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 the NASW
Shift Project for Suicide Prevention with Adolescent Girls. The poster showcased
the toolkit, which offers a step-by-step, online resource for practitioners to
make the transition to evidence-based programs in their practice, agency or
community.
“There was a lot of interest in our efforts,” Zlotnik said.
Toolkit information is available at bit.ly/roFum5.
Presenters highlighted the urgency to improve interventions, programs and
systems that help children avoid trauma.
“It was stressed we need to prevent trauma in the first place,” Zlotnik said.
From the February 2012 NASW News. NASW members click here for the full story.
