NASW and Gun Safety

The topic of gun violence is continually before us. The MA Chapter has received numerous inquiries from members wondering what we are doing to address this issue.

Here is a short summary of what is happening on our end and a request to our members to let us know what you think.

First, NASW is working on several fronts. Our particular concern is the issue of releasing mental health records for the purpose of background checks when individuals seek to purchase a firearm. The other issue has to do with a social worker’s commitment to maintaining client confidentiality. We know that there are legal exceptions to confidentiality. Some advocates for releasing records suggest that this would be another exception, in the service of keeping guns out of the hands of previously and potentially violent individuals. However, what if someone has a mental health history that is unrelated to violence in their past, as is the case for the majority of those seeking mental health treatment? What if a person was admitted to a psychiatric facility for the purpose of an eating disorder or other behavioral health issue? Should those records be revealed to the licensing authority?

We participate in one Coalition, convened by Rep. David Linsky of Natick that is addressing many of these. And recently Speaker of the House DeLeo, appointed one of our NASW members to serve on a work group that he has established on the subject. In addition, the Chapter will be pulling together a small work group of NASW members who have extensive experience in working with violent clients and who are thoroughly immersed in the legal requirements having to do with the release of records.

This is an invitation for you to let us know your views on the issue and if you would consider joining a small Chapter organized work group to come up with an NASW position. Contact the Director of Government Relations, Rebekah Gewirtz, at Gewirtz@naswma.org. And thank you for interest in this important issue.

Safety in the Workplace for Social Worker: BIG WIN

We have terrific news from the Massachusetts Chapter. On Friday, February 15, 2013, Governor Deval Patrick signed our Social Work Safety in the Workplace legislation into law. This is a huge victory for the social work profession and the clients and communities served by the profession.


This victory was possible because of the combined efforts of several groups and individuals, including the Statewide Social Work Safety Task Force jointly convened by NASW and the Boston University School of Social Work in 2008, and the NASW-MA Chapter Board of Directors which authorized staff to prioritize this effort.

The passage of the Law is part of a larger campaign to Maximize Safety for Social Workers in the Workplace. The campaign includes:
1. Producing Practice Standards on Maximizing Safety in the Workplace: Tracy Whitaker, at National, is staffing a national work group that is in the process of developing this document.

2. Developing and delivering Safety Training to all organizations and agencies employing social workers: The Chapter has developed a curriculum, trained a cadre of social workers to deliver the training and has begun the training of public and private organizations.

3. Writing a Policy statement for Social Work Speaks: The compendium of the Association’s positions and actions on a broad range of public and professional issues.

NASW continues on its roll to protect social workers and the clients they serve. And the Massachusetts Chapter is leading that possibility.

LEADING FROM POSSSIBILITY

In the face of all the challenging and fascinating issues that come to the profession and the Chapter, we have a wonderful ‘good news’ announcement about one of our many dedicated NASW members. If I had a trumpet I would sound a congratulations blast. Here is to Ms. Melinda Strauss, former chair of the MA Chapter’s LGBT Shared Interest Group that has been meeting since the 1980s. Melinda is being honored with several other mothers by Keshet, an organization that works for the full inclusion and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Jews in Jewish life.

Melinda, LICSW, and 6 other women are the founding members of the Keshet Parent and Family Connection, a national mentoring and leadership program for Jewish parents and family members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Jews. This group provides confidential peer support to parents and other family members dealing with any state of their child’s or family members coming out process and to young adults struggling with how to tell their families about their identities. All the mentors have worked through their own process of accepting, understanding and celebrating their children and their identities.

Melinda, dear mentor, we honor you as a fierce and loving mother, a highly dedicated professional social worker and a supreme mench!

LEADING FROM POSSIBILITY

Uncle Sam Wants You

Finally we have a serious response to mental health professional’s and other’s call for increased psychological, social and family supports for veterans, returning armed services personnel and their families.

The response is significant. Here are three of the major programs that have emerged for those of us – clinical social workers and all licensed mental health professionals who have a commitment to working with armed service personnel and their families or who may just want to be aware of the many resources available.

First - the Department of Veterans’ Affairs has announced that it is hiring 2,000 additional licensed mental health providers and is making a special outreach to licensed clinical social work. Go on line to connect with a VA recruiter http://www.va.careers.va.gov/mentalhealth

Second - NASW has connected with Army OneSource Behavioral Health Campaign which offers free online courses to licensed professionals wanting superior training in working with veterans.

The national accredited courses being offered are: Military Cultural Competence, PTSD Then and Now, The Impact of Deployment and Combat Stress on Families and Children Part 1 and Families and Deployment, Part 2; Enhancing Resilience, and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Members will receive emails about the campaign with a link to access the online courses beginning March 6. Please make sure that you have provided the chapter with an updated email address. You may also view information about the campaign if you like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and join the chapter’s LinkedIn group.

Third – As a result and in collaboration with Dr. Jill Biden’s and First Lady, Michelle Obama’s creation of ‘JOINING FORCES’ the National Association of Social Workers is developing free online courses focused on working with the many aspects of armed forces. These courses expected to be ready the Spring of 2013. This training model is the result of.

Joining Forces is a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and services they have earned. NASW has been a proud member of Joining Forces since 2011 and is committed to educating, training all social and preparing social workers to meet the needs of those who have made incredible sacrifices for the United States.

The free online 5-course training module will include military culture, advocacy, direct practice, cultural competency and standards review. This course will not be limited to social workers who specifically work with veterans and military families, but also private practitioners, clinical social workers, agency social workers, policy practitioners, educators, and researchers.

A professional Credential for Social Work with Veterans and Military Families will be offered for one year to all NASW members and is geared towards social workers that work primarily with service members, veterans, or their loved ones.

Standards for Social Work Practice with Veterans and Military Families will be disseminated to all members with the goal of providing a basic level of education on veterans and military families.

These materials will be forthcoming the Spring 2013.

SOCIAL WORKERS: Add to your already incredible training experience and talent with these additional professional opportunities.

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU!

RADIO TALK SHOW HOSTS EMERGE THROUGH NASW

Even with all the publicity we gave this debut, you still might have missed the launching of the Chapter’s first ‘Tele-Town Hall Meeting’ this month. Stacy arranged with an IT company to produce the call-in telephone talk show where staff from the National NASW office answered questions from dozens of NASW members who needed more details about the switch in insurance providers. While Jonas Goldenberg, our Director of Clinical Issues and Continuing Education, screened callers and put them in the queue to have their questions answered, Stacy was the voice on the line introducing the callers to the insurance experts. Our journey into tele town hall meetings reflects the chapter’s continual commitment to keep our members informed regardless of their schedules or distances from live meetings. We hope you had an opportunity to be part of this new technological service to our members and I want to hear from you about the program.

The Eye of the Storm

I recently returned from an annual meeting in St. Louis, MO, with many of the NASW Chapter Executive Directors from around the country. We brainstorm ideas about how to bring excellent service to our respective Chapter members, how to influence public policy that impacts our members, the profession of social work and the clients and communities that we serve.

One of the moving reports came from my colleague, Walter Kalman, who is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Chapter. Walter shared with us how he and his staff responded to hundreds of calls for help, along with calls volunteering to help, from his members and others around the country. People were highly mobilized to come to New Jersey to ‘Do Something’ in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Beyond some of the heart wrenching stories he shared, he made an exquisite appeal to us, his colleagues, to ‘do the work of preparation’ and commit ourselves to be ready for any future disaster and train now, to mobilize our members to get this training, and to direct our members to the resources in our communities and in our nation that will need the talent, skills, and muscle power that professional social workers can provide.

Toward this end, the Massachusetts Chapter is adapting a wonderful manual that the New Jersey Chapter developed, to the social work community in Massachusetts. We expect the manual to be completed by the first of the year and to be a comprehensive resource to our members who want to participate in any disaster recovery efforts from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, dust storms, to human motivated disasters like the attacks on the twin towers.

Please watch the Chapter’s website and FOCUS for the release of this important document. If you want to get a head start on getting trained, contact your local Red Cross to find out when the next Disaster Mental Health Training program is scheduled.

The Red Cross is waiting for us.

Hurricane Sandy and a Personal Note

I grew up in New Hampshire, in the foothills of the White Mountains, and have many fond and not so fond memories of living in a semi-rural area. One of the lingering recollections was walking to school in snow storms. And we had many. I recall feeling somewhat like a pioneer, a brave young kid, capable of dealing with any foul weather. I was tough. I don’t remember schools ever being called off-for any reason. In fact, the phrase ‘snow day’ was not in existence during those times. My mother just bundled up my sister and me, making sure we were adequately dressed for arctic conditions, handed us our lunch, and kissed us good-day. My father had already left an hour before to open the store, shovel the side walk so that customers could get in, and make sure the pipes hadn’t frozen. The notion of not going to school or not opening the store didn’t exist.


Enter Hurricane Sandy or any other likely weather disaster. As I listened to the warnings of staying home and hunkering down, I wondered, ‘What is the big deal? It’s just another storm- a little bigger than most and the eye isn’t even coming to Boston and the trains and buses are still running.’ (at 6:30 am). With the mindset of my New Hampshire upbringing, I got dressed and walked to the bus stop for my trip into the office. At the same time, my staff and colleagues were calling me to find out if the office was open, should they come in, what would happen if it got worse. There was apprehension and wondering.

Now, I am no longer the 8 year old, unthinking pip squeak who walked to school, regardless of the weather. I am, after all, an Executive Director, responsible for staff. People look to me for guidance, for direction, for answers. My standards and ideals lead me to straighten up, get going, look directorial, eliminate any whining about the weather. These are my standards and ideals-the shoulds. However, the ‘shoulds’- my standards and ideals- can get in the way, especially, of respect for other peoples’ fears and concerns, particularly about safety. My staff and friends were absolutely correct in wondering about my position. I was not taking into consideration their considerations. So, again, I find myself reconsidering long held beliefs and practices. Re-examining positions I have held. Wondering about what is right, what is ideal, what is truth and what is possible. The Sandy Storm gave me another reminder about being open, about questioning what is the truth. The personal journey continues. Right now, my next step is to meet with staff about reviewing the ‘storm day’ policy. It used to be, “If Filene’s Basement is open then NASW is open.” Time for a new ‘look-see.’