Putting Elders to Work in Aiken, S.C.
Governing
Aiken also encourages seniors to stay busy and engaged. One of the ways it does this is through Foster Grandparents, a federally funded program for senior citizens 55 and older. The participants visit schools, Head Start centers, nonprofit daycares and after-school programs to help at-risk children, says Director Toni Brunson.

Reforming Welfare Coverage
FAIR
The Louisiana chapter of the National Association of Social Workers held a press conference to outline their problems with that state’s plan, claiming that it “lacks the job training, transportation, child care, educational and labor market structures needed to facilitate meaningful change.”

1st Gabe Zimmerman scholarship awarded at PCC
KVOA Tucson News
TUCSON – The first Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship has been awarded by Pima Community College to a displaced worker who came to PCC to study for a new career in social work. John Roldán, 61, will be presented the $1000 scholarship this evening.

Teens Dealing With Cancer Find an Ally in The Who’s Daltrey
PBS NewsHour
She’s now a social work graduate student at UCLA and part of a growing chorus — one headlined by the likes of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the classic rock band The Who — demanding more specific treatment and emotional programming for  adolescents. Rather than funneling teens into adult or pediatric programs, where they generally feel like outsiders, they say that teens should receive specialized attention.

Balancing Act co-host Chris Steele and Kathy Gurland. Image courtesy of Lifetime.

National Association of Social Workers member Kathy Gurland is scheduled to appear on Lifetime TV’s “The Balancing Act” Nov. 7 at 7 a.m. Eastern (Check local listings for the channel) to offer viewers advice on how to get the best cancer care.

Gurland, MSW, LCSW, founded the Peg’s Group cancer navigation service in New York City after losing two sisters to the disease. She is also a regular contributor to Women’s Magazine and has appeared on NASW’s behalf to advise Hollywood writers and directors on how to include social workers in television shows and movies.

“The Balancing Act” is a morning news show for women and about women, offering educational segments as well as entertainment. To watch Gurland’s appearance click here. 

To learn more about how social workers help clients address cancer visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Understanding Cancer Website by clicking here.

Donna Rudebusch and Judge Lloyd Zimmerman met this year, seven years after the judge married Rudebusch and dying cancer patient Thomas Robert David. Photo courtesy of the Star Tribune.

Cheers to the Minneapolis Star Tribune for their articles about Judge Lloyd Zimmerman, who at the urging of a social worker married a man who was dying from cancer.

Hospice social worker Cheryl Waldman in 2004 had called 15 other judges to marry Donna Rudebusch, 57, and Thomas Robert David, 77. David’s last wish was to marry Rudebusch, his partner for 38 years.

Zimmerman was having a hectic day in court but Waldman persuaded him to help because David had only hours to live. The judge married Rudebusch and David by telephone. 

Later that evening David died.

“It made him very happy,” Rudebusch said. “He died happy.”

To read Zimmerman’s original account of the 2004 wedding click here. And to read about Zimmerman and Rudebusch’s first meeting this year click here.

Social worker help people suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses get the best possible care. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Cancer Website by clicking here.

Photo courtesy of Doobybrain.com.

Cancer navigation consultant and social worker Kathy Gurland was working in a hospital emergency room when medics brought in a young man who suffered a heart attack.

Unfortunately, the patient died. He had a wallet with a driver’s license and business cards but no emergency contact. It took Gurland more than five hours to find a relative to deliver the tragic news.

Kathy Gurland

Gurland writes about this dilemma in her latest column for Women’s Magazine. Gurland’s is a regulator contributor to the publication from CancerConnect.com, an online network for people living with cancer and their caregivers.

Gurland, MSW, LCSW, said most people think a driver’s license is all they need to be identified in case they become incapacitated. However, just putting a card with a handwritten emergency contact in your wallet or on the back of your cellphone will make it easier for caregivers to find loved ones, said Gurland, who is also a National Association of Social Workers member.

“When you take the time to ensure that your emergency contact person’s information is readily available, you are protecting yourself, keeping strangers from making uninformed personal decisions for you, and sparing your loved ones from dealing with burdensome dilemmas,” she wrote.

Cheers to Women’s Magazine for making Gurland a regular contributor!

To learn more about how social workers such as Kathy Gurland help clients overcome health issues visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Health and Wellness Website by clicking here.

Talking to Kids about Cancer
Newark Post
By Elizabeth Wood, LCSW, ACSW [Editor's note: Elizabeth Wood is a Clinical Social Worker for the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BBMT at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.] Chances are you know someone who has had cancer, but when your own family is affected, the word cancer takes on a new meaning — one that can feel personal and frightening. Cancer can be especially confusing to children who may be coping with a family member’s diagnosis or their own. 

Local district talks about bullying
WANE
On Friday, NewsChannel 15 spoke with a social worker for Southwest Allen County Schools about how that district is handling the issue. Anita Gross, a social worker for the district for 22 years, said she hasn’t seen a dramatic increase in bullying over the past few years.

Statehouse Live; About 250 people rally against Brownback policies
Lawrence Journal World
McComas, a social worker, and Tamara Werth, a psychologist from Lawrence, organized the event to protest recent Brownback decisions. They formed a group called Kansans United in Voice & Spirit and said they hoped the rally would initiate local chapters across the state.

Separated in Foster Care, Siblings Reunite in Camp
NYTimes
Camp to Belong, a nonprofit organization that reunites siblings separated in foster care, recently opened its first camp in New York on the grounds of YMCA Camp Chingachgook in Kattskill Bay. The organization was founded in 1995 in Las Vegas by Lynn Price, a former foster child who was separated from her sister growing up. It seeks to create healthy sibling relationships for foster children, who often have difficult family lives.

Snyder’s Health Goals Hard to Swallow for Michiganders Struggling …
WILX-TV
“It’s a well-intended vision. it’s missing guts and substance,” said Maxine Thome, executive director of Michigan’s National Association of Social Workers. “Everyday, we have people living in the woods behind us. We have people going though the trash here to find food, do those people have time to go to the gym to work out or to lose weight or to get healthy nutrition?” she asked.

Behind the poverty numbers: real lives, real pain
The Associated Press
Instead, she was standing in line at a Manhattan food pantry, where hundreds of people waited patiently to fill suitcases with groceries or meet with a social worker. Going on a year without a job, Gray likes to rise early and ride the subway down from the Bronx to visit the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, New York’s largest food pantry, which is tucked inside a church basement.

Fire victims face tough emotions
Austin American-Statesman
The coming weeks, months and even years will be an emotional struggle for many people, said Michael Gianotti, branch chair of the National Association of Social Workers-Texas Chapter. Gianotti, who has helped coordinate social workers volunteering in Bastrop County, said that right now, people are dealing with a range of emotions: anger, sadness, fear, anxiety.

WorkWise: Button-pushing and responsibility at work
The Modesto Bee
Work that brings stress, impossible demands, anxiety over job security and poor management creates a negative environment, even when co-workers are well-intentioned, according to Karol Ward, a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in New York City.

Talking to children about cancer
Knoxville News Sentinel
Licensed clinical social worker Kathleen Williams offers suggestions for parents talking to children when a loved one has cancer.

Trail: Working with homeless community changes social worker’s life
Fort Worth Star Telegram
By Amy M. Trail Two days a week, I commute from Denton to Fort Worth to satisfy an educational requirement for my graduate program at the University of North Texas. One of the counselors at Recovery Resource Council told me about a local outreach program that addresses the basic needs of homeless individuals. Wanting to gain as much real-life experience as possible, I decided to go a little deeper into the world of homelessness.

Social Worker Website Launched To Guide Aspiring Social Workers To A …
Online PR News (press release)
Becoming A Social Worker 101, a service to a caring profession, was recently launched to educated visitors on how to become a social worker with all the facts needed to find education opportunities in social work.

Knowledge is the key to a healthy pregnancy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Yang hadn’t been to a dentist in several years. Untreated gum disease can lead to premature birth, so social worker Annie Janisch, who is helping Yang navigate pregnancy, encouraged her to set up a dental appointment.

San Francisco schools work with kids to cut suspensions, expulsions
San Francisco Examiner
When a student at Civic Center Secondary School swore at a teacher, made threats and punched walls last year, faculty members wanted him gone. The boy was suspended, but came back to school just as angry, recalled Ben Kauffman, then the school’s social worker. After the boy’s second suspension, school officials decided to try something different.

Getting help when needed
Press Herald
My father lives in congregate senior housing at the Pines in Ocean Park, where there are services right on the premises such as a social worker, administrator, maintenance people, group meals if desired, a cord located in the bathroom to pull in case of an emergency and other amenities.

West Memphis Three now must learn how to live as free men
The Christian Science Monitor
“It’s disconcerting when an inmate leaves the system so abruptly,” says Dr. Frederic G. Reamer, a professor at the School of Social Work at Rhode Island College in Providence “And it’s extraordinarily unusual. To go from zero to 75 within a matter of hours is likely to be overwhelming for anybody. There hasn’t been enough time to construct the scaffolding that an ex-offender absolutely needs after entering society.”

Lambda Legal represents child welfare groups in Catholic Charities …
Windy City Times
Today Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of several child welfare organizations including the Evan B. Donaldson Institute, the National Association of Social Workers and its Illinois chapter in a case brought by four Dioceses of Catholic Charities against the state of Illinois.

For Cancer Patients, Help Navigating the Maze
Wall Street Journal (blog)
At Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque, where four nurses and a social worker comprise the navigation team, Dava Gerard, a breast surgeon and administrator in the cancer program says patient navigation services need to reflect the needs and  concerns of the community, which can vary greatly.

Theodoric James deserved persistent help from the government
Washington Post
A social worker familiar with the agency said that they are financially strapped and stretched thin. “They are under enormous pressure to close cases,” the social worker said. That’s the case at social service agencies across the country.

The Riots, The PM’s Speech: A Wake-Up Call for Social Work
Huffington Post (blog)
Social work has developed, importantly, its commitment to people made vulnerable, marginalised and disenfranchised by social, political and economic circumstances. However, it has constructed an edifice of anti-oppressive practice sometimes decorated with the inanities of political correctness that hampers its position to mediate and negotiate a pathway that re-engages individuals with their society.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs distributes $1M in grants to improve Hawaiians …
The Republic
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs announced Monday it is giving the money to the University of Hawaii’s school of social work and three nonprofit groups. OHA says the funding will support programs designed to instill in students an interest in social justice, showcase Hawaiian values, cultivate crops important to Hawaiian culture and strengthen Hawaiian civic clubs.

More Social Workers Needed in Nevada
KRNV News 4 Reno
The number of Nevadans demanding help from social workers is increasing. However, the state does not have enough of them to go around.

Improv For Alzheimer’s: ‘A Sense Of Accomplishment’
NPR
“Improv is all about being in the moment, which for someone with memory loss, that is a very safe place,” says Mary O’Hara, a social worker at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Bullying: Help your child take control; know signs, resolutions
Leesville Daily Leader
Charlotte Butler, a licensed clinical social worker specializing in child and adolescent psychology services with Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital Department of Behavioral Health, defines bullying in three parts: Physical aggression, verbal abuse and exclusion.

Outcry for law to help protect social workers and clients
Boston Globe
RE “IN fining mental-health provider, OSHA sends a strong message” (Editorial, Aug. 12): The National Association of Social Workers, Massachusetts chapter, has considered safety for social workers and human service providers a critical priority for several years.

Slain social worker’s mom rallies for ‘Stephanie’s Law’
The Salem News
The Peabody mother wants justice for her daughter, Stephanie Moulton, a 25-year-old social worker who was beaten, stabbed and dumped in a church parking lot. And she wants to change a state mental health system that she believes put her child in peril.

WASHTENAW COUNTY: Twenty-year-old Charlie Cavell is vice president of Loving Elementary Charter School Board in Detroit, founder of nonprofit
Heritage Newspapers
As a student studying social work at Wayne State University, Cavell has taken the trials in his life, including the death of his mother, Mary Sandra Swiderski, when he was 2 years old, and turned them into a mission to improve the quality of education and life for children and adults in the city of Detroit.

Woman applies PTSD-like therapy to abused dog
Wink News
His new life now revolves around Teresa Pavish-Paradiso, a licensed clinical social worker who, besides participating in a network that rescues abused animals, works in Walla Walla with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Street Wise:TANIA FRELONE CHALLENGES PERCEPTIONS OF GANGS
StarPhoenix
During her career as a social worker, Tania Frelone has helped hundreds of troubled youth. She is now educating professor at the First Nations University, helping to educate a new generation of social workers.

Creator of Comedy Central’s ‘Ugly Americans’ is sitting pretty
Washington Post
The show follows Department of Integration social worker Mark Lilly (voiced by Matt Oberg) and his creature cohorts as they help new citizens — both human and others — adapt to life in the Big Apple.

Brian T. Watson: Sheriff shows prison can be place for rehabilitation as well …
The Salem News
He has a master’s degree in social work from Boston College and started his career by running the first of the Downey Side Homes, back then a group residence for eight homeless teens. He and his wife became their permanent parents, and it was there that he first field-tested and honed some of his progressive approaches to the circumstances and ingredients that contribute to dysfunctional human behaviors, values and motivations.

An update on two vets struggling to put the war behind them
Los Angeles Times
And Zenner was such a rookie social worker that Valentini began calling him Green. Even today, they see the drinking incident differently. “Tell him why,” Valentini pleaded, explaining that the beers were to celebrate President Obama declaring the end of the combat mission in Iraq.

At Camp No Worries, cancer patients are just kids again
Philadelphia Inquirer
Programs such as Camp No Worries give cancer patients a much-needed respite from medical routines and put them back on equal terms with their siblings, said Susan Stephens, a pediatric social worker with the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Experts say Mass. tornadoes scars could linger
Boston Globe
Those who lived through the devastation of their homes and neighborhoods may just now be dealing with the accumulated stresses of their tornado-related experiences, says Dorothy A. Brier, a licensed clinical social worker who has been volunteering her services here in Western Massachusetts since June 11.

Danieal Kelly murder trial opens | Philadelphia Daily News | 2011-07-02
Philadelphia Daily News
“These three defendants failed to act,” Selber said, referring also to former city social worker Dana Poindexter and Mickal Kamuvaka, the former head of a social-service agency hired by the city to help Danieal.

A special journey with a message
Marshall Independent
The irony was, I had a Masters in social work, but didn’t work with depression.” After Mark got out of the hospital he focused his efforts from a social work perspective. Now he teaches on mood disorders at the University of Minnesota graduate school of social work and has a consulting practice focusing on depression.

A Mixed Message about Stigma in Military Mental Health Care
Time
The military keeps talking about eliminating stigma related to seeking mental health treatment. Then why don’t they change the policies that promote it?

For Seemayer, Gambling Addiction Could Have Gotten Worse
Patch.com
A compulsive gambling habit can lead an addict to follow through with even more destructive decisions, says Terri Rodriguez Ohlms, a licensed, clinical social worker who practices in the St. Louis area. “He (Seemayer) is fortunate he was caught before he got deeper into the hole of despair,” Ohlms said.

Charlie Sheen’s New TV Show — ‘Anger Management’
TMZ.com
The plan as of now — Charlie’s character will be an ex-jock who got his master’s degree in social work during the offseason. He becomes a counselor to defendants in the criminal justice system with anger management problems.

Richmonder Recognized By National Association of Social Workers
GayRVA
Dr. Jonathan Lebolt was recognized by the National Association of Social Workers during the month of June for his work with the LGBT community.

Thought Leader in Health Care Lorissa MacAllister: Designing for change
Michigan Business Review – MLive.com
By Business Review West Michigan Education: BS in social work, University of Vermont; MS in architecture, University of Michigan; Ph.D. candidate from the School of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology. Properly designed health care spaces can improve operational efficiency and the quality of care provided within those spaces. 

Making Sure Children in Military Families Are Not Left Behind
The Huffington Post
The men and women of our armed services deserve all the support they need to do their jobs. Making it easier for their children to navigate and achieve in public schools should be part of that support.

Students advocate for sex education in schools
The State Press
Five social work graduate students started an intervention as part of a class to help lower the rate of teen pregnancies in Arizona. They are working to educate ASU students about sex education facts and statistics.

Man from SLC’s west side a top 10 “energizer”
Salt Lake Tribune
In addition to recently earning his master’s degree in social work, and beginning a job as the new Program Manager for Cancer Wellness House, Uckerman’s attitude carries over in his bold smile and lyrical laugh.

Got Oncology Social Work?
LiveStrong.org
Oncology Social Work is shrouded in mystery in many cancer treatment centers. I could have neon posters, flyers and brochures promoting Oncology Social Work (OSW) services and they were too easily passed over for the medical information available in a resource room.

Allergies at school; handling teens
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Sadly, her embarrassment might be stemming from her treatment at school, says elementary school social worker Judy Freedman, author of “Easing the Teasing.” “There is a disturbing trend that many children who cannot eat certain foods are teased,” she says.

Battered women’s greatest advocate to retire after 33 years
Brainerd Daily Dispatch
By JODIE TWEED Louise Seliski grew up in poverty in Minneapolis and knew, even while in seventh grade, that she wanted to become a social worker. She had a passion for helping others.

Mother accused of punching caseworker found
WDAM-TV
Caneema Atkins, mother of five, is accused of punching a social worker in the face when she arrived to take her children. (Source: WSCN/CNN) MIAMI (WSCN/CNN) – A mother accused of attacking a Florida caseworker and taking off with her kids earlier this

Punishing Social Workers
Governing Magazine
When a child is hurt, punishment seems to be the go-to response. But pursuing that direction has serious consequences.

Grieving pet owners get needed support through social worker’s partnership …
AnnArbor.com
Colleen O’Brien, a state-licensed master social worker, says no, it’s really not, and for many reasons. “When you love another living being, you love them,” she says. For many people in our culture, O’Brien explains, the relationship with pets is the most solid, enduring connection that they have.

New website advises about DADT repeal
Daily Trojan Online
By lauren march · Daily Trojan Members of the Military Acceptance Project, an organization started by graduate students from the USC School of Social Work, launched a website earlier this month to educate service members about the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

New Alzheimer’s guidelines target early stages

Msnbc.com

CHICAGO â€” The first new U.S. diagnostic guidelines for Alzheimer’s disease released in 27 years paint the disorder as a disease that occurs gradually over many years, starting with changes in the brain, then mild memory problems and finally progressing to full-blown dementia.

Foster Care’s Web Of Policies, Problems And Promise Keeps Kids In Waiting
Huffington Post
As a foster care alumnus, he now works as a social worker within the system that took him, and his five siblings, from his parents when he was only 9. Montiel advocates for teens who share the experiences he endured and the problems that persist in America’s foster homes.

Marathon County Agencies Support Child Abuse Prevention Month
WSAW
“This is something that Social Services has done just to support Child Abuse Prevention for the month of April and I think this is also just a good way to get county employees just to work together to support our community,” says Marathon County social worker Sara Klebenow.

Tim Roth Thinks Sam Rockwell Should Do Some Social Work
Screen Junkies
Actor Tim Roth has done a lot of acting in his life, and now he wants to do something else: Curing cancer. Just kidding, he’s directing a movie (his second after The War Zone). It’s called Turning Stones, based on the memoir by Mark Parent.

The Visiting Angel, By Paul Wilson
The Independent
As does Paul Wilson in his gruelling novel set in the world of social work. If he sometimes wears his heart on his sleeve in a way that would have brought out the acidic critic in Nabokov, he knows how to display it in a complex and exciting work of ficton.

Social workers form a safety net
Newton Kansan
By Vincent Tafolla, Newton Professional social workers form society’s social safety net. More than 640000 social workers across the country provide critical resources and services to help individuals, families, and communities in need.

Texas dad charged after son found dead in box
The Associated Press
HOUSTON (AP) — The family of a 10-year-old disabled boy whose decomposing body was found in a cardboard box had twice been investigated by Texas social workers, though no abuse was found in the first case and the second claim couldn’t be fully investigated, officials said Monday.

Government should value social workers
China Post
The word disaster is usually visually linked to images of dramatic destruction such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions and nuclear explosions. But the fact is disaster happens all the time and often in fashions much less attention-gripping.

California Focus: No Wisconsin here, but unions taking cuts aplenty
Hanford Sentinel
When public employees from police and schoolteachers to park rangers and social workers lose their jobs over fiscal issues, it’s hard to continue claiming union-backed candidates will never face up to financial realities.

Unfriended: Cyberbullying in Minnesota
Spot.Us
Photo by Robb Long – David Winkler-Morey, a social worker at Anthony Middle School. When students at Benilde-St. Margaret’s School received laptops at the start of the 2010-11 school year, the idea was “to prepare students for the dynamic and ever-changing world in which they’ll study, live and work.”

PT. Beach cancer patient support group feels economic pinch
Asbury Park Press
They joined 11 others and Lakewood resident Pat Spillane, a breast cancer survivor and retired clinical social worker who leads the 90-minute sessions each Tuesday at noon.

How Do You Find Good Food When You’ve Got Bad Allergies?
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Now make way for Allergic Girl. That’s the moniker that Sloane Miller, a New York social worker and food allergy advocate, has given herself in connection with her various enterprises, from an award-winning blog (Please Don’t Pass the Nuts) to a group-dining program (Worry-Free Dinners).

Homelessness a ‘major’ issue in Knox, UT College of Social Work report finds
Knoxville News Sentinel
A new report by the University of Tennessee’s College of Social Work concluded that homelessness is still “a major community problem in Knoxville and Knox County.” The report is an annual product of the Knoxville Homeless Management Information System, a Web-based database for collecting and reporting data on homeless individuals and families in the area.

Knowledge, understanding combat child abuse
Idaho Press-Tribune
She is the director of the Social Work Policy Institute in Washington DC and she was visiting Idaho for a conference. Dr. Zlotnik’s work includes advancing evidenced-based practices to benefit the wellbeing our nation’s children.

Social Work Dean Jeanette Takamura: A Personal Account of Japan’s Resilience
Columbia University
Written by Jeanette Takamura, dean of Columbia’s School of Social Work, who was in Tokyo to attend a conference when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck northern Japan. She was able to leave the country two days later. Dean Takamura is a sansei (third generation) Japanese American, born and raised in Hawaii.

The Innocent Victims of the Recession
MyFox Phoenix
“We are seeing a higher number of children that have more severity in their injuries,” says Nicole Schuren, a hospital social worker. “I think that the children suffered paid the price for that,” says Dr. Jennifer Geyer. And they’re sometimes paying with their lives.

Meth ‘Cook Houses’ Gone, Demand For Drug Lingers
NPR
Five years ago, Christine Brown was a social worker with CPS. Today, she is a supervisor. “We’re still seeing the same behaviors in the families, and we’re still seeing the same effects on the kids. They’re still exposed, it’s still happening, and it’s a battle. It’s a battle every day,” Brown says.

Texas’ reimbursement rate for abortion alternatives mentors …
The American Independent
The state program, whose subcontractors are primarily faith-based organizations that include maternity homes and crisis pregnancy centers, “is an issue of great concern to our association,” said Vicki Hansen, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers — Texas Chapter.

Social workers will celebrate National Health Care Decisions Day
Lakenewsonline.com
“It’s a tragedy when a person’s wishes are unknown at the end of their life,” said Susan Major, MSW/LCSW, director of Social Work Services at Lake Regional Health System. “It’s important for all adults to define ‘quality of life’ for themselves and to make their decisions known in case they become incapacitated.”

College of Social Work receives grant to explore demographics of kidney …
The Gamecock
Courtesy of College of Social Work For years, research has indicated that a disproportionately low number of African-American patients in need of kidney transplants actually receive them compared to white patients in South Carolina and nationwide.

Parents of girl who hanged self sue school district
Brandon News and Tribune
Donna Witsell said school officials told her a social worker from the school tried to call the family the day Hope signed the contract.

Students Bare Their Soles for Poverty Awareness
Hood Today
The event, sponsored by Hood’s Student Social Work Organization, was inspired by Toms Shoes, a company that donates a pair of shoes for each pair sold. “A Day Without Shoes,” held April 5, was designed to encourage students to reflect upon poverty and what it must be like to live life without basic necessities, such as shoes.

Cora Davis. Photo courtesy of the Independent Tribune.

Cheers to the Independent Tribune in Concord, NC for this profile of social worker Cora Davis, MSW.

Davis provides services to cancer patients at the Batte Cancer Center. Sure, the job can be emotionally challenging. However, Davis said the service she provides helps patients maximize the treatment they receive.

“The day I lose my compassion and my sense of humanness, I need to get out,” she said.

To learn more about the services social workers provide for people with cancer, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Understanding Cancer Web page by clicking here.

Review by Kathryn Gurland, LCSW

RATING (Out of 5 SocialWorkersSpeak.org Megaphones):

Plot: ”The Big C” is about 40-something Cathy Jamison (actress Laura Linney) who has been recently diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma cancer. 

Why social workers and the public should not watch this show: Although there are many ways that humor, irony and light, funny experiences could be tastefully portrayed when developing a storyline about a person diagnosed with a late stage cancer, the producers and writers of this show did not accomplish that at all.

The acting performances are of a very high caliber and the characters and dialogue are very entertaining.  However, it is clearly apparent  they did not consult with any real cancer patients, and certainly did not consult with an oncology social worker.  The mere fact that they show Cathy (the diagnosed character) going out to lunch with her doctor at a lovely restaurant by the water and then going house hunting with him is so extremely unrealistic that the plot loses its credibility even to those viewers who have never worked in healthcare. 

Photo courtesy of Showtime.

Five episodes into the series, there is still no appearance of a nurse nor social worker, only Cathy’s doctor.  Hard to believe that no one on the script writing team noticed that oversight…

And I can’t imagine that anyone who has endured a late stage diagnosis of cancer for themselves or a loved one, would find any enjoyment in seeing Cathy impulsively cash out her 401K , buy an extravagant car, hire a contractor to dig a pool in her yard, and walk around throwing out her hundred dollar bills wherever she feels like it. Really? Did this production team speak to anyone who is facing their mortality in the possible near future? 

 I’ve heard many angry comments from patients with cancer about how frivolous and “easy to pull off” these impulsive behaviors seem on the show.   And their response is “who can really do things like that when they get diagnosed?”   They feel the show makes light of and mocks how extremely difficult it is to actually find a balance between impulsively wanting to live out your days to the extreme fullest, while maintaining some reality and hope, and focusing on beating the odds and living longer.

Kathryn Gurland is a private cancer navigation consultant in New York City and runs Peg’s Group. She is also a member of the National Association of Social Workers Communications Network Advisory Committee.

Irma Bernales. Photo courtesy of the Tampa Tribune.

Cheers to the online version of the Tampa Tribune for this article on social worker Irma Bernales.

Bernales, MSW, offers patient care and hospice services to cancer patients through the Moffitt Cancer Center. An earlier, life-threatening illness gave Bernales a new perspective on patient care she  now incorporates into her often stressful job.

“I wish I had a magic wand to eliminate cancer,” Bernales said. “But as difficult and traumatic as it is for a patient, I’ve seen how struggle allows for personal, transformational growth.”

To learn more about how social workers help clients get better healthcare, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Health & Wellness Web page by clicking here.

The Mask of Caregiving
I-Newswire.com
He writes a blog for Psychology Today entitled “Life in the Recovery Room” and sits on the NASW committee to establish national protocols for certification and standardization of caregiving practices.

TUSD gets grant to aid homeless
Arizona Daily Star
The 2011 Education of Homeless Children and Youth Sub Grant awarded by the Arizona Department of Education will provide a social worker and family mentor to work directly in schools where homeless students have high turnover and absentee rates.

Social worker is her own success story
Press Herald
As a social worker, Thea Day has seen poor people fall through the cracks of Maine’s welfare system.  She has seen people take advantage of that system, too.

Cancer Support Community: a place to heal
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Laurel Healy, a licensed social worker and clinical specialist, coordinates networking and caregiving groups.

Ted Bogosian. Photo courtesy of Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

Award-winning television director, producer and writer Ted Bogosian has worked on some of the most popular programs on television.

He wrote, produced and directed “Anatomy of a Homicide: Life on the Street,” a documentary about the Emmy-nominated police drama that ran for seven seasons on NBC. He directed an episode of “Oz,” HBO’s gritty prison drama. And Bogosian has produced several major series for PBS, including “Running Mate” and “War in the Wind.”

However, he said his recent work on the 55-minute documentary “What Love Is: Pathfinders” has a special place in his heart. The documentary follows Pathfinders, an organization partly founded by social worker and National Association of Social Workers member Tina Staley that provides holistic, compassionate care to people grappling with cancer and other serious illnesses.

“Well, my mother (Natalie Bogosian) died from lung cancer a long time ago,” Bogosian said in an interview with SocialWorkersSpeak.org. “And I would say this became a movie that I made for her so the aspects of this production are very personal.”

Staley, MSW, LCSW, started an organization in 2000 to provide more hands-on, caring services to people suffering from cancer and other conditions after observing the care her brother received for cancer. She later teamed up with marriage and family counselor Kristin MacDermott and changed the national organization’s name to Pathfinders.

“(My brother) experienced the best of medicine, the best of buildings,” Staley said in an interview with the Aspen Times. But when I looked in people’s eyes, I saw fear, disconnect, separation. I thought, ‘How can you have the best of everything and still have so much suffering?’ It’s because their psychosocial needs aren’t being met.”

Pathfinders does address more than the medical needs of patients. The program is designed to meet the mind, body and spiritual needs of clients. Patients are matched with a “Pathfinder,” a trained professional with an advanced degree in social work, family counseling or therapy. Pathfinders act as patient advocates.

A recent study indicated  most patients believe Pathfinders is helpful and the program  improves quality of life and self-efficacy and helps ease distress and despair.

Tina Staley. Photo courtesy of Duke University.

Staley and Bogosian met through a mutual friend. They also both have ties to Duke University in North Carolina. Staley is an integrative oncology instructor at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center and Bogosian, a Duke alumni, was a visiting filmmaker at the university.

Bogosian has finished filming the documentary and will soon have a series of special screenings of the film for hospitals and for social workers at Duke University and around the nation. He will also enter “What Love Is: Pathfinders” into film festivals.

Bogosian already had ties to social work because his wife, Lily Gulian-Bogosian, earned a degree in social work from the University of New Hampshire.

“I knew a little about it from her experience,” he said. “I really had not worked carefully in a professional setting with social workers before.”

However, he said his experience filming “What is Love: Pathfinders” made him realize social workers could go beyond working on a case-by-case basis in hospital settings and create a program that could benefit cancer patients and their families throughout the country.

And he said filming the 50 cancer patients for his documentary was also an uncertain journey because, unlike filming a drama such as “Anatomy of a Homicide,” you have no script to follow. You merely have to record life as it is lived, both positives and negatives.

“Documentaries and drama are a search for truth,” Bogosian said. “Dramas are looking for emotional truth. Documentaries are looking for truth in words.”

To learn how social workers such as Tina Staley help people deal with illness visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Health & Wellness Web page by clicking here.

NASW has other information about cancer. You can find out how social workers conduct cancer research by clicking here and get additional resources for cancer survivors and caregivers by clicking here.

 Instead, Cathy devotes her time left on Earth to trying to help others and living life to the fullest.

“The Big C” premieres Monday Aug. 16 at 10:30 p.m.

Social workers help people battling cancer and those in hospice care. Do you think it is okay for a television show to use comedy to depict such issues?

Kathryn Seng Gurland.

Kathryn (Seng) Gurland, LCSW, is a cancer navigation consultant in New York City.

After several years of clinical work as a medical social worker and private psychotherapist, specializing in psycho-oncology, pain and palliative care and end-of-life-care, Kathy recently launched a pioneer private practice – PEG’S Group, LLC.

PEG’S Group was conceived and designed by Kathy to bridge the gaps and to meet the vital needs of the cancer community that the health care system is unable to provide at this time.  Having lost two sisters to cancer also motivated Kathy even further to develop this private consulting group of cancer navigators. 

 The company name, PEG’S Group, originated out of her sister’s Peg’s name:  Personal, Education, Guidance and Support.

Kathy holds affiliations with the National Association of Social Workers, Association of Oncology Social Work, Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

Biography and photo courtesy of Kathryn Seng Gurland.

Photo courtesy of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center.

The quality of life for breast cancer patients was consistently better over time if the patient and their mate participated in a couples-based intervention program, according to a study published in the National Association of Social Workers’ Social Work Research journal (Vol. 34, No. 1).

However, the difference in quality of life between 23 couples in a Partners in Coping Program and 24 couples who used hospital standard social work services was not significantly different, the study said.

Still, the results could guide future intervention research and give social workers guidance on providing efficient and effective ways in delivering psychosocial services to cancer patients, the authors said.

The study was done by Karen Kayser, PhD, a professor at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work; Barry Feldman, PhD, director of psychiatry services in public safety at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center; Nancy Borstelmann, MSW, MPH, LICSW, director of patient and family support services at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and Ann Daniels, PhD, LICSW, ACSW, executive director of social services and champlaincy at Massachusetts General Hospital Social Services.

The National Association of Social Workers offers members an array of cutting-edge publications. To subscribe to Social Work Research or purchase other NASW books and journals visit the NASW Press Web page by clicking here.

Tina Staley. Photo courtesy of Duke University Health System.

Kudos to the Aspen Times in Colorado for this article on a documentary about social worker and National Association of Social Workers member Tina Staley.

After seeing the treatment her brother received for cancer, Staley started an organization in 2000 to provide more hands-on, caring services to people suffering from cancer and other conditions. She later teamed up with marriage and family counselor Kristin MacDermott and changed the organization’s name to Pathfinder.

Ted Bogosian, a documentary filmmaker who has done work for PBS and HBO, filmed Staley’s story. “What Love Is: Pathfinders,” premiered in Aspen on Feb. 12 and Bogosian hopes it will eventually be shown at film festivals and on television.

“This film is about social change,” Staley said. “It’s about changing the way we look at health care in America, to a more human and caring way. Because we’re in an epidemic.”

To learn more about how social workers such as Staley help people cope with illness, visit the NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Health & Wellness Web page by clicking here.

Anna O'Connor. Photo by Danielle Gardner for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The story mentioned the emotional toll of working with young people with life-threatening cancers and how the folks at Philadelphia Children’s Hospital manage it:

“It’s a brutal business, treating little children with cancer and seeing so many die. That’s why the Children’s Hospital neuroblastoma team relies on a social worker to help everyone cope – including the doctors.”

Social workers often help people suffering from cancer and other illnesses and their families. To learn more, visit the National Association of Social Workers “Help Starts Here” Health & Wellness Web page.