Social Work Advocates Magazine

Climate change, natural disasters affect well-being

By Alison Laurio, News contributor When Samantha Teixeira was at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work earning her MSW and then her Ph.D., she and a young black man walked up to a high school where the entry door was locked. “He rang the bell, and they...

Social workers advocate for disability rights

By Alison Laurio, News contributor Lisa Primm admittedly has a soft spot in her heart for children. As a disability rights social worker, Primm had as a client a young boy with severe diabetes. He received a dog that was trained to be responsive to the sugar levels in...

Member makes a difference for flood victims

Member makes a difference for flood victims

NASW member Reia Chapman, who runs her own practice in Charlotte, N.C., volunteered with the American Red Cross for its disaster mental health services team in Lafayette, La., helping victims of the region’s historic flooding. “I do a lot of community-based organizing...

Social workers help reduce human trafficking

Social workers help reduce human trafficking

By Paul R. Pace, News staff Social workers are taking the lead in efforts to reduce the number of human trafficking victims and help keep young people from falling prey to traffickers.   Members of the NASW National Committee on Women’s Issues, or NCOWI, have...

Supervisory Leaders in Aging program looks to the future

By Paul R. Pace, News staff In the past several decades, Barbara Silverstone, an NASW Social Work Pioneer® and leader in the field of aging, said she became increasingly alarmed by two trends: the diminution of the role of supervisor and the acceleration of...

Economic justice is a key social work issue

By Alison Laurio, News contributor Social worker Reeta Wolfsohn received a message from a client she had worked with well over a decade ago.   Back then, “she was a college graduate, an expert in working with the deaf,” Wolfsohn said. “The only work she could get...