help. “Have people bring in things,” said Flack. “Not do all the cooking yourself. Not doing all the presents yourself, not decorating everything for everybody, but doing things you want to do for yourself.”

Donna Henderson is a member of NASW-OR:
Navigating the Holidays After Loss
Columbia Community Connection
The winter holiday season can be stressful under any circumstances, whether its stressors are experienced as positive or negative. There are gifts to purchase, expectations (real or imagined) of others to face, invitations to events that we may welcome or dread (or both!), winter travel to navigate, crowds in town, strains on finances, winter viruses, the presence of friends or family members we may not like that much (or the absence of those we do)…and on and on.  And for those who have experienced recent loss (as many in our community have this year), the usual seasonal stresses are hugely amplified.

Gail Flack is a member of NASW-OK:
Mental Health Expert Shares Ways To Find Support During The Holidays
KWTV
“The lack of light,” Gail Flack, a licensed clinical social worker at Parkside Hospital explained. “We have shorter days. Financial stress. Family stress, and just a lot of emotional stuff that can go on during the Christmas time.” Flack understands that at this time of year, a lot of people want to do everything it takes to get ready for the holidays by themselves. However, it’s better to let others help. “Have people bring in things,” said Flack. “Not do all the cooking yourself. Not doing all the presents yourself, not decorating everything for everybody, but doing things you want to do for yourself.”

Toni Teixeira is a member of NASW-NJ:
5 Things You’re Not Texting Your Partner That Therapists Say You Should Be
Best Life
There’s never a bad moment to remind your partner that you love them—so even if you already say it to them, don’t forget to text it, too. “Text to say ‘I Love you’ when the spirit moves you, even if it is a fleeting moment,” says Toni Teixeira, LCSW, a licensed clinical social worker with a private psychotherapy practice. “When love shows up in your heart, share it.”

Matthew Richards is a member of NASW-IL:
$200K grant from NFL to help group focusing on mental health calls on Chicago’s West Side: ‘We really want to put dollars where help is needed.’
Chicago Tribune
The city’s CARE pilot program launched last fall in an attempt to address mental illness through less of a punitive lens and more of a medical one, according to licensed clinical social worker Matthew Richards, CARE’s deputy commissioner of behavioral health. The effort integrates mental health professionals into the 911 response system to help those experiencing a behavioral health emergency — meaning police and social workers are working together to connect people to treatment.

‘Peace For DC’ Among Social Justice Groups to Receive NFL Grants
NBC4
The NFL announced Thursday it’s giving grants to five social justice groups, including Peace for D.C. The money will go toward hiring more social workers and life coaches, as well as building up more programs to train students. “To know that the NFL is backing the Peace Academy, and interested in the Peace Academy and want to support our work, that’s gonna be a huge thing for the community and for them to come on board. It’s gonna be huge,” student Joel Super said.

|   Leave A Comment

Advertisement