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News Items – September 16, 2015

ThinkstockPhotos-90309006Lynn Lyons is a member:
How to help your kids handle pressure
TIME
It can be exciting for kids to go back to school: start new classes, see old friends. But new starts, and new responsibilities, can also put kids under pressure. And that pressure can be a big issue for kids and parents. According to Lynn Lyons, a clinical social worker and psychotherapist, and the author of Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents: 7 Ways to Stop The Worry Cycle and Raise Courageous and Independent Children, anxiety is currently the number one reason parents bring a child to a mental health provider. But pressure doesn’t have to lead to anxiety. It can also lead to learning. “The trick,” Lyons says, “is to give kids skills to manage realistic pressures without asking them for more than they can handle.”

Erin Matthews is a member:
Kelvyn Park H.S. cuts college counselor, social worker as school starts
DNAInfo
[Chicago, IL] In total, the school was forced to eliminate 19 staff positions, including its college counselor and only clinical social worker. “Would you send your child to school without basic fundamentals like a college coach? Without a clinical social worker?” said Darrick Ivy, a junior at the high school. The cuts have also impacted the school’s newly implemented restorative justice program that seeks to move away from lengthy suspensions to keep kids on track and in school.… The school’s clinical social worker, whose position was eliminated previously, led a weekly support group for girls who survived sexual assault and abuse. “I am furious that without someone to speak to — someone with the clinical experience dealing with these deep issues — many of my students may fall into deep depression and chronic absenteeism,” said Erin Matthews, the social worker who was cut. “I am the point where I just believe that no one cares about poor kids unless they are at Whitney Young.”

The cost of being a social worker
Social Work Helper
Social work is one of riskiest, low paying job that gets little to no recognition.  Often times alone, Social workers go into the homes of people who may be psychiatrically unstable, members of gangs, sex offenders, or even people who have previously been convicted of murder.  Most social workers believe (rightfully so) that most of their clients are inherently good and have made or are trying to make positive changes in their lives. However, there is still risk to visiting these homes, as well as meeting in small, private offices alone with them. In general, people are unpredictable.  Throw any of the above factors into the equation, and you’ve got someone whose behaviors can follow any path. So, what is the value that society has placed on social workers?  How much are we worth?  How much are we compensated for the increased risks we take every day?  The median salary for social workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $44,200 per year.

Andrew Rose is a member:
Gay leader marks a decade at East Bay Jewish agency
Bay Area Reporter
Ten years ago Andrew “Avi” Rose, an outspoken leader in the fight against AIDS during the epidemic’s early years, was a stay-at-home dad raising two children with his husband and working part-time as a consultant when he was recruited to be the interim executive director at the Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay. Initially hired on a temporary basis, Rose, a licensed clinical social worker, and the agency clicked. A decade later the 61-year-old continues to oversee the 138-year-old provider of services not only to the East Bay’s Jewish community but a wide array of clients, both LGBT and straight, from children and minority families to seniors and refugees.

Caitlin Ryan is a member:
Widely-lauded social worker gives presentation in Provo on LGBT youth
Herald Extra
A clinical social worker nationally-recognized for her contributions to LGBT studies made a stop on Thursday night at the Provo City Library for a special community event for the public. During the course of the evening, Dr. Caitlin Ryan presented her findings outlining the effects a family’s different levels of acceptance and rejection have on LGBT children and youth in regards to risks such as depression, illegal drug use and suicide attempts. According to Ryan, LGBT youth are three times more likely than their heterosexual peers to attempt suicide — a statistic that was even more striking given the event was held on Sep. 10, which is World Suicide Prevention Day and during National Suicide Prevention Month. “I’ve worked in the field for 40 years … and I’ve seen that families are hungry for information on how to help their children,” Ryan said.

Jack Register is a member:
Mental health task force to meet in Raleigh Tuesday
WUNC
Jack Register leads North Carolina’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He’s optimistic about the diverse group’s ability to come up with creative solutions, but he also has concerns. “Everything that we do around caring for vulnerable people requires funding,” Register says. “If we come up with some of the best practices that are available in the country, and we come up with the best ideas for how we should do this, if the funding just isn’t there, then what we do is really not going go anywhere.”

Michael LaSala is a member:
Teen sent home over ‘disruptive’ shirt — but did the school go too far?
YahooParenting
“What a brave young woman in a very homophobic situation,” Dr. Michael LaSala, a Rutgers University professor of social work and a psychotherapist who specializes in LGBT youth and families, tells Yahoo Parenting. “Shame on the school, as this also creates an atmosphere and environment of non-acceptance and even danger for young people who are LGBT. That act [of sending Brianna home] reverberates throughout the school and lets others know the school is not a safe place.” He notes the irony in the shirt’s message and the situation, adding, “Believe me, nobody knows that a lot of kids are gay or lesbian, but here, somebody had the courage to come out and say it.”

Mark Rank is a member:
A more accurate measure of poverty?
Marketplace.org
We’ll get an idea of how widely shared the economic recovery is on Wednesday of this week, when the U.S. Census Bureau releases its yearly report on income and poverty in the United States. For the first time, the Supplemental Poverty Measure will come out at the same time. The official poverty measure ignores regional differences in housing and child care costs, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. About 5 years ago, the Census Bureau created the alternative measure to capture the real cost of living. “The idea is that it’s a more well-rounded measure of poverty than the official poverty line is,” says Mark Rank, professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.

 

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