NASW News

NASW has outlined its 2008 legislative agenda in a new report. Written by NASW's Government Relations staff, the document states that many issues important to social workers will be prominent during the federal-level races this election cycle. The Social Work Reinvestment Initiative (SWRI) will be emphasized, as well as health care topics such as universal coverage, care for veterans returning from Iraq, and Medicare. SWRI The report stated that NASW centered much of its political efforts on SWRI in the past year. The goal of SWRI is to secure federal and state investments in professional social work to enhance societal well-being. The Ac...

Read More

Since I was a child, I have loved the month of May. Living in the north, May always seemed to be right on the edge of summer. By Memorial Day, school was all but over for the year. Three months of endless possibilities stretched ahead. May falls in the middle of spring. In the northern hemisphere, spring begins with the vernal equinox in March. It lasts until the summer solstice in June. Equinoxes and solstices are defined by the earth's tilt and the surf's positions. As the earth tilts towards the sun, the length of daylight increases. Primitive calendars were determined by cyclical movements in the heavens. Knowing seasonal transitions wa...

Read More

An NASW report shows that "sandwich generation" women are ill-prepared for the challenges of providing care to aging relatives and find it hard to ask for help. The report, "Not Ready for Prime Time: The Needs of Sandwich Generation Women, A National Survey of Social Workers," explores the challenges faced by some 42 million American women sandwiched between the needs of their own children and their aging relatives through information provided by their social workers. The report was commissioned by NASW and the New York Academy of Medicine. In 2006, NASW released data from a survey of these women that highlighted some of the strains...

Read More

A new report from the NASW Center for Workforce Studies shows that social work professionals often face challenges or obstacles that may cause them to feel overwhelmed and stressed. The report, "Stress at Work: How Do Social Workers Cope?" is based on data from a recent NASW membership survey. The report reveals that social workers providing direct services, particularly mental health and health care, may experience higher levels of stress due to their emotionally attenuating practice setting. Among respondents, 31 percent said that a lack of time to complete the necessary tasks of their jobs was a major issue. Heavy workloads were ...

Read More

NASW Social Work Pioneer® and civil rights icon Dr. Dorothy I. Height was joined by Reps. Edolphus "Ed" Towns (D-N.Y.) and Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) in announcing the introduction of a milestone social work bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in February. The Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr., Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 5447) is a significant initiative that, if enacted, will enable the nation's 600,000 professional social workers to better serve families and communities in need, said NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark. Speaking at a Capitol Hill briefing and press conference Feb. 27, Height...

Read More

The Rev. Donald H. Moeser wrote an article for the Huntington Herald-Dispatch's observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Moeser's piece detailed his meetings with King. "As a clergyman and a social worker serving an interracial, inner-city Lutheran Church in Newark, N.J., I became involved in the civil rights movement as an advocate on behalf of my parishioners and other oppressed people in my community," Moeser wrote. Later, he stated that he, along with other clergy, attended the ceremony in Washington, D.C., when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into federal law. He was also fortunate at the last m...

Read More

— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   NASW is among 13 organizations that have joined together to issue a publication called Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel. The publication has been sent to 16,000 public school superintendents in the United States. The publication is designed to guide employees confronting issues involving gay, lesbian and bisexual students and to help administrators foster safe and healthy school environments. It includes up-to-date information from professional health organizations as well legal guidelines about the responsibility of school offi...

Read More

Social workers were among the hundreds of volunteers who counseled students and staff at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Ill., after a tragic shooting rampage occurred on campus Feb. 14. Among the 500 volunteers was NASW member Noel Lemke, a medical social worker at Good Sheppard Hospital in Barrington, Ill. NIU students hold a vigil. (Photo: NIU Media Services) The counselors helped staff and students cope with the tragedy that left six students dead, including the 27-year-old gunman who police said committed suicide before authorities arrived. Lemke said she heard about the need for volunteer counselors from an NASW Il...

Read More

NASW has published a new practice update that provides details about changes in the Medicare Part B 2008 reimbursement rates for clinical social workers. The practice update offers information on several developments that have affected Medicare reimbursement rates. In January, a temporary 0.5 percent increase for Medicare providers went into effectand is effective through June 30. New practice-expense methodology, however, is also having an effect on Medicare reimbursement rates for clinical social workers, and social workers may increase their reimbursement through participation in the 2008 Physician Quality Reporting Initiative. The update...

Read More

Specious Attack With all due respect to my colleague Bruce A. Birnberg, who takes our profession to task for defending ourselves from George Will's attacks ["Knee-Jerk Defensiveness," Letters, February], what possibly qualifies Mr. Will to comment on our profession? And who is next — Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Lou Dobbs? Our work is arduous enough without having to stop and defend ourselves from specious attacks. Barry Goldman-Hall, LCSW San Jose, Calif.   Next Reentry Steps The report on the NASW conference on prisoner reentry shows that the organization is moving in the right direction. What it lacked was any indication o...

Read More