NASW News

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equality Act of 2008 still awaits a final federal rule to implement the law. However, progress was made for patients’ rights on April 30 when the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont gave its interpretation of the law in the case C.M v. Fletcher Allen Health Care. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the ruling found in favor of a patient who alleged her health plan violated the MHPAEA. Colleen Coyle, general counsel for the APA, said in a news release that the ruling is significant because “it clearly puts the burden on the insurance industry to provide clinically...

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Client Records and Natural Disasters: Tips for Reporting Loss and for Recovery Beyond the devastation and disruption natural disasters can cause, there also can be serious repercussions for client record retention, privacy and risk management. In the wake of a natural disaster, it is important to be mindful of professional guidelines and legislation, and to comply with the NASW Code of Ethics; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and HITECH Electronic Privacy Acts; and individual state laws. See Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act Interim Final Rules for more. Following are five tips to follow if rec...

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In honor of National Professional Social Work Month, NASW hosted its 2nd annual Media Awards to recognize media professionals who help raise awareness about social work and social work issues. More than 1,700 social workers and others voted on nominees, more than double the amount of ballots cast last year. The winners are: TV Program/Fictional: Touch on Fox. In this fantasy/sci-fi series Gugu Mbatha Raw plays social worker Clea Hopkins, a child development specialist who is trying to help an autistic child with a supernatural gift. Documentary: My Marriage is Not Threatened by Gay Marriage in NC. National Association of Social Workers ...

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Social workers obligated to know those they help. I respectfully take issue with the letter by Douglas Braun, published in the May 2013 issue of NASW News, titled “Not all social workers bound to help military.” All social workers that service clients have an obligation to know those clients. Since most of us do not know who will walk through the doors of our agencies, practices, or organizations, I believe the responsible approach is to know as much as we can about clients, their cultures and sub-cultures. As American citizens, we ARE the government, making it OUR responsibility to “support these men and women by provi...

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NASW and its Alaska Chapter, through the NASW Legal Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief in the case Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest v. Alaska in the Alaska Supreme Court. The brief urges the court to reverse a decision of the Alaska Superior Court, which upholds the constitutionality of a state law that requires a minor to seek a parent’s consent to obtain an abortion. The brief states that it is irrational to require parental notice of abortion in the name of protecting minors from preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies when Alaska does not require parental notice for minors to carry a pregnancy to term, which is at least ...

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NASW will disseminate information about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, this month. The DSM-5 is available now, but clinical social workers and other mental health professionals should note that changes in diagnosis codes will not go into effect until Oct. 1, 2014, said NASW Senior Practice Associate Mirean Coleman. Clinical social workers use the DSM to diagnose disorders affecting moods, identity, personality and cognition, among other things. The manual also is a basis for insurance company reimbursements for mental health services. The DSM changes include new, deleted or expanded diagnostic cri...

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Social worker and NASW member Cedar Koons, right, stands with Felice Marohn, the first fellow in a postgraduate program at Santa Fe Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which Koons co-founded. The fellowship is an effort to promote DBT to underserved clients, and for social workers to gain experience and supervised practice in DBT. Social workers at Santa Fe Dialectical Behavior Therapy in New Mexico are taking an active role in promoting more social workers with a specialty in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT. According to Santa Fe DBT co-founder and social worker Cedar Koons, DBT is an evidence-based treatment for borderline personality d...

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Richard Barth, professor and dean at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, talks with another attendee of the second national summit on young children’s mental health, held in may. NASW co-sponsored the event. NASW was an organizational co-sponsor of the second national summit on young children’s mental health, which was held in May. The event, called “Healthy Development: Changing Frames and Expanding Partnerships to Promote Children’s Mental Health and Social/Emotional Wellbeing,” brought together 65 participants from different disciplines who built on the recommendations of the first summit &md...

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NASW-Rhode Island Executive Director Rick Harris will bike from Cranston, R.I. to Richmond, Va., and back this summer on the bicycle pictured above. He said he will cover about 75 to 80 miles a day between July 14 and Aug. 2, and will post updates on his Facebook page. Harris’ new sign, showing the states that now have marriage equality, is pictured (right). Rick Harris has made advocacy bike trek since 2002 As the U.S Supreme Court prepared to rule on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act late last month, Rick Harris was gearing up for a 1,350-mile bicycle trek across eight states in support of marriage equality. ...

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NASW member William Waldman — former commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Human Services — received the Chauncey Alexander Lifetime Achievement Award, an article in Newark’s Local Talk News said. The award, which was established in 1989, honors the career span of chosen social work managers. Waldman was presented the award in May at the National Network for Social Work Management conference in Newark, N. J. The article says Waldman is known for his efforts to close institutions and to settle people with developmental disabilities into group homes. Waldman’s nearly 50-year career includes positions as execut...

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