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News Items – July 29, 2014

hope conf logoNASW Courage, Hope and Leadership Conference Brings Hundreds of Social Workers to Washington D.C.
Yahoo! News
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) will host social workers from across the United States and around the world at its “Social Work: Courage, Hope and Leadership” national conference on July 23-26 in Washington, D.C. at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. The conference will feature more than 100 workshops and sessions that will help social workers address pressing social issues, including improving the delivery of health care and mental health care, helping families escape poverty, and assisting victims of human trafficking.

Mental health classes teach value of early intervention
WTOP Radio (Washington, DC)
The mental health first-aid program was first researched and launched in Australia, and has been in the U.S. for the last four to five years — and the classes are even available in the D.C. area. Rhonda Williams, a licensed clinical social worker, is one of the mental health first-aid instructors for the City of Alexandria. She says the city has been offering the mental health first-aid classes for about two years.

Neurobiological Basis for Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity Finally Gets Validation, Says Renowned Addiction Expert
Digital Journal
In the most extensive brain study on sexual addicts to date, investigators at the University of Cambridge confirm what clinical leaders and addiction experts like Robert Weiss, LCSW, CSAT-S, renowned speaker, author, clinician and founder of the Sexual Recovery Institute, have been saying all along: sex addiction really is a neurobiological and emotional disorder.

Martie Rafferty is a member:
[Video] Stress just as contagious as cold, study says
KOAT News (Albuquerque, NM)
Stress can be just as contagious as a cold. Martie Rafferty is a clinical social worker. She said stress is toxic and you can catch it just like a cold. “People tend to get irritable, impatient, or just can’t focus, can’t concentrate and that effects work and every phase of their life,” Rafferty said. According to a new study by the St. Louis University psychology department, the tone of a voice, mannerisms or touch can spread stress. “If everybody is stressed, then everybody suffers,” Rafferty said.

DSS Deputy: Agency needs 202 additional workers to reach ideal caseload numbers
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
The Deputy Director of the Department of Social Services told a Senate panel on Wednesday the agency needs an additional 202 staffers to meet ideal caseload numbers for workers. Jessica Hanak-Coulter, DSS deputy director of human services, testified before the Senate’s DSS Oversight Subcommittee, as did a parent of six adopted children and the president-elect of the South Carolina chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Judy Postmus is a member:
Study: Financial literacy can help abused women
USAToday
Improved financial literacy training for domestic violence victims can help eliminate the dependency that often keeps victims trapped in dangerous relationships, a study released Thursday shows. Ninety-four percent of women who received financial training with traditional domestic abuse services said they learned how to identify signs of economic abuse, said Judy Postmus, a Rutgers University School of Social Work associate professor and a co-author of the study.

Terry Singer is a member:
Why Do 27 Percent of Kentucky’s Kids Live in Poverty?
WKMS (Murray State University, Murray, KY)
On Tuesday, we examined a report that said 27 percent of Kentucky children in 2012 lived in poverty. The issue of poverty raises plenty of question. One of them is simply: What factors contribute to the financial struggles of Kentucky’s families and children? And what can be changed? A leading cause is a lack of access to and dwindling opportunities for economic gain, said Terry Singer, the dean of the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville. Singer said the issue of poverty is a problem that is not showing signs of stopping. “I don’t see anything right now that is going to move people out of poverty,” he said. “The opportunities are just not there.”

Mark Lusk is a member:
[Video] Traumatic experiences may have lasting impact on undocumented children
KFOX-TV (El Paso, TX)
More than 2,000 undocumented immigrants have been flown to El Paso within the last month. A majority of these immigrants are family units consisting of a mother and multiple children. Although many of these families are processed and released relatively quickly, the traumatic experiences they’ve endured could have a lasting impact. “These children are here from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and they were living in a war zone,” said Mark Lusk, professor in the Department of Social Work at UTEP. Lusk has been researching the trauma these young families have been through. He said the trauma starts in their home country.

Elaine Brody was a member:
Elaine M. Brody, Expert on Elderly Who Grew Into the Role, Dies at 91
The New York Times
Elaine M. Brody, a sociologist whose research on the elderly, beginning in the 1950s, revealed increasing stress on women trying to build careers while caring for children and aging parents — “women in the middle,” she called them — died July 9 at her home in San Mateo, Calif. She was 91.

The author, Sarah Wright is a member:
Society Needs to Look Beyond Marriage
The New York Times
Because weddings represent the traditional beginning of most marriages, we would actually pop the question: “Should marriage be revived or discarded?” We know from people like Stephanie Coontz that marriage is quite resilient, and has adapted over time to remain relevant for many people. But the Urban Institute just released a report this week showing the Millennial generation is on track to have the lowest rates of marriage by age 40. This trend reflects many things, chief among them the fact that the emphasis on the couple as the center of family life is declining.

Jack Register is a member:
Guilford County weighs cost of rehab
News and Record (Greensboro, NC)
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is reviewing whether to seek Medicaid reimbursement to help with the cost of rehab, which would limit stays to 14 days under Medicaid rules. In addition, the center couldn’t treat more than 16 people at a time; it currently treats three times as many. A 14-day stay is enough to detox and determine a best course of treatment, but that’s all, said Jack Register, a clinical addiction specialist and undergraduate director of social work at UNCG.

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