Today’s Washington Post allowed readers to connect with school social worker Ann Brogioli. As a social worker at Hart Middle School – a school in a troubled neighborhood – she works with students to keep them in school and off the streets.

This open and honest look at the role of a school social worker in an inner-city school is an inspiration to all social workers. Her dedication to her profession is endless.

Courtland Milloy, an esteemed columnist at The Post, should be commended for his accurate and inspiring account of Ms. Brogioli and the positive influence she has over the lives of troubled teens.

To read the entire article, click here

What is special about this article is that it highlights the honest and inspiring work of social workers. Tell us about an article that portrayed social work in an honest and positive light.

National Association of Social Workers/Texas Chapter has awarded Amy Hadley from News 8 Austin the Media Award of the Year for 2007. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in print, radio, television or online publications that provide information to the general public.

Ms. Hadley has demonstrated leadership in television by

• Accurately portraying the social work profession
• Portraying issues of concern to social workers
• Increasing the understanding, awareness and value of the social work profession to the general public
• Effectively communicating the impact of policy decisions on the lives of Texas
• Using social workers as resources for articles/reports

News 8 Austin, the local 24 hour news channel, is a valued entity in the community and a critical partner to the Adoption Coalition of Texas. In February 2004, News 8 Austin, with the lead of Amy Hadley (reporter) created the franchise – Forever Families, which focuses on adoption of children in foster care. These are often older kids and members of sibling groups, kids that are harder to place. Forever Families is a unique franchise, different from well known segments such as Wednesday’s Child, because of its approach. Not only does Forever Families focus on the kids, but it alternates segments that focus on adoption oriented issues. It features families who have adopted, specialists in the field of adoption resources and other educational components that shed light on children in foster care, the system itself and issues the kids face, such as separation and loss. In many ways, the issue segments are the driving factor in the success of the franchise in helping to significantly increase adoptions.

This success is attributed to Amy Hadley, the reporter who helped conceptualize the franchise, name the franchise and who has filmed every segment, every week, for a three year period.

Tell us about a journalist who is making a difference in your community by reporting on issues important to social workers.

CBS’s show Kid Nation has created a buzz among child advocates. The premise is 40 children have 40 days to create a community in remote New Mexico in a parent-free environment. They feed themselves, clean their living quarters and start their own businesses. The challenge for these young people is to “stick it out” and prove they can be pioneers of their own community.

Child advocates have obvious concerns with the premise of the show. How are these children being protected? How will this show handle child labor laws? Will there be a social worker or other health and mental health professional available to these young people?

If you’ve watched the show and would like to weigh in, give us your thoughts from the social work perspective. Click here to view the Web site for the show.

Click here to view a Social Work rap written and performed by Professor Ralph Fertig of the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work. What a creative way to get students excited about their profession!

What ways did a professor of social work get you excited about your profession? If you are a professor, how do you engage your students in feeling proud of social work?

Social worker Michael Petite and his organization Every Child Matters has set out this election season to bring to light the disparate treatment of children in the US.  Some states provide the funding necessary to provide for vulnerable children, while others are scraping the bottom to piece together funding for children’s programs.  These states just happen to coincide with different political ideologies, according to their voting record.  In his book, Homeland Insecurity…American Children at Risk, Petite notes 6 of the top 10 states for overall child well-being are blue states, while the bottom 10 states are all red states.  In a recent NASW Specialty Practice Sections Teleconference, he encouraged social workers help Every Child Matters focus the attention of the 2008 Presidential Campaign on children’s issues.

How do you feel about Petite’s assessment of the state of well-being for children in the US?

How does your state rank?  As a social worker, what do you feel can be done?

Leave your comment today! 

On June 6, my phone rang with the call of Jan Hoffman, a writer for the New York Times.  With a little bit of excitement and a little bit of anxiety, I prodded the reporter to know more about what kind of a story she was writing about social work.  This could be a great opportunity to highlight the important work of social work on a national stage and I was eager to learn more about her story.  She had also consulted with Pat Volland, a social work leader, from the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) for this story.

I was pleased to hear Ms. Hoffman tell me that she had been shadowing an exemplary social worker, Alicia Tennenbaum, a discharge planner at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.  She wanted to learn more about national trends in discharge planning and I provided her with some information.

She read to me from her drafted story, and asked for confirmation on the facts.  This was a terrific and unique opportunity presented to NASW to help shape a NY Times article.  Ms. Tennenbaum had done an excellent job of portraying social workers as competent, educated, and resourceful professionals in her profile.  NASW thanks you for participating in this story.

While her article was accurate and well-written, my only suggestion to Ms. Hoffman was that she was only portraying stories of the most difficult discharge patients, those who had complex needs and presented a significant challenge to Ms. Tennenbaum and the hospital staff.  There were plenty of patients, I was sure, with whom Ms. Tennenbaum had worked who had everything go as planned.  I suggested “adding more roses” to the story and she took my advice to make sure that she wasn’t only showing the most difficult patients.

After reading the finished product in the New York Times on June 19, NASW was thrilled with the article and was glad to see that the she notes how Ms. Tennenbaum goes the extra mile to help her patients with important items like clothing.  We were so happy that not only was a social worker portrayed in such a good light, but that the NY Times came to NASW and to NYAM as sources for information about the profession.  Social workers in all practice areas have significant expertise to help reporters shape stories about important social issues. 

Read the article, In the Trenches: Hospital Discharge Planner Bridging the Gaps Between Hospital and Home, and tell us what you think. 

“When Lifetime’s State of Mind premieres on July 15, viewers will be treated to an unconventional television portrayal of psychotherapists. Bisexual author Amy Bloom (Normal, Love Invents Us) — writer, creator and co-executive producer for the one-hour drama starring Lili Taylor — characterizes it as “backstage with therapists.”

She should know. Besides being a critically acclaimed author (she has won a National Magazine Award and has been nominated for National Book Critics Circle and National Book awards), Bloom is also a licensed clinical social worker. She spent 10 years as a psychotherapist before launching her career as a writer.” - click here for the rest of this article

Taken from Creating a New “State of Mind” by Shauna Swartz, Contributing Writer
July 11, 2007 - www.afterellen.com

Dear Editor:

In “Get Shrunk at Your Own Risk,” Sharon Begley notes some important research in the field of psychotherapy. While these studies point out some cautions to mental health counseling, we at the National Association of Social Workers feel that this article may be doing a disservice to those in need of assistance. By demeaning all methods of psychotherapy, Ms. Begley degrades the valuable benefit that many receive from traditional psychotherapy and the qualified professionals who provide those services. Social workers have been providing mental health services for more than 100 years and are licensed in each state. While this may not have been the intent, this kind of article may deter those who are in need of counseling from receiving the important and effective services they need.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers