Rebekah Gewirtz and Jon Schnauber: We need to ensure calls to 911 get the best response
The Berkshire Eagle
Of the many reactions to a Pittsfield Police officer’s fatal shooting of Miguel Estrella, Melissa Helm’s has stuck with us for its simple truth: “No one should have to lose their life because they are experiencing a mental health crisis.” Helm is the executive director of the Berkshire County chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. And yet, the circumstances of Estrella’s March 25 death are becoming all too familiar. According to news reports, police were summoned to Estrella’s apartment building twice that night because Estrella, a beloved and engaged member of his community who also had a history of mental illness, was intoxicated and cutting himself with a knife.

Three Chicago area cousins earn SIU Master of Social Work degrees, hope to break stigma for seeking help
SIU News
Chicago metropolitan area cousins Eric Banks, Marcellous Pollards and Jarelle “Relle” Shipp will stand out when they receive their Master of Social Work degrees at Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s commencement Saturday morning, May 7. Not only is it rare that three cousins are graduating with the same degree at the same time, but it’s unusual that the three have chosen this particular major. According to a 2020 report from the National Association of Social Workers, the Council on Social Work Education and the George Washington University Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity, about 90% of new social workers are women and just over 22% are Black. Thus, a very small percentage are Black men.

Sharon Kaye-O’Connor is a member:
Are Autism Signs Different for Girls and Women?
PsychCentral
Autism is a spectrum disorder. This means that these differences may be more or less marked in some people. They may also vary according to the situation and change over time. Autism may present differently in girls, women, and nonbinary people, says Sharon Kaye-O’Connor, a licensed clinical social worker in New York City. “We know that girls and women are often skilled at masking or camouflaging their autistic traits, so they may not receive a diagnosis until much later,” she explains.

Susan Lindau is a member
Rash of Suicides in Hollywood Shines Spotlight on Depression and Social Media Pressure
The Wrap
Meanwhile, the global COVID-19 pandemic has forced people into prolonged periods of social isolation, creating greater intensity for those who struggle with depression, said Susan T. Lindau, a licensed clinical social worker and adjunct professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. This puts them at higher risk for suicidal thoughts. About 40% of adults in the United States struggled with a mental or behavioral health condition such as anxiety, depression, trauma and substance use disorders in the first summer of the pandemic, according to the CDC. “We are social animals,” Lindau said. “We need that connection.”

Hundreds of Suicidal Teens Sleep in Emergency Rooms. Every Night.
The New York Times
Throughout the day, staff members at the hospital had called eight inpatient facilities in the region, looking for available slots in treatment centers where the 10 young boarders, as well as 17 other adolescents boarding at three smaller Colorado Children’s Hospital campuses around the state, could be placed. One of the adolescents waiting in Aurora, a Denver suburb, was a 16-year-old who had been stabilized after attempting suicide and who needed a residential treatment spot. “But there are no beds,” Jessica Friedman, a social worker, said she had told the family.

Frank Greenagel is a member:
National Addiction Treatment Locator Has Outdated Data and Other Critical Flaws
KHN
A study published last year found that hundreds of residential programs on SAMHSA’s websites were admitting people for costly treatment — sometimes encouraging them to go into debt — without assessing whether they really needed that level of care. Frank Greenagel, a clinical social worker in New Jersey who specializes in addiction treatment, said relying on state licensure is misguided because many state agencies check only a facility’s paperwork, which can list counseling or other services even if they were never actually provided.

Maurya W. Glaude is a member:
The “New Now”: How Parents Can Thrive in a Post-COVID World
Psychology Today
Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic (in addition to racial disharmony and disasters, including the war in Ukraine) has increased levels of chronic stress and worry for many. We each carry different emotional loads and have our own unique responses to grief over the loss of loved ones, property, routines, and our livelihood. Yet, specifically for parents, the periodic school closures, children’s school refusal, as well as the physical and mental health effects of the interruptions in the academic programs of our children and related loss have been of great concern.

How To Become A Social Worker
Forbes
If you’re interested in pursuing a profession that empowers communities, encourages social development and cohesion and helps people improve or overcome difficult circumstances, you may want to consider becoming a social worker. Social work offers a variety of challenging, yet rewarding career paths, and provides opportunities to explore different specializations that align with your interests, skills and professional goals. This article provides an overview of the steps, including education, certification and professional experience, required to become a licensed social worker.

Kristin Miyoko Papa is a member:
Affirmations Are a “Powerful Tool” For Anxiety, So Here Are 18 to Try
Popsugar
And because people with anxiety usually “try to avoid feeling anxious,” positive affirmations can “help the person acknowledge and feel their feelings rather than avoid them,” according to Kristin Miyoko Papa, LCSW. They also direct your attention to the present moment instead of the future or past, psychologist Lori L. Cangilla, PhD, says. “This kind of mindfulness reduces anxiety, depression, and other kinds of emotional distress,” she explains. All that to say, if you are wanting to manage your anxiety more efficiently or just want to add another tool to your anxiety-fighting arsenal, you’ll want to keep reading for some helpful affirmations to try.

If Roe falls, many in the Midwest will have to travel to access abortion
WFYI
Brenda Rosen, executive director at the Kentucky chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, which advocates for human rights and reproductive justice, said the leaked Supreme Court opinion has caused panic among clients. “We’ve had an increase in calls from families and other social workers who are sharing that their middle schoolers and teenagers are terrified now of ‘What will happen, Mom, if I’m raped? Will I be forced to have the baby?’” She said overturning Roe would be detrimental.

Dawn Sánchez is a member:
How a majority BIPOC worker co-op is disrupting the field of therapy
Prism
When Dawn Sánchez takes on a new therapy client, she’s upfront about the money stuff. At the Alliance Psychological Services of New York, the out-of-pocket costs for people without insurance is, ideally, $80 or $90 per session. That money goes toward operating costs like an electronic health record as well as hourly pay for all the workers, set at $40 an hour. But the therapy rate is flexible—a negotiable sliding scale based on the needs of the patient and decided by consensus among the rest of the therapists.

Sonia Martin is a member:
Is There Such a Thing as ‘Bipolar Fatigue’?
PsychCentral
With that said, it’s far more likely that you’ll experience fatigue once the manic episode is over, says Sonia Martin, a licensed clinical social worker in Brooklyn, New York. “During the manic state, despite not sleeping as much, you may have a lot of adrenaline-fueled energy,” she explains. “When you crash, you may experience the impact of days, sometimes weeks, without sleep.