By Alison Laurio The northeastern Iowa farm where Gene Svebakken grew up had been in the family since his great grandfather worked the land in the 1850s. Growing up on a farm, he said, you become a caretaker of living things. Why Bees? “My grandfather had bees. My neighbor had bees and sold honey,” Svebakken said. “I visited him and ... Read More »

While most people don’t like the idea of death, they are able to accept to some degree that they are going to die one day. For some, however, the fear of death leads to a host of worries about anything that could potentially end their lives, says NASW member Brittney Chesworth, PhD. She is the author of the Psychology Today article, ... Read More »

By Peter Craig If there was ever a perfect place to study immigration social work—especially in light of the ongoing influx of migrants into the U.S.—it would have to be Texas. So how are different social work schools there addressing this increasingly important subject area? Special coursework on immigration would seem a natural, but the subject is already baked into ... Read More »

By Dinah Wisenberg Brin The obstacles and stresses that children with developmental disabilities and their families face can become overwhelming. The need to navigate a complex services landscape, get help from school officials, deal with social isolation and manage financial strains, among other challenges, often create daunting pressure for parents seeking the right support for children who learn or think ... Read More »

By Josette Keelor, News contributor The Trump administration has proposed $763 billion in budget cuts over the next 10 years. These cuts would repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate the Medicaid expansion, as well as greatly change how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) functions and set up work requirements for many who receive government subsidies — all programs ... Read More »

By Alison Laurio During a field placement at a hospital, a social work student became concerned after a mother with a young girl gave birth to a premature baby and had to remain in the hospital. The hospital would not let the girl on the floor, and the mother had no one to care for her. Keri Neblett, clinical assistant ... Read More »

By Paul R. Pace, News staff Many NASW chapters have been opposing recent efforts by governors and legislatures around the country to restructure state social work licensing boards. The goal of state policymakers is to consolidate these boards with a variety of others state professional regulatory boards and subject them to centralized state oversight. Chapter leaders say this is a ... Read More »

By Alison Laurio, News contributor Damon Smith had been suspended from school more than 15 times. “You start thinking it’s cool,” he said. “You think you’re going to come back to school and catch up, but unless you’re a genius you won’t. It made me want to mess up even more.” After Ralph J. Bunche High School in Oakland, Calif., ... Read More »

By Alison Laurio, News contributor Humans understood the power of words to heal long before they could write them. The holy men of primitive peoples chanted poetry for the good of their tribes and its members. Later in human history, in the fourth millennium B.C. in Ancient Greece, words were used as medicine when they were written on papyrus. The ... Read More »

By Alison Laurio, News contributor “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more.” “The world is a beautiful place, ... Read More »