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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.

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