Professional Education and Training

By Carrie Dorn, MPA, LMSW, NASW Senior Practice Associate At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first declared a 90-day public health emergency (PHE). The PHE declaration allowed flexibility in health care funding and regulations to respond to the pandemic. Since January 2020, the PHE has ... Read More »

Open Enrollment for the health insurance marketplace is November 1 to January 15, 2023. For coverage to begin on January 1, enrollment must be completed by midnight on December 15. NASW is a Champion for Coverage and recognizes the importance of social workers who help individuals and families connect to health insurance coverage and health care services. Health insurance coverage is ... Read More »

By Cassie Brown, MSW, LCSW For all of you who are on the Rainbow Spectrum, all of you who have known the inside of a closet, all of you who have had to tell your story and your truth again (and again, and again, and again) because of the oppressive world in which we live and the assumptions that we ... Read More »

  By Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW It’s been 21 years since first responders rushed headlong into the burning World Trade Center while frightened civilians rushed for the exits.  Each September, we remember and reflect on their bravery. Heedless of their own safety, they carried out their mission to serve and to protect us in our most devastating time of need. ... Read More »

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), as part of an initiative to promote licensure portability for military spouses, in 2021 awarded a $500,000 grant for the development of an interstate licensure compact for social workers. The compact would give social workers to practice in two or more states, giving the profession much needed license mobility. The Council of State Governments (CSG) has ... Read More »

By Gary Pettengell, ECINS If there were ever a time to truly appreciate the essential contributions to society made by social workers – it would be now. As we find ways to recognize, inspire, and equip social work professionals tackling a confluence of challenges in schools, families, and communities, the most important thing is to acknowledge the immense challenges they ... Read More »

By Marisa Markowitz, LMSW, CASAC-T When students leave the halls of academia and decide to venture on their first social work job, there is trepidation. Will I be able to cut it? Do my skills align with the amount of knowledge I gained in school? Students must decide what type of social worker they want to become, and where they would ... Read More »

By Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA The shooting of 13 people in Buffalo of whom ten perished by an avowed white supremacist was a tragedy waiting to happen. The fact that 11 of the 13 victims were Black was no mistake. The victims were targeted in a planned and calculated attack by a white supremacist radicalized into becoming a member of national racist ... Read More »

By Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA The leaked report of a draft Supreme Court ruling to completely overturn the seminal abortion rights opinion Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves throughout the country. While most reproductive health and other social justice advocates expected the conservative-leaning court would “gut” Roe v. Wade, they did not anticipate the absolute evisceration of the law. In that Roe ... Read More »

By Diana Ling, MA, Program Manager and Leslie Sirrianni, LCSW, Senior Research Project and Training Coordinator; Health Behavior Research and Training Institute, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin A troubling trend has taken hold over the past two decades: drinking patterns among men and women have converged – and in some cases, young women ... Read More »