Up to 48,000 Afghan, Iraq vets at risk for homelessness
USAToday
Carly Brown, a social worker with the Department of Veterans Affairs, center, and Dave Dyer, a Massachusetts Department of Veterans Services peer specialist, right, search for homeless veterans Nov. 21 in Boston’s financial district. The federal government reports a large increase in the number of homeless veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

Committee: Social worker important for Rochester school
Sippican Week
“For certain situations responsive classroom is good, but there will be situations that a social worker is needed who knows how to counsel students,” Medeiros said. With town and school officials possibly having to cut  $200,000 from the school budget the position may not be funded soon; however, administrators and committee members stressed its importance.

Health Beat: Anxious kids, anxious parents: Local therapist, author to speak at Gibsons
Concord Monitor
Luckily for [Lynn] Lyons, she’s a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with a practice in Concord, and she was on the show to discuss Anxious Kids, Anxious Parents, a parenting book she co-wrote last year to help parents learn to break the control anxiety has on their families’ lives. “The goal for me that day wasn’t to be calm. That wasn’t going to happen, not there. The goal is to anticipate the worry is going to come, but not put it in charge,” Lyons said.

The Big Six: Civil Rights Movement
SodaHead
Whitney Young Jr. helped bridge the gap between white political and business leaders and poor blacks and militants after becoming Executive Director of the National Urban League. Young served as President of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), from 1969-71.Young had a particularly close relationship with President Johnson, and in 1969, Johnson honored Young with the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Family Court from social worker’s perspective
Cape Gazette
My name is Brendan Buschi. I have lived in Delaware since 1996. I am semi-retired and currently reside in Milton. I have been continuously licensed as an independent social work practitioner since 1975. I have had clinical licenses in New York, Virginia, Colorado, Maryland and Delaware. At various times I have testified in family court proceedings in all of the above mentioned states plus New Hampshire.

Treating Addiction in the Transgender Community – What You Need to Know
PsychCentral
By Jeff Zacharias, LCSW, CAADC, BRI-I—It is estimated that 30 percent of the LGBT population struggles with some form of addiction whether drugs, alcohol, sex or gambling.  Contrast that figure with the estimate that approximately 9 percent of the general population is impacted by addiction and it’s not hard to see that addiction is epidemic in the LGBT community.  Nowhere is this more prevalent that in the transgender community where rates of addiction tend to be even higher.

Milwaukee faith project offers prostitutes housing, hope
FindLaw
Deacon Steve Przedpelski and Carmen Mojica are a fixture in some neighborhoods of Milwaukee, dispensing bagged lunches, health information and hope to prostitutes from an old minivan emblazoned with the words Franciscan Peacemakers. Theirs is a mobile ministry that meets women — and sometimes men and teens — where they are: on the streets.

The Myth of Holiday Suicide Rates
NBCPhiladelphia
Jonathan Singer, an assistant professor of social work at Temple University, works with suicidal kids. Singer says for young people especially, suicide triggers are often associated with school including humiliation, academic failure and pressures. “We see an uptick in the number of kids we see after the beginning of the school year. Then it slows down around the holidays,” said Singer, a therapist with Guy Diamond and the Family Safety Net Project.

Law’s Expanded Medicaid Coverage Brings a Surge in Sign-Ups
The New York Times
But Gina Justice, a social worker with the Mingo County Diabetes Coalition, said many of her patients have to choose now between medicine and food, so access to critical medications through new coverage will be a lifeline. “People tell us, ‘This is the food month,’ ” Ms. Justice said. “If you can take away that stress because now you’ve got a medical card, then you can focus on healthier eating that will help with these medical issues.”

Child Pornography: Basic Facts About a Horrific Crime
The Huffington Post
Mary L. Pulido, PhD, Executive Director, The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children—It’s usually a news headline. “A well regarded community member was arrested today and charged with possession of hundreds of photos of child pornography on his computer.” Viewers are appalled. The individual who was named, if employed, is usually placed on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Winter weather affects our health physically and mentally
WPSDLocal6
For some, winter weather can mean doom and gloom. The cold, frosty temperatures and limited sunlight can cause ailments that are both physical and mental. “We don’t do as much activity when it’s cold and dark outside, so we end up sitting around the house,” said H Group social worker David Matthews. Matthews says he treats seasonal depression regularly.

NC names new Public Health chief
WRAL
State Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos has named Rear Admiral Penny Slade-Sawyer to lead the state Division of Public Health.… The new director is no stranger to North Carolina, having previously directed the physical rehabilitation unit at the federal medical center in Butner. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy and a master’s in social work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.