NASW News

ACA mandates that treatment is offered through exchanges The Affordable Care Act has brought about a “huge opportunity” for behavioral care in the U.S., said Ron Manderscheid, co-chairman of the Coalition for Whole Health. All health insurance plans sold on the federal and state insurance exchanges must offer 10 essential health benefits, or EHBs, to their enrollees, including mental health and substance-use disorder treatment. EHBs are also required for all new individual and small-group plans sold outside the exchanges. Additionally, all plans must offer mental health and substance-use benefits in parity with medical and surg...

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NASW student member Daniel Ball was one of the success stories mentioned at North Carolina Central University’s graduation ceremony in May. According to an article on The News&Observer, the school had its largest graduating class ever, and Chancellor Debra Saunders-White singled out Ball, who received his bachelor’s degree in social work. Ball grew up in foster care in coastal North Carolina, the article says, and he battled substance abuse and depression. He was in prison as a young adult and when he was released, he headed straight to community college. He now plans to attend UNC-Chapel Hill for his master’s of socia...

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Audrey Morrissey remembers when she was hopelessly in love with her high school boyfriend. “I was a lonely little girl and I lived in a fantasy world,” she said. “My boyfriend was everything to me.” That’s one reason it was easy for Morrissey’s boyfriend to manipulate her into selling sex for money. The couple had a child by the time Morrissey was 15 years old. She said she believed her boyfriend’s promises that they would live together as a family, and she often stole money when he asked her to. It wasn’t long before he put her in Boston’s combat zone, an adult entertainment district...

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The opportunity to serve as president of our national association is a tremendous privilege and a great responsibility. Working with the board of directors and the national staff, and representing the association to multiple constituencies are clearly roles of the office. It is my sincere hope that I will execute these duties responsibly and consistently, thereby contributing to the position of the association and its members nationally and globally. For those who know me, you likely have experienced my great enthusiasm and passion for the social work profession. For those newer to my presence and style, let me say I am a social worker th...

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  Students from Touro College Graduate School of Social Work in New York City joined NASW and students and faculty from across the state on March 4 to participate in social work policy advocacy in Albany. They advocated for lawmakers to pass the “Dream Act,” which would allow undocumented students access to state financial aid and scholarships for higher education. They also urged an increase in the state budget that would broaden the current loan-forgiveness program for social workers. (Photo courtesy of Touro College Graduate School of Social Work)

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From left, symposium attendee Anastasia Mukami; NASW member and member of the NASW Spectrum Advisory Committee Nathan Linsk; and symposium attendee Hailemichael Tesfahun talk during a break at the recent Global Social Service Workforce Alliance symposium. — Photo by Rena Malai/NASW News The Global Social Service Workforce Alliance held a symposium in April that brought together experts to discuss the importance of strengthening the social service workforce worldwide. The NASW Foundation was one of the co-hosts of the event, called “Supporting Families, Building a Better Tomorrow for Children: The Role of the Social Service Wor...

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NASW member Douglas Brooks in March was appointed director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy. As the director of ONAP, Brooks will lead the Obama administration’s work to reduce new HIV infections, improve health outcomes for people living with HIV, and eliminate HIV health disparities in the United States. A leading HIV/AIDS policy expert, Brooks most recently served as senior vice president for Community, Health and Public Policy at the Justice Resource Institute. “Douglas’ policy expertise combined with his extensive experience working in the community makes him uniquely suited to the task of helping t...

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An Ohio legislative bill that grants title protection and other professional advances for practitioners throughout the state has been passed, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich signing H.B. 232 in April. NASW Ohio Chapter Executive Director Danielle Smith said the bill was voted out of the state House of Representatives in early November. As it headed to the Senate in January, the chapter called on members to take action before legislators recessed in mid-April. Smith said members answered the call with thousands of emails, phone calls and letters to the Senate Medicaid, Health and Human Services Committee and to their own state legislators. NAS...

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A little bit of peer pressure turned out to be a good thing for NASW-Texas Executive Director Miriam Nisenbaum. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Texas-Austin, she chose a major in government but still felt undecided until someone suggested that she look into the social work field. “A friend persuaded me to try a social work class,” Nisenbaum said. “She told me I’d like it, and I did. Social work ended up being my minor.” Nisenbaum said she’s always loved studying human behavior and quickly saw social work as a good fit for herself. “Human behavior is so wildly unpredictable,...

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Other fields do not have to establish hiring preferences I am responding to the article "Agency agrees to give hiring preference," from the first page of the May 2014 NASW News. I am glad on the one hand that several Department of Family and Children’s Services are giving hiring preference to social workers for social workers' positions.What is wrong with that statement? No other profession has allowed individuals to assume the professional title and actual job of someone that is degreed and licensed in their field. It saddens me to think that so many states have not stopped the civil service exemption when it comes to an ...

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