Revisions aim to help social work practitioners address increasingly diverse populations NASW has updated its Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice. The 2015 NASW National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity, or NCORED, spent the past year reviewing, revising and seeking public input in updating the document to introduce new concepts and expand on suggestions outlined in previous editions: The “Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice,” published in 2001; and “Indicators for the Achievement of the NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice,”...

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U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (photo right), D-Md., was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom last fall. Mikulski, who is a social worker, is a member of NASW and the Congressional Social Work Caucus. President Barack Obama presented the medal to Mikulski during a ceremony at the White House on Nov. 24. According to the White House, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Katharine Br...

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Social Work Month 2016 This year’s Social Work Month theme, “Forging Solutions out of Challenges,” celebrates innovative work by social workers to improve lives and communities. “As we continue moving into the 21st century, our nation still grapples with complex challenges, including immigration reform, racial strife, and ensuring all citizens have access to vital services,” said NASW Public Relations Manager Greg Wright. “Social workers will be in the fray, helping our nation forge a path to a better future.” National Professional Social Work Month takes place each March. NASW will help social ...

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NASW participated in the Council on Social Work Education’s annual program meeting in October. NASW CEO Angelo McClain and NASW Senior Consultant Joan Levy Zlotnik presented “NASW at 60: Paving the Way for Social Work’s Future.” They highlighted the association’s legislative advocacy and initiatives to support the career trajectory of social workers from students to policy fellows to supervisors and leaders. Legislative priorities included: support for federal policies to provide mental health equity for Medicare beneficiaries by ensuring full access to clinical social workers, including supporting the Impro...

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Social workers have the opportunity to experience the professional development event of the year at NASW’s next national conference, “Leading Change, Transforming Lives,” taking place June 22-25 in Washington, D.C. “This is a unique opportunity for social workers and other helping professionals to learn from best practices in the profession, refocus their ideals and values, challenge their perceptions and re-energize, said Richard Loomis, manager of Conference and Event Planning at NASW. Early bird registration starts this month and lasts through March 18. More than 2,300 social workers and like-minded professiona...

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Addressing the need for standards in mental health and substance use care is particularly critical given the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, according to a newly released report by the Institute of Medicine Committee on Developing Evidence-Based Standards for Psychosocial Interventions for Mental Disorders. NASW members John Brekke, professor of social work research at the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare at the University of Southern California; and Enola Proctor, professor and associate dean for faculty at the George Warren Brown School of S...

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NASW requested that the agency restore the individual claims measures used by clinical social workers This past fall, NASW sent letters to the acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to address issues important to social workers and their clients as they relate to the CMS Physician Quality Reporting System as well as proposed requirements for long-term care facilities. In a September letter, the association offered comments on the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Value-Based Modifier, Opting Out, Skilled Nursing Facility, and Advance Care Planning Services. In the list of PQRS proposed measure...

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Profession practices inclusion by holding all licensing exam applicants to same standards I strongly disagree with statements made by Evan Senreich in his letter to the editor in November’s (2015) NASW News. Exempting “culturally diverse ... social workers who have not had economic and educational advantages” from requirements for licensure is no way to undo racism. The social work profession practices inclusion rather than exclusion by holding all applicants to the same standards. By the time social workers take the Association of Social Work Board (ASWB) exams, they have had years of higher education, which should ha...

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NASW and the NASW Texas Chapter, through the NASW Legal Defense Fund, joined in a broad civil rights coalition amicus brief in the case Evenwel v. Texas filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is based on a challenge to the appeal ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The brief argues that total population is an appropriate basis for redistricting because it ensures that all people — not merely those who are eligible to vote or who actually cast ballots — are represented in the political process and it is consistent with the 14th Amendment, which explicitly incorporates the principle of equal...

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NASW-NYC executive director helps movie producers link to social workers in the field NASW played a small role in portraying the realities of homelessness in the movie “Time out of Mind,” starring actor Richard Gere. The movie was first shown in 2014 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and released in September 2015. The film’s production received help from NASW’s New York City Chapter. Robert Schachter, the chapter’s executive director, said the chapter helped link producers to sources that made the homeless aspect of the movie authentic. “The New York City Chapter was pleased to be asked to p...

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