March, 2024

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‘Massive’ cut in care population is key success measure for DfE reforms, says chief social worker

Community Care

A ‘massive reduction’ in the care population, with many more children cared for at home or with extended family, will be the key measure of success for the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) social care reforms. That was the message from the DfE’s chief social worker for children and families Isabelle Trowler in a session today at Social Work Week, the annual online event organised by Social Work England.

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That Conversation… It may Be Time

Gary Direnfeld

Difficult conversations. They’re necessary. They require transparency and authenticity. Those difficult conversations can allow people into your thinking, your concerns. Those difficult conversations can help others make sense of their experience with you and their questioning of the moods that may surround them. Difficult conversations may require preparation, not necessarily of the other, but of oneself.

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How My Depression Changed Over Time

My Brains Not Broken

You know, it’s funny. You would think, after ten years of living with depression, of experiencing it on and off, I’d have a better understanding of it by now. Some days I feel like I do. I feel like I understand why I’m experiencing symptoms, or I know exactly what I can do to alleviate these symptoms and feel better. But other days, it’s like I’m dealing with depression for the first time.

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Promoting the vote is social work in action

Social Work With Adults

"[Our] values and ethics place people’s rights to autonomy and self-determination at the heart of social work practice." [Image created by freepik.com ] Voting rights are human rights Barring exceptional and unexpected events, there will be a parliamentary election in the UK this year. In the BASW Annual Survey of Social Workers and Social Work , 68% of social workers felt they had a role to play in promoting voting, but only 19% had supported someone to do so.

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5 Must Haves for Case Management

Thousands of nonprofits rely on case management software to help collect data, manage programs, coordinate with agencies, and provide life-changing health and human services. Adopting a cloud-based case management platform is essential for nonprofits and government agencies to operate more efficiently and make better use of their funding and budget.

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MQ joins calls for a public health strategy on trauma.

MQ Mental Health

MQ has contributed to an All-party parliamentary Group report that is calling on the UK government to ‘unlock the trauma trap’ of Adverse Childhood experiences (ACEs) and free the nation’s children with a population-wide public health strategy. What are Adverse Childhood Experiences? Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are highly stressful and potentially traumatic events or situations that occur in childhood.

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NASW Proudly Acknowledges Women’s History Month

Social Work Blog

By Yasoda Sharma, PhD, MSW March is recognized as Women’s History Month, with the 2024 United Nations theme being “Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress.” Women worldwide face numerous challenges, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive actions to empower them. Investing in women is the pivotal first step to drive change and accelerate the transition towards a just, safe, and more egalitarian society for all.

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When the Other Parent Just Won’t Hear of It

Gary Direnfeld

If you are separated and coparenting with a n-rcissist, life is tough. You may have learned that that coparent would happily mess things up for the kids if it makes your life miserable. They would even accept problems for themselves if the problems they create for you are greater. In the process you may find yourself advocating for the kids. It could be to attend an event, a program, an opportunity.

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How To Let Go Of Past Mistakes

Blurt It Out

We all make mistakes. It’s part of what makes us human. For some of us, it can feel as though our past mistakes follow us around. It’s almost like they form part of our shadow, and whatever we do, we can’t get rid of them. We struggle to let go of them. When we can’t let go of our mistakes, they can impact our day to day life and the way that we speak to ourselves.

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I’m Miserable — This Is How I Deal with It

Nnatasha Tracy

Don't ask me how I am. Just don't do it. Asking me how I am will only result in one of two things: a dishonest answer or honest tears. I don't particularly care for either outcome. This is because I'm miserable. I'm hellaciously depressed and have recently undergone a couple of unfortunate situations. i do the best I can to ignore all that — after all, nothing can be done — but when I think about how I am, I get really upset.

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Can Sleep Cure Mental Illness?

MQ Mental Health

This World Sleep Day (15 March 2024), we consider the powerful effects sleep and sleep quality can have on mental health. World Sleep Day celebrates awareness of sleep health. Sleep and mental health are inextricably linked. Anyone who doesn’t sleep well for a few nights can attest to the effect it can have on mood, behaviour, thoughts and your ability to think clearly or look after yourself or others.

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Get Connected: Using Social Media for Social Work Success

Speaker: Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW.

You may have the clinical skills to manage a private practice, but your success could actually hinge on marketing skills. For a thriving practice, you need to differentiate yourself from others and present yourself in a way that attracts referrals. These days, much of that happens online, including on social media. In this webinar, Gary Direnfeld will discuss how social media marketing can help you build your private practice and grow your client base.

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Study Examines Relationship Between Maternal Employment and Child Maltreatment

University of Connecticut

Associate Professor Meg Feely co-authored a paper published in Social Service Review that examines the relationship between maternal employment and the risk for child maltreatment. The paper was selected as the editor’s choice article and the only article in the volume available to the public via open access. The editor’s choice are articles that best embody the mission of the journal to publish work that is both empirically and theoretically rigorous, while also being of wide general interest.

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DoLS: older people routinely having rights breached because of failure to tackle ‘huge’ backlog, warns charity

Community Care

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Older people are routinely having their human rights breached because of a failure to tackle the “huge” Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) backlog and a system in “complete disarray” That was the verdict from an Age UK report that warned many people were being unlawfully deprived of their liberty because of the government’s failure to reform DoLS, signifi

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When that Coparent is Often Late or a No-Show

Gary Direnfeld

When developing a parenting plan with a coparent who either may not show up or return the kids when they should, set it up so they must pick the kids up at the start of their time and that you retrieve them for your time. Always have a contingency plan for when the coparent is a no show. Make it clear you will only wait an hour before invoking your own plans, no longer waiting.

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“Child welfare” and racism: Children’s Rights steps up

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

For the first time in its history, the group uses litigation to take on racism, needless surveillance and wrongful removal. It’s not a full-scale lawsuit, but it’s a good start From Children's Rights' page discussing their civil rights complaint in Minnesota Last week, in a post about the landmark lawsuit against the New York City family police agency for its abuses of children and families during investigations, I noted that Ira Lustbader, litigation director at Children’s Rights said “now is t

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Reminder: Your chance to take part in the biggest global study of challenging working conditions of social workers

International Federation of Social Workers

All social workers are invited to help create the biggest overview of often-challenging working conditions of social workers around the globe. The survey is open until 31 May 2024.

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20 Common Intrusive Thoughts We Might Experience In 2024

Blurt It Out

Living with OCD, depression, or anxiety can feel like traversing a labyrinth of the mind, where intrusive thoughts lurk around every corner, ready to pounce on our vulnerabilities. These thoughts, unwelcome and distressing, often grip us with an ironclad hold, leaving us feeling trapped and alone. However, it’s essential to recognize that these intrusive thoughts are not unique to you.

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Living with Someone Who Has Bipolar Disorder and Learning as You Go: How to Support Someone with Bipolar Disorder; Part 2

Bipolar Bandit

First, let me say it is not easy living with someone with bipolar disorder. Their severe depressions and highest of manic episodes can ruin relationships. Even people who love the person and have supported them for years, can eventually throw up their hands and be done. It is understandable because they have to watch out for their own mental health.

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Leadership training programme launched for PSWs, AMHP leads and principal OTs in adults’ services

Community Care

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. A government-backed leadership training scheme has been launched for principal social workers (PSW), approved mental health professional (AMHP) leads and principal occupational therapists (POT) in adults’ services in English councils. The adult social care leadership programme , which will mostly be delivered online, will also offer places to senior practitioners from black, Asian and

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Managing Child Behavior

Gary Direnfeld

The parent wondered why their child didn’t listen. I observed the parent and child. Whenever the child didn’t listen to a direction, the parent turned to me and offered a reason why the child didn’t do as asked. At the same time the parent would say, they were sorry to the child for whatever the child was feeling about the expectation There was no meaningful follow through to require the child to do as asked.

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Telehealth Modernization Act 2024 Introduced

CAPC

Passing this bill would ensure permanent Medicare payments for telehealth and some telephonic services.

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Self-Care A-Z: A Power-Full Message About Self-Care as Paramount for Empowerment

The New Social Worker

You might wonder what self-care has to do with empowerment. Actually, they’re inextricably related. Like empowerment, self-care is a process of increasing strengths and developing influence toward improving one’s circumstances.

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How To Stop Intrusive Thoughts? Here’s What Experts Say In 2024

Blurt It Out

Do you ever have sudden, extremely stressful thoughts about a real or hypothetical situation? Learning how to stop unwanted intrusive thoughts begins with learning how to recognize them. An intrusive thought typically occurs when you are idle, attempting to sleep, or encountering triggers. You may be afraid that what you imagine will happen, or it may indicate a mental health problem.

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World Social Work Day Statement from IFSW Secretary-General

International Federation of Social Workers

World Social Work Day Statement by Rory Truell, Secretary-General of the International Federation of Social Workers: On this World Social Work Day in 2024, I am honored to address the […]

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Minority ethnic social care staff face disproportionately high levels of bullying and disciplinaries – study

Community Care

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Black, Asian and minority ethnic social care staff face disproportionately high levels of workplace bullying, disciplinary action and fitness to practise referrals, while also being less likely than white counterparts to be shortlisted for jobs.

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When You’re Turned into The Bad One

Gary Direnfeld

That gaslighting. It causes so many to believe they are somehow to blame for matters actually originating with their partner. Ways to tell if you are being gaslighted include: If you feel somehow someone has flipped the script and you find yourself on the defensive when trying to address their behavior; If you find yourself confused in the discussion wondering if you did did something wrong; If you find the other disproportionately angry for things you are simply trying to clarify or resolve.

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‘A huge step back for the city’: people in Birmingham on council budget cuts

The Guardian

Proposals to reduce funding for services from bin collections to social care, arts and libraries leave many worried for the future It wasn’t long ago that the people of Birmingham were being told the city was on the brink of a “golden decade”, with record levels of investment off the back of events including the Commonwealth Games and the arrival of HS2.

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World Social Work Day 2024—Buen Vivir: A Shared Future for Transformative Change Requires Expansive Self-Care

The New Social Worker

This year’s World Social Work Day theme is Buen Vivir: Shared Future for Transformative Change. Expansive self-care is necessary to achieve this agenda.

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Why Do I Snap So Easily And How To Deal With It?

Blurt It Out

Depression can cause us to feel increasingly irritable. This can lead to us snapping at people, which is often followed by a wave of guilt. We might not be able to explain our irritability or know what we can do to reduce our snappiness. What Is Irritability? When we’re irritable, we tend to become annoyed easily. We’re often over-sensitive to both our environment and things that other people say or do.

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What the genocide in Gaza teaches us

Reimagining Social Work

As a social work educator, I’m committed to helping students learn the knowledge, skills and values they need to – amongst other things – assert and protect the human rights of the people with whom they work.

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Most social workers report rise in number of experienced colleagues quitting jobs

Community Care

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Most social workers have seen an increase in the number of experienced colleagues quitting their jobs in the past year, according to the British Association of Social Workers’ (BASW) annual survey. For the vast majority of these practitioners, the loss of social workers with at least five years’ experience has had a negative impact on practice, found the association’s rese

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Paddle Your Own Canoe

Gary Direnfeld

I heard a wise friend explain to another that they must paddle their own canoe. It was a vivid metaphor and image of what can happen should one reach to paddle the canoe of another. It isn’t necessarily the other who lands in the water, but oneself. So often people seek for another to change their ways, they try to tell or influence their behavior.

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Profiles in cowardice: Terrified of demagogic politicians, family police agencies in two states prolong the agony of a five-year-old and his mother.

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

All of the love, compassion and common decency in this case came from people not employed by family police agencies. Massachusetts "Child Advocate" Maria Mossaides was not involved in this case. Had she been asked, she probably would have made the right call. But, though it wasn't her intent, she's fomented a climate of fear that helped prolong this child's agony.

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The Training for Social Workers to Respond to Emergencies and Long-Term Response in Turkey Was Successfully accomplished

International Federation of Social Workers

Organized in collaboration by IFSW Europe, in partnership with the Association of Social Workers of Turkey and the Center for Training and Evaluation in Social Work (CFCECAS), the training program […]

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Government has brought adult social care in England ‘to its knees’, MPs say

The Guardian

Damning report on long-term care system blames uneven funding and a lack of a plan for failure The government has brought adult social care in England “to its knees” with years of uneven funding and a “woefully insufficient plan” to fill thousands of staff vacancies, MPs have said in a damning report on a system that provides long-term care for 835,000 people.

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Call for Abstract – INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

The International Association Of Schools Of Social

Title: “Uniting for Change: Addressing the Grand Challenges for Social Work in the 21st Century” Date: 22 March 2024 Venue: Virtual, Time: 9.00 am – 11.00 am (CT) Call for abstracts: Organizers invite submissions from social work students across the globe on any of the conference themes. Submissions can be fieldwork projects, case studies, innovative practice models, and research papers.

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