[Video] Dealing with mental trauma from Marathon bombings
WWLP 22 News
As we approach the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, social workers are still meeting with victims who are dealing with trauma. Friday in Framingham those workers were recognized for all the work they’ve done. It was a chance to honor those who don’t always get recognition. After the Boston Marathon bombing, a lot was done to thank first responders but on Friday in Framingham it was the social workers who were recognized. “The good news is we train for all kinds of emergencies so when this happened we utilized what we call our muscle memory and training and went to work immediately,” said Barbara Sarnoff Lee. The Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Social Workers honored the social workers from seven Boston trauma centers.

Spirit Lake lifts Indian hiring preference in hopes of filling four social worker posts
InForum (Fargo-Moorhead, ND)
The Spirit Lake social service program still has vacancies for social workers filled by personnel brought in to serve temporary stints. Social service programs at the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation were taken over by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on Oct. 1, 2012, but the agency has yet to fill four social work slots, said Russell McDonald, the tribe’s chairman.

Rochester schools were first to hire social worker
Democrat & Chronicle
The proposed increase in funding for social workers in the Rochester school district is consistent not only with students’ needs, but with the district’s history as a pioneer in the field of school social work. It was 101 years ago that the district hired Emma Case, a former kindergarten teacher and kindergarten administrator, as a “visiting teacher,” which roughly corresponds to a modern social worker.

Social workers a staple of local education
Democrat & Chronicle
Social workers like [Erica] Vera are on the front line of the Rochester School District’s struggle with poverty and its consequences — a struggle that is increasingly spreading throughout Monroe County. The district’s proposed 2014-15 budget includes funding for a dozen new social workers, enough for one in each school, and suburban districts are finding more demand for social and emotional supports.

Civil rights speech kicks off School of Social Work’s 50th anniversary
The Red & Black
Maurice C. Daniels, dean and professor at the school of social work, spoke at the Donald L. Hollowell Lecture at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., on Thursday, April 3, 2014. The Hollowell Distinguished Professorship and Lecture Series began in 2010. Co-founder and chief trial attorney of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Morris Dees delivered a speech on civil rights at the third annual Donald L. Hollowell Lecture on Thursday.

Local hospitals, staff weigh in on suicide, treatment
Jacksonville [NC] Daily News
With a growing behavioral health population in Onslow County, hospitals and physicians remain dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable environment to heal. At Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville, the emergency department staff, to include nurses, security personnel and support staff are trained using Non-Violent Crisis Intervention, a nationally accredited program used to respond to patients in mental distress.

Iowa City Dream Center helps dads succeed
The Gazette
Supporting fathers is at the heart of the Dream Center’s mission. Social worker Frederick Newell founded the Iowa City-based not-for-profit in May 2012 as a response to the growing number of youth affected by absent and non-involved fathers. Newell had his first child at 17, when he was a junior in high school, so he knows first hand the challenges fathers can face. He moved to Iowa City from Chicago and earned a degree in social work from the University of Iowa while raising his son on his own. “As a young father, there wasn’t any support for me. I struggled to get any kind of assistance,” he said. “I struggled to get my son in day care. My son went to every class with me in college.”

Region’s residents among most miserable
Citizen’s Voice
Three major trends the researchers noted are decreases in the number of people with health insurance, rising rates of obesity and declining work environment scores. Margaret Rapp, the director of the social work program at Misericordia University, said she was not surprised to see a report that painted a picture of “doom and gloom” in the region.

As we suffer together, we share hope
The Buffalo News
It’s shocking when someone who has made his career on health, vitality and strength struggles so openly. “It makes us way more aware of our own mortality,” said Sue Sharcot, a senior medical social worker at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. “That, gee, if it could happen to someone like that, it could happen to me, too.” Sharcot has worked with countless patients affected by cancer in her 30 years at Roswell Park. She is part of a team of workers that helps patients navigate not just the tough logistics of care – “How do I get back and forth for my treatment?” – but also the sometimes unanswerable questions – “What’s going to happen to me?”

Fort Hood shooting underscores Army’s mental health crisis
Albuquerque Journal
Those accused of mass shootings invariably are found afterward to have exhibited certain common “variables,” said Ron Avi Astor, a professor of education and social work at the University of Southern California who has studied school shootings. These include expressions of intent, access to a firearm and friends and family members who heard the suspect mention the possibility of violence or suicide.

Children’s Advocacy Center offers ‘best model’ for handling tough topic of child sexual abuse
Herald News
The youths meet with a forensic interviewer who, Loranger said, is trained to conduct the interview with a neutral, fact-finding line of questioning. Meanwhile, in another room, police detectives, prosecutors, social workers, health and mental service providers, and victim witness advocates observe the interview on a television monitor. They relay follow-up questions to the forensic interviewer, who wears an ear-piece.

Britta Neinast is a member:
Father talks about son’s suicide
Northwest Indiana Times
Social worker Britta Neinast, of Valparaiso, said suicide is a sensitive issue and schools have to be careful about how it’s approached. “We don’t want to ignore it, but we have to be careful so we don’t have copycat suicide behavior,” she said.

Social Work Month:

Social Work Month: All People Matter
Huffington Post
March is Social Work Month and here at Provide, we are celebrating the incredible role social workers play in helping people navigate life’s needs and challenges and in particular, in supporting women’s health and reproductive justice for all people. “All People Matter” is this year’s Social Work Month theme, to which we add our own call to action: “Everyone has a role.”