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News Items – September 12, 2018

Social reformer Jane Addams born in Illinois, Sept. 6, 1860
Politico
Jane Addams, born on this day in 1860 in Cedarville, Illinois, is widely recognized as the founder of the social work profession in the United States. Besides being a pioneer social worker, Addams — the youngest of eight children in a prosperous family — was an author, philosopher, sociologist and public administrator, and an agitator for the causes in which she believed, chiefly world peace and voting rights for women. Her credo, distilled to its essence, was: “The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.”

Scott Kampschaefer is a member:
Scott Kampschaefer: Why we need red flag gun laws in Texas
Trib Talk
The recent governor’s task force on school violence concluded without embracing the idea of passing red flag gun laws, which have recently gained some degree of notoriety in discussions around the country in the wake of yet more mass shootings. I see this as a missed opportunity to help improve public and school safety in Texas. I was ignorant about these laws until recently, but upon learning about them do believe they are necessary in today’s world. Red flag laws, for those who aren’t familiar with them, serve to temporarily suspend a person’s right to possess a gun if law enforcement deems them a threat to themselves or others based on reports from family, friends or doctors.

Morgan Holladay Leyenberger is a member:
Reaching Out to the Incarcerated as a Buddhist Practice: A Tale of Compassion in Arkansas
buddhistdoor.net
According to Morgan Leyenberger, executive director at Compassion Works for All, the organization that Lama Cox founded for the purpose of serving the prison population and their families, a certain degree of freedom was allowed because of the nature of her professional specialization. “At the time she was allowed to just go to death row and walk around,” Morgan relates. “So she was walking around to people’s cells, she was teaching meditation, and also just counseling because she was a practicing psychotherapist. So through her relationship with Frankie and others over time, she came to do prison outreach.”

Chris Budnick is a member:
Increase in meth deaths outpacing growth in opioid-related fatalities in NC
Carolina Public Press
“We know that generally epidemics come and go, so we can expect that the opioid crisis will be replaced by another crisis in the future,” said Chris Budnick, an adjunct instructor in the social work department at N.C. State University who also works at Healing Transitions, a private, not-for-profit organization in Raleigh. “Historically, we see this happening. If we simply focus on how we deal with the opioid crisis, we’re not going to be prepared to serve all individuals who are impacted by substance abuse disorder.” Budnick is also the director of Healing Transitions, an addiction recover center in Raleigh. He cautions that there are downsides to all of the attention the opioid epidemic has received in recent years.

Antionette Kerr: One man show topples hate with temples
The Dispatch (Davidson County, NC)
The Tar Heel wordsmith boasts quite the global resume. In the summer of 2011, Kane [Smego] helped create and lead the Poetic Portraits of a Revolution (PPR2011) project that traveled to Egypt and Tunisia to collect stories of contemporary revolutions and adapting them to spoken word. A handful of Davidson County folks may also remember him for his tight verse in what some are calling the Old North State’s new hip-hop anthem. The song is titled “North Cack” from the album “Shouts to Durham” pays homage to Carolina barbecue, sweet tea, collard greens and the term “ya’ll.” More importantly Smego’s influence with youth earned the pied piper of poetry a spot as an opening presenter for the NASW National Conference with opening speaker Van Jones.

Letter: School social workers should be fully funded
The Buffalo News
The National Association of Social Workers – New York State Chapter worked closely with the state Legislature to pass legislation to mandate every school district provide their students with access to a school social worker to assist with the students’ mental health, amid an alarming number of violent school incidents, bullying, and school administration concerns related to keeping pace with the mental health needs of our students.

Anthony Estreet is a member:
How Can It Be National Wellness Month When There is an Opioid Crisis?
Afro.com
According to Dr. Anthony Estreet, who is a leading expert as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LCADC), as well as Associate Professor at Morgan State University School of Social Work, this problem has magnified and proliferated just within the last several years from urban to suburban and rural areas.  He stated that the solution must be more holistic in treatment and cost-effectiveness, especially given in the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers.

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