NASW News

Children’s mental health symposium Social workers participated in the 27th Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy, held in October 2011. The theme focused on building services for children who experience trauma through exposure to domestic violence and become involved with the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Attention also was given to trauma-informed services, which were highlighted by the many components of the SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Conference participants included Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute, who presented a poster on...

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Deborah Estreicher, head librarian at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose, Calif., had an idea. “Being a librarian, I came across many people that needed social work services,” Estreicher said. As librarians, “we helped in the best way we could. But I thought it would be better to have something in place — a service where people could go if they needed help.” The San Jose public library also serves as the student library for San Jose State University, so Estreicher instinctively reached out to Peter Allen Lee, professor and acting director of the School of Social Work at the university. Lee, in ...

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A new resource has been launched that provides social workers and educators greater insight into the religious and spiritual viewpoints of the clients they serve. “It’s important to recognize a client’s spirituality and religion and acknowledge it,” said Sharon Issurdatt, NASW senior practice associate. To further this effort, NASW has become a member of the Council on Social Work Education’s Religion and Spirituality Work Group. It represents 18 members from various social work organizations and schools of social work, including the North American Association of Christians in Social Work in Connecticut, Yeshi...

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Mary Adams works full time as a bank teller for Wells Fargo and is a proud mother of six children, who range in age from 7 months to 23 years old. Her oldest son is in college, and Adams goes to church every Sunday, where she’s famous for her homemade banana pudding. She’s a positive and outgoing 40-year-old woman, and she radiates an enthusiasm for life that’s contagious. But Adams also is a single mother, who, despite having a steady job with benefits, was evicted from her townhome and is now homeless. She lives with her young son and 14-year-old daughter in a shelter run by Northern Virginia Family Services while her oth...

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In an attempt to prevent child deaths that result from abuse and neglect, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, have introduced the bipartisan Protect Our Kids Act, along with companion legislation by Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas. The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths, of which NASW is an active member, advocated for the introduction of the legislation through its ongoing efforts. According to Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute, the coalition has consistently met with members of Congress to voice the need for providing better responses to help prevent the maltre...

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Carla Damron may have retired after working for 31 years as a social worker in mental health, but she is staying busy as an advocate and educator for the profession. Not only is Damron the executive director of NASW’s South Carolina chapter, but she also has started on her fourth mystery novel featuring fictional social worker and amateur sleuth Caleb Knowles, which she hopes to complete this spring. Damron said she writes to entertain readers as well as educate them about social work issues. As an NASW chapter leader, Damron said she hopes to reinvigorate members and rally them to fight state budget cuts that could hurt agencies th...

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Dr. Gilbert H. Friedell, right, with NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark, receives the 2011 Rhoda G. International Sarnat Award for Advancing the Public Understanding of the Social Work Profession. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark presented Dr. Gilbert H. Friedell with the 2011 Rhoda G. International Sarnat Award for Advancing the Public Understanding of the Social Work Profession. Friedell received the award in November at a ceremony held at the NASW Washington, D.C., office. “I am very proud to accept this,” he said at the event. Friedell has devoted the majority of his career as a physician to pursuing t...

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Looking for proof that social work matters? Look no further than the 2012 Social Work Month Toolkit. It can help social workers convey the important role they play in society to employers, policymakers, the public and potential allies. March is National Professional Social Work Month and the theme this year is “Social Work Matters.” Helping social workers convey this message is vital, because so many social programs face setbacks due to reductions in federal, state and local budgets, while at the same time the number of people in need of such services grows. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark noted that promoting the...

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The NASW National Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification adopted the following slate for the 2012 election. Members eligible to vote must hold NASW membership in good standing as of Feb. 18, 2012. Voting will be entirely electronic, and your email address must be current in order to submit your vote. To update your email address, please contact our member call center at 800-742-4089. Candidates’ information will be published in the March issue of the NASW NEWS and on NASW’s website. Campaigns must be conducted in accordance with the NASW Elections Standards and Procedures for National Leadership. Board of Director...

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NASW and its Massachusetts chapter filed an amicus brief where the Defense of Marriage Act is being challenged in federal court. The case, Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is being heard in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NASW and the chapter argue against the 1996 law that restricts the federal definition of marriage to that between one man and one woman. The brief highlights a body of research that strongly supports the conclusion that the federal government’s discrimination in denying benefits to married same-sex couples and awarding them to opposite-sex couples unfairly stigmatizes same-sex co...

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