NASW News

Social workers are engaged in a variety of fields and specialties. To help highlight this important detail, NASW is expanding its expert referral list for National Professional Social Work Month, which is celebrated every March. “All People Matter” is this year’s theme for the campaign that promotes the value of social work and puts a spotlight on social workers’ vital contribution to society. As a way to promote social work’s significance through media outlets, NASW’s communications staff will launch a 1,000 Experts Campaign to help connect the right people to various media inquiries. “We get medi...

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Michael Francum has been the executive director of NASW’s D.C. Metro Chapter for about a year, but his NASW journey started well before that when he began as an intern in the national office. “I knew NASW was the place for me to apply the social work skills that I want to apply,” he said. Francum obtained his BSW at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and worked in direct practice in HIV prevention and case management. He said he was drawn toward the area of HIV prevention, as it wasn’t talked about much when he was growing up in rural North Carolina. “I’ve always seen myself being in a helping p...

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Social workers need to take self-care seriously I read the article on compassion fatigue (January 2014 issue) with great interest, especially comments by Sandra Lopez, who I have had the privilege of knowing for many years. I recently retired after nearly 22 years of federal service as a LCSW and I can identify with everything she noted. For years, I took care of active duty military and then veterans without thought of the toll it was taking on me. I used to laugh at the idea of compassion fatigue or vicarious trauma or burnout, because I loved my work with my veterans, especially the many military sexual trauma veterans I served. The...

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Veterans ineligible for VA benefits may merit help, too I would add to Judith Dekle’s comments from the NASW News of September 2013 other groups who are not eligible for benefits from the VA. We are not fond of noticing that there are many Americans who have served in the military for varying lengths of stay and have had to come out with less than honorable discharges. These Americans who have served in this horrible war may well merit the very same services as any other soldiers who have experienced trauma and/or head wounding. They are hidden to us. How do we reach them and offer services they need in order to return home? How d...

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NASW, through its Legal Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief in Sevcik v. Sandoval, in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is challenging Nevada’s denial of same-sex marriage as prohibited by the state’s constitution and statutory law. In 2012, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Nevada ruled against the plaintiff same-sex couples. The plaintiffs are appealing the ruling. The amicus brief argues that the judgment should be reversed, citing research that demonstrates that the psychological and social aspects of committed relationships between same-sex partners largely resemble those of heterosexual partne...

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NASW members who are thinking of moving abroad and taking their social work skills with them can maintain their U.S. social worker status and remain connected to membership through the NASW-NC Chapter International District. The International District replaces the NASW International Chapter. Kathy Boyd, the North Carolina chapter’s executive director, said the International District has about 204 members who live abroad or who have lived abroad and are now back in the U.S. “The International District can help members moving abroad with maintaining a social work license, work visa procedures, relocating and moving questions, and...

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Student members of the Social Work/Psychology Student Association at Warner University in Florida can practice social work skills while receiving some benefits from being a member, according to an article on NewsChief.com. NASW member Erica Sirrine, division chair of arts and sciences at Warner University, guides the club from time to time and offers suggestions and support for members. “It is very rewarding to teach such an amazing group of students,” she says in the article. “I am humbled and inspired by their commitment to caring for others, especially the vulnerable and oppressed in our society.” Members of t...

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About 10,000 baby boomers in the United States will turn 65 every day until the year 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2020, one in six Americans is projected to be age 65 and older. That means up to 70,000 geriatric social workers will be needed to help address the aging needs of baby boomers. Among their many roles, social workers are an important part in helping family caregivers of older adults navigate through health and mental health networks, according to the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice with Family Caregivers of Older Adults. It notes that social workers are well-positioned in helping older adults by using a ...

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The last two years I have had the privilege of bringing a group of MSW students to Washington, D.C., in January to learn about social policy issues, the Social Work Reinvestment Act and the Social Work Caucus, and to meet with their congressional representatives to advocate for the profession and the people we serve. It happens we were in Washington on Jan. 8, the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s State of the Union address in which he announced the War on Poverty. That week there were articles in major newspapers reflecting on that history. Many of these stories quoted Johnson’s comment that the poor were living &l...

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NASW Foundation Director Bob Arnold, left, and Tanzania Association of Social Workers (TASWO) Chairwoman Zena Mabeyo talk during a break at the TASWO Annual General Meeting in Tanzania in October. NASW Foundation Director Bob Arnold and NASW Manager of the Department of Social Justice and Human Rights Mel Wilson traveled to Tanzania in October to participate in the Tanzania Association of Social Workers (TASWO) Annual General Meeting. The theme of the conference was “The Power of Social Work: Restoring Hope for Vulnerable Groups and Rebuilding Human Connections.” NASW has had an ongoing relationship with TASWO for the last fo...

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