Room for Debate: A Running Commentary on the News
New York Times
Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes is co-director of the Center on Aging and Work/Workplace Flexibility and an associate professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at Boston College:  In response to the labor market’s supply and demand, employers fluctuate between a focus on the war for talent and lean and mean approaches to human capital.

Sex Rehab for Weiner? How Sexual Addiction Treatment Works
PsychCentral.com
By Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S As reports that “Congressman Anthony Weiner heads to rehab” continue to dominate headlines (and the Twitter-sphere), I am receiving an increasing number of media calls asking to explain exactly how sex addiction treatment works.

COMEDY CENTRAL’s® “Ugly Americans” Returns for a Second Season of Demons …
PR Newswire (press release)
Take New York City, add every horrifying beast, science-fiction freak and fantasy faerie, shake thoroughly, and you’ve got “Ugly Americans,” an animated series that follows Mark Lilly, a social worker at the Department of Integration, as he helps new citizens both human and “other” adapt to hectic life in the Big Apple.

Public Allies Maryland Brings Together Baltimore Teens and Civic Leaders
UMB News
Local and federal officials engaged in a give-and-take with young people during a ‘Give a Care’ summit held June 4 at the University of Maryland campus in Baltimore by Public Allies Maryland, a partnership between the UM School of Social Work (SSW) and a national program supported by AmeriCorps.

New child protection leader says Church can help society fight sex abuse
Catholic News Agency
And I’ll hopefully be able to carry that out when I go to Washington, DC” A husband and father of two who has served with the US Marine Corps, Deacon Nojadera said his work with child victims began after he received a master’s degree in social work from San Jose State University in 1991.

Run honors Teri Zenner
KC Community News
Teri’s death focused national attention on safety for social workers. The efforts of her widower, Matt Zenner, and Sky Westerlund, the executive director of the National Association of Social Workers for Kansas, resulted in the April 2010 passage of egislation by the state of Kansas requiring safety training for first-time licensure renewals for master social workers and specialist clinical social workers.

‘Invisible’ youths need adult assistance
Evansville Courier & Press
Youth First’s School Social Workers often meet that need. They help motivate students to focus on the future and set goals to achieve their dreams. They also help kids develop coping, communication and social skills to navigate life’s inevitable challenges.

Transplant Recipient speaks out: “Shame on the American Diabetes Association”
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
A transplant recipient and past National Public Citizen of the Year as awarded by the National Association of Social Workers, Dr. Richard Darling, is criticizing the American Diabetes Association (ADA) for not taking a proactive stance with organ-donor policy makers in support of trial projects of new organ-donor policies to reverse America’s crisis.

NJ: DYFS head to explain to judge how case of 8-year-old Irvington girl was mishandled
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com 
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Allison Blake will appear before a federal judge today to describe how the hotline appears to have mishandled a call last month, nine days before an 8-year-old Irvington girl was found dead in her home.

Your tweeting heart
Boston Globe
Risa Garon, a licensed clinical social worker, and executive director of the Maryland-based, nonprofit National Family Resiliency Center, also took a nuanced view. “If the couple has a solid relationship, and there’s a commitment to work on the marriage, whether or not it’s cheating becomes inconsequential,” she said.

WMU students get into building communities, block by block
WMU News
They now are being offered in partnership with the WMU School of Social Work. “The students were eager to continue such a course, the neighborhoods’ loyalty to the program was clear and the city was eager to keep it going as well,” Cummings says.

Student who started out homeless to graduate from Cal State San Bernardino
San Bernardino Sun
Dominic Ruffin was homeless for his first seven months at Cal State San Bernardino. Ruffin will receive his bachelor’s degree Sunday. He intends to pursue a master’s degree and a career in social work.

Baby’s Death Under Investigation In Bryson City
WHNS Greenville
BRYSON CITY, NC — The death of a Bryson City baby last month is under investigation as warrants say social workers failed to protect the child. Swain County deputies said 15-month-old Aubrey Littlejohn died at Cherokee Indian Hospital on Jan. 10.

Swain DSS investigated for cover-up in child’s death
Waynesville Smoky Mountain News
The social worker who handled the child’s case, Craig Smith, altered his reports, fabricating a hospital visit and doctor’s exam that never occurred, according to law enforcement statements. Smith claims he did so at the direction of his immediate superior, Candace Lassiter, according to a search warrant executed by the SBI at the DSS office in Bryson City.

Addiction costs state millions of dollars
Morehead News
The master clinical social worker at the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy—the public defender’s office—is well known for thorough and personalized work to find treatment options for indigent clients. The DPA social worker program came about as a means to lessen the taxpayer burden of overcrowded prisons and jails, according to an agency report.

Pamela Vescera is an active member:

Barbie educates public on eating disorders
Utica Observer Dispatch
How many people locally battling eating disorders is difficult to calculate, said Pam Vescera, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in eating disorders.

Health professional moves on, leaves crucial vacancy in West
West Yellowstone News
Licensed Addiction Counselor and clinical social worker Michael Hagenlock explains how to identify an employee who may have a substance abuse problem at a drug testing information session last November. Community West Outreach hosted the info session.

La Familia was one of many mental health centers to struggle with budget cuts …
Pioneer Press
Avina, a licensed clinical social worker and a marriage and family therapist, oversaw the organization’s clinical work, leaving Santos to recruit foundation support as director of community affairs.

Will young people shun government work?
Minneapolis Star Tribune
You’ve thought about teaching or social work that helps the poor. You’re also interested in protecting the environment and promoting sustainable agriculture and renewable energy. But those interests tend to lead to careers in government.

Black community in Atlantic City struggles to find, retain leaders
Press of Atlantic City
Today, role models of that caliber are comparatively rare in black communities, said Patricia Reid-Merritt, a professor of social work and African-American studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Giffords and staff remember victim on his birthday
CNN International
By the CNN Wire Staff (CNN) — Gabe Zimmerman used his degree in social work to help children in need. The avid runner and his fiancee had a lot of plans. On January 8, those plans came to an end when he and five others died when a gunman opened fire at Representative Gabrielle Gifford’s “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, Arizona.

Societal changes dividing nation; Some tolerate trends others see as harmful
Middletown Press
Mark Gaynor, a licensed clinical social worker in New Haven, says it’s not surprising to find such a range of views. “Change is stressful by definition,” he says.

How conducting trauma therapy changes the therapist
Scientific American
About the Author: May Benatar is a licensed clinical social worker in practice as a psychotherapist in the DC metro area. She has her PhD in clinical social work and has published, taught, and consulted on the topics of adult development, parenting, and the treatment of the long term effects of psychological trauma.

I Am ME: Rebecca Denslow, Charleston, SC
The Fatherhood Channel
As a licensed clinical social worker, Becky Denslow maintains an active practice in nearby Mt. Pleasant, where she introduced relationship and marriage education to the community after being personally trained by PAIRS founder Lori Gordon in 1993.

Aging Gracefully: Social workers invaluable in role as advocates …
The News-Press
Today kicks off National Social Work Month. The National Association of Social Workers focuses on calling attention to the social work profession throughout the month of March.

Financial Worries Top Psychosocial Concern of Cancer Patients
Internal Medicine News Digital Network
Highlighting shifting priorities after the recession, nearly half of all recent psychosocial consultations with patients at a leading cancer center involved financial worries, rather than adjustment issues or other pressing mental health concerns.

Minnesota’s fraying safety net
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A social worker with Lutheran Social Service, Hagen oversees 26 group homes that support developmentally disabled adults in the Twin Cities.

David Houke Recruited to Lead Burning Tree Lodge
PR Web
David interned at the Kerrville State Hospital as part of his master’s program. He is an active member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Suicide education targets teens
The Daily Advertiser
“Oftentimes, people only think about the number of actual suicides,” said Linda Carmouche, a licensed clinical social worker who works at Northside through its clinic.

What causes politicians like Lee to stray?
WIVB
Conklin is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in sex and relationship issues. “What’s happening to Chris Lee is happening all over the place.

Biannual homeless tally includes focus on veterans
Casper Star-Tribune Online
David Allhusen, senior social worker at the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, will take part in the twice-yearly homeless count for the Casper area.

Social workers gather Delaware prostitutes’ stories
The News Journal
The few studies evaluating diversion programs have not clearly demonstrated their effectiveness, said Stéphanie Wahab, an associate professor in the school of social work at Portland State University.

Calif. nursing homes to be held to higher standard
OneNewsNow
A Los Angeles social worker thinks other states should consider adopting the new nursing home rating system that will soon be implemented in California.

Japanese scholars coming to Oak Park
TribLocal
She said America is ahead of the curve in school social work, a subject that is just beginning to catch on in Japan.

Detroit garden nurtures inmates near end of prison sentences
Detroit Free Press
In an odd coincidence, Davis and one of her recent residents, James (Bear) Fuller first met 34 years ago, when Davis was just beginning her career in prison social work and Fuller was beginning his sentence for murder.

Giving a voice to Cincinnati’s homeless
Cincinnati.com
Spring is a licensed social worker who graduated from Xavier University in 2007 with a degree in social work. During college he worked weekends at nonprofit Tender Mercies in Over-the-Rhine, where he learned the importance of listening to the individual stories of the homeless people who needed help.

Social workers help students succeed
Evansville Courier & Press
According to the National Association of Social Workers, the main objective of school social work is to address the social, emotional and psychological needs of students, helping them to overcome difficulties and to improve their overall quality of life.

A $1 Million Goal for Big Brothers Big Sisters
Wall Street Journal
Mr. Kelly met his wife, a social worker who now works as an assistant executive director at the organization, through Big Brothers Big Sisters.

School of Social Work Faculty Discuss Human Trafficking in Fox 7 Interview
UT-Austin
Slavery exists in Texas. People are trafficked into the United States for labor or sex, for forced service. That’s what two researchers from the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin told viewers during a Fox 7 News “Good Day Austin” interview July 27 with Keri Bellacosa.

AZ Social Workers: Limiting Park Access Threatens Body and Soul
Public News Service
Carol Stambaugh, Arizona director for the National Association of Social Workers, says in tough economic times, it’s easy to forget the role of parks in in meeting the needs of the whole person.

Police Investigating Suspicious Death Of Teen
WLNS
Karen Bergbower, Social Worker: “It’s an unfortunate reminder that this problem is pervasive and that, as a community, we need to continue our work.

Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Jeers to the Georgia state government for considering $600 million in budget cuts that some students said could force public colleges and universities to cut social work and other course offerings.

About three dozen students held a protest at the state capitol on Wednesday to protest the cuts. About a third came from Dalton State College. Many of the Dalton State students study at the School of Social Work and are afraid budget cuts could force the school to close the program.

“If they cut the program, then everything I’ve done this far won’t matter,” Dalton State sophomore Benji Parker, 22, said. “Hopefully the credits transfer, but who knows?”

Students plan larger protests later this month. Read the full story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution by clicking here.

David Semo. Photo courtesy of The Record.

Kudos to The Record for this Q&A article with David Semo, director of pupil services at the North Colonie School District in the Albany, N.Y. area.

Semo manages speech therapists, psychologists, special education teachers and guidance counselors in the school district. He said his job can be challenging but is rewarding because he helps students, including those with special needs, succeed academically.

For more information on how social workers help children in schools visit the National Association of Social Workers “Help Starts Here” Schools and Communities Web page.

Matthew Tully

Indianapolis Star columnist Matt Tully is writing an article series on Manual, a city high school with a 39 percent graduation rate. More than 70 percent of students also qualify for free or reduced lunch, an indicator of poverty.

Social Workers Speak! likes that Matt interviewed a social worker who is reaching out to students. In the article, “A Message to Manual: People Care,” Tully mentioned Jan Gildner, a faculty member at the Indiana University School of Social Work.

Gildner is mentoring two Manual High students who said they are interested in social work careers. “You reach a point in your career where you want to give back,” Gildner said.