Social worker Mariko Ukiyo (right) and other social workers meet with earthquake and tsunami survivors at a temporary housing facility. Image from CNN video.

Depression, post traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses still carry a heavy stigma in Japan, despite the fact the nation has the fifth highest suicide rate in the world, according to this article and video clip from CNN.

Some of the social workers helping survivors of the recent earthquake and tsunami are using a novel approach to help treat people who may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. The video clip shows social workers offering massage and beauty treatments to residents of a shelter and using the occasion to discretely ask them about their emotional state.

Sadly, Japanese social worker Mariko Ukiyo said she expects suicides related to the natural disasters to spike in months ahead. According to the news report Japanese are still reluctant to talk to others about their sorrow and losses.

“They are only realizing now the sense of loss and deep grief,” Ukiyo said.

Thanks to National Association of Social Workers member Mary Ann Donegan, MSW, LCSW, for alerting us to this article!

To learn more about how social workers help people overcome mental illness, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Mind & Spirit Website by clicking here.

Scholarship fund set up in honor of slain Giffords aide
Washington Post
A social worker, Zimmerman was a Tucson native who had worked for Giffords since her first campaign in 2006.

Jenice Armstrong: Where were Loughner’s parents?
philly.com
“With teenagers and young adults, there’s often a pattern of school failures, truancy, academic and behavioral issues in school. A consistent pattern of defiance toward authority, defiance toward parents, defiance toward teachers, defiance toward bosses at work, people in positions of authority,” said Frederic Reamer, a Rhode Island social-work professor.

When terrible things happen, what do the schools do?
Minuteman News Center

When contacted for comment, a clinical social worker that did not want to be identified and whose work does not involve children did say that, when terrible things happen, one typical reaction is to make it go away. Another thing that one might do is to open up discussion to questions.

Is Your New Year’s Resolution A Divorce? You’re Not Alone
Huffington Post (blog)
Mark Sichel is a New York City-based licensed clinical social worker and the author of Healing from Family Rifts. In his book, he describes in great detail the concept of the “Family Myth,” which consists of “the well-rehearsed notions, wholly fictitious, about the nature of a family unit. This Myth dictates that surface appearance is more important than individual happiness, and that every family member is compatible, possesses the same goals, and loves all the others without question.”

Wayne State University Researchers Determine Quake’s Effect on Mortality and …
PR Newswire (press release)
With pre-disaster data, Royce Hutson, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at Wayne State University, and Athena Kolbe, MSW, WSU School of Social Work alumna, principal investigator of the study and joint doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, conducted follow-up interviews with 93 percent of the 1,800 initial respondents to comprehensively study the earthquake’s impact on mortality, crime and access to basic needs in the greater Port-au-Prince area.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu chooses point person for homelessness
NOLA.com
Horn-Koch, who has a master’s degree in social work, served as director of Covenant House for nine years. Covenant House helps at-risk, abused, runaway and homeless youths through a residential program called Rites of Passage.

Women’s Fund to hold social justice event
SouthCoastToday.com
Dr. Gentlewarrior has 25 years’ experience as a social worker committed to social justice; she will share research findings on how people with various social identities experience discrimination.

Helping Children Complete College
Wall Street Journal
More than a decade ago, Ms. Schulman, a psychologist and social worker, began leading support groups for domestic-violence victims.

Mental health workers working with Haitian earthquake survivors. Photo courtesy of Huffington Post.

The devastating, deadly Haitian earthquake occurred six months ago but survivors are still suffering the physical and psychological effects of the disaster.

Cheers to the Huffington Post for this article about a team of Haitian counselors who help survivors deal with post traumatic stress disorder.  The program was started in April by the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, in cooperation with a group of social workers and doctoral students from the University of Michigan.

Social worker and doctoral candidate Leah James, who specializes in post traumatic stress disorder, trained the 10 Haitian counselors.

“Social workers are often among the first to respond to disasters both nationally and abroad,” says Elizabeth Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH, executive director of NASW. “The people of Haiti need our help now more than ever, and we are committed to providing any assistance we can to one of the world’s poorest countries during this terrible tragedy.”

To learn more about NASW’s earthquake response and how you can help click here.
Here’s a round-up of social work news related to the earthquake. Please send us more tips:

Ex-Pasco resident bringing hope to Haiti
The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA)
“(Social worker) Brittany Hilker knew from the time she was a kid growing up in Pasco that she wanted to help people in need. So after graduating last year from Eastern Washington University, the 25-year-old moved to Haiti where she found an outlet for her generous spirit — the Hope for Haiti Children’s Center.”

Not Too Soon for Mental Health Care in Port-au-Prince
Huffington Post
“Naomi Levitz, a social worker on our team, has worked closely with Mabo for several years and when we arrive, she is quickly surrounded by a swarm of joyous children.”

Quake Victims Starving
Decatur Daily
“Leslie Loyd struggled to find words to describe what she saw in Haiti two months after a devastating earthquake. ‘It looks like the Apocalypse, really,’ she said. Loyd earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Auburn in 2009 and expects to graduate next year from University of Alabama at Birmingham with a degree in international public health, focusing on long-term hunger relief and development.”

Older Adult Specialists Travel to Haiti to Provide Needed Care to Vulnerable Nursing Home Residents
Newswise
“Two months after the devastating earthquake hit Haiti, the needs of older adults in the region remain an urgent priority. Dr. Martin Gorbien, a geriatrician, and Lauren Kessler, a licensed clinical social worker, both from Rush University Medical Center, will be among the first older adult specialists to travel to Haiti to provide care at make-shift nursing homes.”

Haiti’s Excluded
The Nation
“Ruth Derilus had seen her share of tragedy. A 33-year-old iron-willed social worker trained by Haiti’s Papay Peasant Movement, she twice helped organize relief efforts when massive floods devastated the city of Gonaïves and the surrounding countryside. But nothing would prepare her for the tribulations she would face after the earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12 of this year.”

SCCPSS School Social Workers Raise Money for Red Cross
WSAV 3  TV (Savannah, Ga. and Hilton Head, SC)
“It was an enthusiastic afternoon Thursday at the Savannah-Chatham County school district’s Bull Street offices.The school social workers hosted a silent auction complete with dinners out, hotel stays, artwork and more. All of the money raised is going to the American Red Cross for the Haiti relief efforts.”

Social workers play detective to reunite families
USA Today
“Social workers and community activists in Haiti are going to orphanages, hospitals, camps and even the medical Navy ship USNS Comfort on the trail of parents of children found alone after last month’s devastating earthquake.”

Annette Vander Ploeg: We were first responders to Haiti’s earthquake
Democracy for New Hampshire
“I, a clinical social worker by profession, assisted the nurse practitioners in numerous ways, scribing, blood pressure, weighing. Not speaking Kreole, communication was through eyes and touch and a few French words. The poverty and hard lives of these people were staggering. Their kindness and strong spirit were inspiring.”

Helping Haiti Heal
Student Life: Washington University in St. Louis
“While in Haiti conducting research, Washington University Assistant Professor of Social Work Lora Iannotti was caught in the earthquake that left an estimated 200,000 people dead…”

Local nonprofit strives to nourish infants of Haiti
The St. Louis American
“Two days before the Jan. 12 earthquake killed more than 200,000 people, Lora Iannotti, Ph.D., nutrition and public health expert from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, traveled to Port-au-Prince and Leogane, Haiti, to collaborate with Meds and Food for Kids on research regarding undernutrition and disease prevention in young children.”

Agency needs caseworkers who speak Creole
The Tampa Tribune
“Do you speak Creole? Have a background in social work? If so, Lutheran Services Florida desperately needs you – as either an employee or a volunteer.”

Bringing Hope, and Help, to a Battered Land
The Boston College Chronicle
“Alison Quinn, a student in the Graduate School of Social Work and Connell School of Nursing joint degree program, is preparing to put her skills to work in a place where they are sorely needed. On Feb. 21, she will head off to Haiti with Circle of Hope www.circleofhopeonline.org, an organization of doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and medical staff that regularly goes to Leogane, a city outside of Port au Prince.”

Professor tells story of traveling with Haitian Orphans
The Pitt News
“Edward Sites, a professor in Pitt’s School of Social Work (and National Association of Social Workers member), was growing weary. He had not eaten or slept since departing from Pittsburgh hours ago. His energy faded as he unloaded and arranged medical supplies for nearly five hours. He was waiting for politicians to convince the Haitian government to allow Americans Jamie and Ali McMutrie and their colleagues to take 54 orphans into the United States.”

Local efforts spur more Haiti relief
Traverse City Record-Eagle (Michigan)
“A Haiti benefit concert is scheduled for Feb. 17 at Kilkenny’s. The concert is sponsored by Phi Alpha, a social work honors society student group through Ferris State University, and Kilkenny’s Irish Pub.”

Social worker helps relief staff handle the emotional trauma of Haiti
The Baltimore Sun
“Contino, a clinical social worker, was dispatched to Haiti to address the emotional trauma of the Baltimore-based (Catholic Relief Agency’s) large staff, which includes 300 Haitians and a core group of expatriates.”

In Disaster, Tensions Ease Between an Island’s Rivals
New York Times
“Like almost anyone from Hispaniola, the island uncomfortably shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Paloma Rivera is acutely aware that the two nations distrust each other, complain about each other and cite grievances about each other going back well over a century. Yet here she was, a Dominican, clearing garbage and digging latrines in a slum in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, to help survivors of the earthquake find a place to pitch their tents.’Maybe this earthquake, even with its tragedies, can do some good by making us a little less distant from each other,’ said Ms. Rivera, 24, a social worker who joined thousands of other Dominicans in loading emergency food and medicine into their vehicles and driving here.”

Dunlap native aids Haiti
PJStar.com (Illinois)
“When Dunlap resident Kelly Scott joined Meds and Food for Kids as an intern, she did not expect her first project to be Haiti’s post-earthquake relief efforts. Scott is pursuing a dual master’s degree in business administration and social work at Washington University in St. Louis.”

Area Students Pitch In for Haiti
Louisburg Herald (Kansas)
“The student council at Louisburg High School is collecting money this week to be donated, and Sara McIntire, social worker at BES and Rockville Elementary School, came up with a plan of her own. Working through Heart to Heart International, a non-profit organization based in Olathe, McIntire is collecting care kits to be sent to Haiti. Families construct the kits themselves and package them in a one-gallon plastic storage bag, along with $1 for shipping.”

In Miami’s Little Haiti, nothing to do but work, wait, hope, pray
Los Angeles Times
“At the Haitian Relief Information Center hastily set up in the heart of Little Haiti, county social worker Shirley Sieger was, in theory, there to help …”

Local woman worries over Haitian friends as aid efforts take form
Las Cruces Sun-News
“… are in Port-au-Prince,” said Burke, who works at the Gospel Rescue Mission in Las Cruces and recently earned her master’s degree in social work. …”

Mass. student on trip to Haiti
Nashua Telegraph
“The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reports that Gengel is a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in social work. Comments from unverified accounts will be …”

Haitian Orphans Expected Tonight in Pittsburgh
Philly.com
“A plane carrying a medical team left Pittsburgh for Haiti today, and it is expected to return tonight with a group of orphans from a facility run by two sisters from western Pennsylvania…The flight also includes Ed Sites, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, along with a pediatric nurse and a physician assistant from Excela Health Systems based in Westmoreland County.”

Haiti Relief effort group shifts into high gear
New Haven Register
“Mary Lou Ryder-Larkin, who works full-time in the pediatric emergency department of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx section of New York, is medical director of Haiti Marycare, a group that since 1994 has delivered medical, educational and humanitarian relief to the poorest people of Haiti. The group was founded in 1994 by New Haven resident Sherman Cassidy Malone…These days, Malone, a licensed clinical social worker with a specialty in post-traumatic stress disorders and clinical director of the New Haven Family Alliance, is quick to answer the telephone in hopes of news, but often the connection disappears.”

Elation turns to anxiety for one Mass. family
Boston.com
“A Rutland couple’s relief and celebration that their daughter had been located alive in Haiti turned to shock and disbelief last night when they learned that a mistake had been made and she was still missing…Britney Gengel is studying social work, relatives said.”

Haiti Children Orphaned After Quake
WAAYTV.com
“Social workers say Haiti has always had a large number of children needing to be adopted, but after last week’s earthquake the number of orphaned children has surged.”

Quake’s tremors felt close to home
The Boston Globe
“It was an amazing thing for them to do, to embrace us like this,” said Exilhomme, a 33-year-old social worker who is president of A Better Tomorrow International Charities Inc., a social service agency for the Boston-area Haitian Community.

Haiti Orphan Adoption: Ensuring a Successful Transition
PR Web
“Haiti adoption interest has spiked after the disastrous earthquake and aftershocks in Haiti. In response to the crisis, you are invited to listen in on this discussion regarding the orphans being adopted out of this country. Heather T. Forbes, LCSW and Dr. Ronald Federici discuss the dynamics in transitioning these children from disaster to safety and security.”

Photo of Haitian earthquake refugees courtesy of CNN.

Photo courtesy of KYW Radio.

KYW radio in Philadelphia interviewed National Association of Social Workers member Dr. Donna Fiedler about the psychological impact of the Haitian earthquake. The effects go far beyond the survivors in Port au Prince and surrounding areas, said Fiedler, a professor of social work at La Salle University.

For many in the United States, the news from Haiti can become depressing, she said.

“If people are really getting that upset, maybe taking a break from the radio or TV for a while might be a wise thing, especially for children,” Fiedler said.

To read the full article click here.

To learn more about the National Association of Social Workers’ response to the Haitian earthquake click here. And to find out how social workers help people deal with grief, loss, depression and other issues visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Web site by clicking here.