Helping children and expectant mothers is a passion for NASW member Christina Malu, says an article published in The Camp Lejeune Globe, which is based in Jacksonville, N.C.

“I am blessed to serve as the Family and Community Partnership, mental health coordinator for the Early Head Start home-based program,” said Malu, whose role is to collaborate with EHS parents and staff to develop and implement family and community partnerships through outreach activities.

The EHS is a federally funded program designed to serve families with low income and expectant women in the community, the article explains.

Malu retired from the U.S. Navy as a chief petty officer in 2005 after 21 years of service. During her time in the Navy, one of the biggest challenges Malu experienced as a parent was having to leave her children behind when she was deployed.

“Because there was a season where I became a single parent, I had to make sure that I connected well with those around me,” Malu says in the article. “Really hone in on who your supports are, whether it’s family or whomever you call in the area, so you can stay focused on what you need to do.”

Since retiring, Malu noted she has completed her undergraduate degree in social work at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington and volunteered in the community. In 2018, she said she will be completing her MSW from East Carolina University.

NASW member Denise Levine was chosen as one of The Brooklyn Women of Distinction for 2017 as highlighted in the Brooklyn Daily.

The story says Levine has lived and worked in Bergen Beach as a psychotherapist in private practice for close to 30 years, and is also an artist skilled in painting, drawing and sculpture.

She uses art as a therapeutic process.

“My main goal in life is to support people in their healing process,” Levine was quoted saying. “I try to accomplish this as a psychotherapist and as an artist. As an artist I share my paintings on social media a few times a day along with a positive, life-affirming message.”

Throughout her career, Levine has volunteered and worked for a variety of community efforts, the article says.

Her giving attitude was shaped, in part, by personal tragedy, the Brooklyn Daily explained.

“I had a great deal of adversity in my youth,” she said. “I had cancer at a very young age, in addition to losing three close family members to sudden death. I was determined to make my life a meaningful one and to help others.”

Now, Levine helps clients transform their diversity.

“I provide psychotherapy and art therapy in a safe and soothing environment,” she says in the article. “My home is a healing center.”

Proposed Medicaid cuts could have a devastating effect on thousands of children in West Virginia, according to an article posted at WCHS/WVAH in Charleston, W.V.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources states that nearly 190,000 children receive Medicaid in the state at any given time, and nearly 6,000 foster children in the state receive Medicaid.

NASW member Stephen Tuck is quoted in the article. The chief executive of the Children’s Home Society has been with the organization for 25 years.

“Children in foster care, it’s well documented, they have well above the normal needs for medical care, behavioral care or mental health services,” Tuck said.

If the cuts happen, the story noted, they will come from different areas, and foster children will see the effects in different ways.

“They could just begin to not be eligible for a certain service within that component of Medicaid,” Tuck said.

Many of the children in foster care are there because their parents are addicted to drugs, the story says. And because Medicaid funds substance-abuse programs, the cuts could mean fewer parents getting help and more children staying in the system.

NASW member Sherry Saturno was featured among the “10 Dedicated & Deserving Social Workers” profiled in Social Work Today magazine.

Saturno is the director of social services/assistant administrator for Sprain Brook Manor in Scarsdale, N.Y.

The article notes that Saturno wrote and directed “Human Investment,” an award-winning documentary that showcases what drives social workers to invest themselves in the humanity of care. The film won the 2016 NASW Media Award for best documentary.

Saturno was also profiled in Westchester Magazine about her presentation on handling rejection at the TEDx Talk at WCC, a half-day conference that took place on the campus of Westchester Community College in Valhalla, N.Y.

She explained how rejection and the pain that accompanies it often act as motivation to achieve unanticipated success.

In her TEDx Talk, Saturno encourages the audience to avoid letting fear of rejection silence their personal narratives, the article says. “Your story is your power,” she said. “Take a look and find your quirks and your traumas and find your own greatness.”