It’s nice to see what Mississippi is doing, and to have conversations with California. That is, from an NASW chapter standpoint, says NASW-Missouri Executive Director Tamitha Overly. Overly is chairwoman-elect of the steering committee of the NASW Council of Chapter Executives, or COCE, the collaborative group of NASW chapter executive directors. The COCE provides a support group for the directors within the association where they can talk about issues, ask questions and check in with one another, Overly says. “The COCE offers support to new and seasoned EDs, and gives them the opportunity to build off of each other’s id...

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NASW and its California Chapter, through the NASW Legal Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief in the case People v. Garcia with the California Supreme Court. The issue in the case addresses the scope of the psychotherapist-patient privilege and whether it is appropriate to require a mandatory waiver of the psychotherapist-patient privilege as a condition of probation for individuals convicted of sexual offenses. NASW supports the review and reversal of the California Court of Appeals’ decision that requires a mandatory waiver of the psychotherapist-patient privilege as a condition of probation for individuals convicted of sexual offen...

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NASW part of panel that testified at hearing of Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities A competent, respected and well-supervised child welfare workforce can impact outcomes in child welfare service delivery. This was among the suggestions expressed to the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities at its latest public hearing, which was held in Portland, Ore., in late February. NASW member Michael Petit, former president of Every Child Matters Education Fund; and social worker Marilyn Bruguier Zimmerman, director of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center, serve on the 12-member commission,...

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NASW member Beth Gallihue doesn’t call herself a love expert, says an article in The Baltimore Sun, but she does teach the subject. Gallihue has taught a “minimester” for the past four years at Towson University in Baltimore called “The Psychology of Love and Intimacy.” The course — which Gallihue devised — is based on social psychology, the article says, and content comes from academic research and her own experiences as a licensed clinical social worker offering individual and couples counseling. “It’s a current topic and of general interest to a college population,” she says i...

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A month after receiving a terminal diagnosis because of pancreatic cancer in 2007, Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch delivered “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” It was popular on YouTube, and Pausch appeared on several media platforms to deliver the lecture’s positive messages. Oncology social workers are usually part of a multidisciplinary team, providing a multitude of services to people with cancer and their families. Some of the services oncology social workers provide are guiding individuals and families through health care systems, assisting with insurance procedures and logistics, and...

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April marks the second month in NASW’s 60th anniversary celebration, and I was encouraged by colleagues and NASW staff to share a few personal reflections on how I became a social worker. I’m not sure when I first understood that there was a profession called social work. I did not know any social workers in my elementary school days, and in high school the closest related professional title I recall is “guidance counselor.” Even in college, as a premed and sociology major I was not fully aware that social work was a professional option for me. Yet, I did know that I was committed to doing something that affected t...

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Social workers who have blazed trails, challenged concepts and grown to become great mentors are among the latest inductees to the NASW Social Work Pioneers® program. Supported by the NASW Foundation, the Pioneers represent role models for future generations of social workers striving to improve society. The newest inductees are: Iris Carlton-La Ney Carlton-La Ney is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has taught social work for 36 years at three North Carolina universities. Her career has focused on issues involving African-Americans and she has contributed to the historic...

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NASW staff provided suggestions to JooYeun Chang, associate commissioner for the Children’s Bureau, during an advocate stakeholders meeting the bureau hosted in December. The bureau is seeking guidance as it begins implementing provisions of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, which was signed into law last year. Primarily, the law amends the title IV-E/IV-B programs with a focus on new requirements for older children in foster care and trafficking victims. Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Social Work Policy Institute, said that there are many stipulations in the law that will require coordination...

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Clients can benefit from technology-based treatment In response to the article “Technological advances have pros, cons” (NASW News, January 2015), I was both excited and reserved while reading about social work embracing societal advances with technology, conducive to the availability of treatment services through the Internet. While working within the mental health and substance use disorder treatment environment for the past 11 years, I have observed a shift in client involvement with technology. I have noticed that many people participating in recovery-orientated treatment services have Internet access and would benefit from...

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NASW supports legislation to help children and youth Cynthia Fernan (photo right, at podium) is joined by other youth affected by homelessness and supporters of the Homeless Children and Youth Act at a Capitol Hill briefing in February. Cynthia Fernan came to Capitol Hill on a chilly January morning and informed federal lawmakers that she is an employed 19-year-old student from the Focus Learning Academy Southwest in Columbus, Ohio. “I am also a couch surfer,” she said. Fernan is homeless and has been for a few years. She relies on social media and friends to find new places to stay. She and other teens from the Columbus re...

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