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[Audio] CA Social Workers Speak Out After Latest Gun Massacre
Public News Service
Social workers are expressing sorrow, and solidarity with the victims of the shooting massacre in Thousand Oaks. It claimed 13 lives, including a police officer and the gunman, whom officials believe took his own life. The California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers is also calling for more public awareness around gun-violence restraining orders. Rebecca Gonzales, director of government relations and political affairs with NASW in California, says these so-called “red-flag laws” can really make a difference.

Amiessa Jutten is a member:
Sharing the mourning
Telluride Daily Planet (CO)
Erickson may not have realized it, but she was experiencing grief, a complex process that starts with the knowledge that we are losing a loved one, and can last for years (Scott Erickson passed away in 2015). Grief is a spectrum, said Amiessa Jutten, a licensed clinical social worker and the bereavement coordinator at HopeWest, the hospice, palliative, and grief-support group serving Mesa, Delta, Montrose and Ouray County. “We start feeling loss as soon as we know there’s a terminal illness. That something is going to change; that someone needs help.”

Arlene Englander is a member:
The secret to becoming a morning person once and for all
Yahoo Finance
“Changing our biorhythms isn’t immediate,” says Arlene B. Englander, a licensed clinical social worker. “Start by going to bed 15 minutes earlier each week and in a month, you’ll be going to bed one hour earlier and waking up one hour earlier, as well.”

Terri Keener is a member:
Resiliency Center offering support to Route 91 survivors affected by Thousand Oaks shooting
KVVU-TV (Las Vegas, NV)
“We are saddened to hear about the attack that occurred last night in Thousand Oaks,” Terri Keener, a licensed clinical social worker and Behavioral Health Coordinator at the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, said. “We encourage anyone who is struggling with fear or anxiety or sadness to reach out and call us. You’re not alone, and we are here to support you.”

Jennifer Bornemann is a member:
How Training for Half-Marathons Helps Me Handle My Anxiety
Greatest.com
Jennifer Bornemann, an Atlanta-based licensed clinical social worker, agrees. “I absolutely recommend running, biking, swimming, and similar activities as healthy coping mechanisms.” Having completed three Ironmans and countless marathons herself, Bornemann knows firsthand how helpful simply being outside and getting in touch with your breath can be. In fact, Bornemann suffers from panic disorder and says that having focused on registering for endurance races helped her break through the challenges of feeling not good enough or ‘not strong enough.’ “Physical activity has helped me develop into the me I always knew I could be.”

Gene Brodland is a member:
Officials working to keep guns out of the hands of mental health patients
FoxIllinois
Licensed clinical social worker Gene Brodland believes that removing a FOID card [Firearm Owner’s Identification Card] isn’t going to change much. “Whenever there is a person with a mental health issue and they are asked to turn in their FOID card, this doesn’t make them any less likely to secure a gun and hurt somebody,” Brodland said.

Andrea Schneider is a member:
Politics on the Couch: Observations from a Licensed Clinical Social Worker
PsychCentral Blog
As a licensed clinical social worker, one of my main professional ethics is social justice and with that, shining a flashlight on the darkness of civil rights infringements (criminalizing immigration, overt racism and misogyny, enabling unchecked power of gun lobbyists, ridiculing people with special needs, among many other troubling and enabled human rights abuses within the current administration).  It has been impossible to keep politics out of the therapy room, when the vast majority of my clients are survivors of psychological (and other forms) of abuse and discrimination.