HEAP outreach gathers steam in suburban, rural centers
wnypapers.com
The Erie County Department of Social Services is already seeing success in a new partnership with the University at Buffalo School of Social Work and community organizations designed to make it easier for county residents to access Social Services programs. The partnership, which began in early November, resulted in the development of community locations throughout Erie County, where residents can get help in applying for an array of programs from University at Buffalo social work graduate student interns. Thanks to these on-site assistants, more than 100 families have already accessed these services, primarily the Home Energy Assistance Program (“HEAP”).

Mark Lusk is a member:
[Video] UTEP professors create program for social workers that targets Hispanics
kvia.com [EL PASO, Texas]
Social workers across the country can train under a new program created by two UTEP professors. Professors Mark Lusk and Silvia Chavez Baray believe to effectively treat Hispanics, the social worker needs to be sensitive to the Hispanic culture. Together they created “Cultural Competency and Resilience in Social Work Practice with Hispanics,” available online for free. To see the video and learn about the program, click here. Training videos are in both English and Spanish.

Chris Doss is a member:
Why do our New Year’s resolutions fail?
Las Vegas News Journal
Chris Doss, a licensed clinical social worker at the Community Counseling Center of Southern Nevada, isn’t a fan of the word “resolution” at all. Instead, he suggests using another word to describe your annual attempts at self-improvement. “I kind of like the word ‘goal’ better, because a goal is more flexible,” Doss says. “A resolution is more like, ‘I’m gonna change right now.’ A goal is, ‘I have time to get this accomplished.’ ”

A publication from NASW Press is mentioned:
Remembering an Early Giant in the Fight for Social Justice
The Huffington Post
A newly published book has reminded those who care about social justice in America about one of its strongest and most effective advocates, the late James Dumpson. The book is Reflections on the American Social Welfare State by Alma Carten, and it sheds new light on the life and career of this courageous, lifelong crusader for human rights. Jim Dumpson set out in the early 1930s as a social worker, and although he took on many other assignments during the next six decades, that remained his real vocation. His timing was perfect because it was the era of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the transformation of government’s role in social and economic affairs.

Doreen Quaranto is a member:
Soup’s On, Along With a Helping of Community
The East Hampton Star [NY]
The East Hampton Clericus’s annual series of soup dinners begins Wednesday, offering a healthy helping of community, camaraderie, and volunteerism along with the good eats.… “The key word is community. Everyone comes from all walks of life. . . . It’s a wonderful, wonderful evening. Everybody just pitches in. People feel really good about it,” said Doreen Quaranto, a licensed clinical social worker and the director of outreach at Most Holy Trinity who coordinates the community soup dinners on behalf of the clericus.

Ingrid Grossberg is a member:
Four-Legged Lifesavers: Specially trained dogs enhance owners’ quality of life
Detroit Jewish News
Ingrid Grossberg of West Bloomfield, a clinical social worker, has frequently taken her certified therapy dog, Midge, a grand champion Portuguese water dog, to Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital to visit patients. “Henry Ford requires that your dog be trained and then certified by a national organization before you can work as a therapy team,” Grossberg says. “We were certified by the national organization, Alliance of Therapy Dogs. I applied to be a volunteer and met with Henry Ford Hospital’s head of the dog therapy program who again evaluated us and gave his approval. Midge and I had to get all our vaccinations updated before we were allowed to visit anyone. It’s always a fun, rewarding and heartwarming experience for the two of us and the patients and staff.”

Panel speaks on Native American historical trauma
North by Northwestern
“The term historical trauma may lead people to think that we’re only talking about the remote past,” Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart said. “But for me everything up to the last minute is history.” Heart, the clinical social worker and researcher who originally developed the concept of historical trauma for the Lakota people, compared the experience of Native Americans to that of survivors of the Jewish holocaust. The impact of the original genocide compounds over generations, leaving scars not only on those who saw the loss, but, Heart argues, on their descendants. Heart said the legacy of massacres, forced relocation, and hostile US policy, continued to traumatize Native Americans into the 21st century.

Lorette Lavine and Samira Beckwith are members:
10 Ways to Prepare for Surgery
U.S. News & World Report
In 2008, Lorette Lavine, 62, of Hinsdale, Illinois, learned she would need open heart surgery to repair a dysfunctional valve. The former nurse and social worker knew what she in for. Years ago, she did a stint at the recovery room at NYU Langone Medical Center, where she worked with patients who had just undergone ​heart surgery.… Samira Beckwith, president and CEO of Hope Healthcare Services in Fort Myers, Florida, says knowing what you’re up against is half the battle. “Understand the expected outcomes and risks from credible sources, not blogs,” Beckwith says, adding that your health care team will provide you with any information you need. The point is to get as much accurate information as possible.

Anne Gilbert Tyson was a former member:
Dedicated Social Worker Anne Crofton Tyson Dies at 86
Falls Church News-Press
Anne “Annie” Crofton Tyson (nee Gilbert) died in her home on Dec. 25, 2015 in McLean after a short illness. She was born April 5, 1929 in New York to her parents Albert and Julia Washington Gilbert. Anne received a B.A. in 1951 and an M.A. in Social Work from Howard University in 1953. She married Dr. James Noel Tyson in 1966, a professor of Pharmacology at Howard University. The Tysons lived in Washington, D.C. before building their home in McLean in 1970, where they resided together for 44 years. Tyson began her professional career in the field of sociology as a Social Worker at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and later worked for John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She retired from the City of Washington, D.C. after 30 years of dedicated service.

Nicholle Karim is a member:
NC mental health advocates encouraged by Obama’s proposal to fund treatment
WNCN
After years of cuts to mental health programs, more funding is needed, said Nicholle Karim, public policy coordinator for the North Carolina chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “We believe that it could really help in some of the gaps that we have currently in our system for mental health care, especially in North Carolina,” she said.