Members in the News – June 1, 2023
NASW-MS is involved in this effort:
NLIHC
Releases Case Studies Highlighting Successes of Five ERASE Cohort Members
National Low Income Housing Coalition
NLIHC released today a set of case studies highlighting the successes of
five members of the 2021-2022 End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE)
cohort: Connecticut Fair Housing Coalition, Idaho Asset Building Network,
Prosperity Indiana, Keep Detroiters in the Their Homes Coalition, and Hope
Policy Institute & Mississippi NAACP. The case studies overview the
activities undertaken by cohort members to ensure that emergency rental
assistance (ERA) was visible and accessible to the lowest-income households in
their communities and that ERA succeeded in preventing displacement.
Kara Carter and Mercedes Bern-Klug are members of NASW-IA:
A
new mindset on mental health
University of Iowa
When Kara Carter started out as a practitioner of social work in
southern Colorado, she quickly found that her expertise in mental health
was badly needed—not just by the hospice agency that hired her, but by the
community she lived in. “I was probably one of the few licensed
professionals in the county, and I’d be asked to speak with children who were
going through various tragedies or to a youth club that had lost a student or
to start a support group for parents who have lost children. And I found myself
feeling ill-equipped,” says Carter, now a fourth-year doctoral student in
social work at Iowa.
Yvonne Chase is president-elect of NASW:
4
things to know about a master’s degree in social work
Fortune
The master’s degree is the universal standard for advanced social work
practice says Yvonne Chase, president-elect of the board of directors for
the National Association of
Social Workers. She’s also an associate professor at the University of
Alaska-Anchorage. “The MSW does open the doors to many other things—you can go
into private practice, you can work in the government systems,” Chase
tells Fortune. “It’s the MSW that you actually need to move forward
and that gives you the flexibility to move into all these various specialty
areas.”
Yvonne Chase is president-elect of NASW:
When
should social workers separate families? A federal lawsuit raises thorny
questions
The Telegraph
But social workers aren’t out to get children; they’re trying to protect
them, said Yvonne Chase, president-elect of the National Association of
Social Workers. When a hospital, school, neighbor or older child reports
mistreatment, social workers apply a risk assessment to determine how agencies
should respond, she said. “The child protective agency doesn’t create the
reports of harm. Somebody calls us,” said Chase, a former head of child
protective agencies in Alaska and Washington. “If a child is being seriously
abused, they may be very happy to see that some relief is coming.”
You can be a
mental health advocate
The Uptake
Many therapists are involved in activism and advocacy. In fact, the National
Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics states: “Social
workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and
oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change
efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment,
discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to
promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic
diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information,
services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation
in decision making for all people.”
Viola Vaughan-Eden is a member of NASW-VA:
VCU
School of Social Work alum Viola Vaughan-Eden honored by Capitol Hill advocacy
institute
Virginia Commonwealth University
Viola Vaughan-Eden, a
Ph.D. alum of Virginia Commonwealth
University’s School of Social Work, has been earning national acclaim
for more than a decade as an educator, researcher and advocate focusing on
child maltreatment. The recognition continued this spring as the Congressional
Research Institute for Social Work and Policy honored her as its 2023
Outstanding Individual in Academia. CRISP advocates for the social work
profession with federal policymakers, and Vaughan-Eden has appeared twice on
Capitol Hill as a panelist for congressional briefings.
Phelica Glass is a member of NASW-KS:
[Video]
Knowing how to find mental health resources
WIBW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker Phelica Glass joined Eye on
Northeast Kansas to talk about mental health resources, and knowing how to find
assessment tests to help determine what you or a loved one might be struggling
with. Self-assessment tests can be found at www.mhanational.org.
Phelica Glass also has many resources available on the website for her Topeka
practice, www.thegriefcounselor.com.
Angela Melzer is a member of NASW-CO:
Biofeedback
provides tool to move through trauma, life disruptions
Steamboat Pilot & Today
“Jane is a great addition because people who don’t want to directly
address psychological issues or who are wanting to focus more on physical symptoms
of anxiety or trauma, this is a different and more concrete way to address
anxiety,” said Angela Melzer, a licensed clinical social worker and owner of
Minds of Motion. “Oftentimes if people can start to see they can control
their body sensations or feel empowered in what they can do, they are more
willing to address underlying causes of anxiety or do deeper work.”
Amy Calmann is a member of NASW-NYC:
A
Mental Health Expert Explains What It Means To Receive A Dual Diagnosis
Health Digest
Having two mental health disorders at once is called a dual diagnosis,
says licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist Amy Calmann.
“One example of dual diagnosis would be someone with bipolar disorder who
is dependent on alcohol,” she said. “Another example is someone with
depression who is reliant on opioids like heroin, or on the synthetic opioid
prescription medication, Fentanyl.” She says it’s a challenge to know for
sure if one condition caused another.
Jennifer Kelman is a member of NASW-FL:
Limiting
teens’ social media feels impossible. But we have to try.
The Washington Post
The fact is, say experts and parents alike, when teens are given
boundaries around phones, they feel relief. “If kids really sat there and took
stock of how they feel when they’re on their devices, they would notice a drop
in feeling good about themselves,” says Jennifer Kelman, a
mental health expert with Just Answer, and clinical social worker specializing in
children’s mental health. “We all think our kids don’t want discipline and
boundaries, but they do. … If we just let them have free rein, they feel out
of control.”
Richard Brouillette is a member of NASW-CA:
2
Ways AI Fails at Therapy, and Why You Should Care
Psychology Today
As a therapist, I have watched this conflict in mental health heating
up: Can AI be a good therapist? I suggest that the answer, as with
screenwriting, comes back to two fundamental human traits which cannot be
simulated by a digital mind: creativity and empathy. These
two traits offer a useful frame for the AI debate: AI lacks creativity and
empathy since it can only ever rearrange the information it can access, in
ways that may feel real, but quickly turn lifeless and unhelpful.