Dr. Mildred “Mit” Joyner, a Social Work Pioneer
Yeshiva University
This week, we spotlight the life and work of Dr. Mildred “Mit” Joyner, DPS, MSW, LCSW, President of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), a Social Work Pioneer! With over 30 years of reflection and engagement, social work educator, researcher, community organizer, and social justice advocate, Dr. Joyner currently oversees 55 chapters of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) throughout the United States.

The State of Mental Health: Advocates Say Connecticut Needs a New Prescription
NBC Connecticut
The National Association of Social Workers Connecticut believes the staffing shortages are pushing the state’s public health system to the brink. “Mental health is a person-powered field. It’s not like grocery store where you can just add some self-service checkouts,” added the group’s Executive Director Stephen Wanczyk-Karp. Disruptions to school and family life during the pandemic have put children at the center of this crisis.

Advocates Urge Creative Investments By State Government to Address Mental Health
The Connecticut Examiner
One of the ideas was a pilot program that would put licensed social workers in pediatric offices across the state. Steve Wanczyk-Karp, executive director of the Connecticut branch of the National Association of Social Workers, said this would allow pediatricians to easily connect children in need of mental health services with a mental health expert. “We all know that health and mental health are connected. We have this healthcare system that separates that,” he said.

Mental Health Therapists Seek Exemption From Part of Law to Ban Surprise Billing
KHN
Arguing that the rule is burdensome and unnecessary, mental health providers wrote a Jan. 25 letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, seeking an exemption from the “good faith” estimates for routine mental and behavioral health services. The letter was signed by 11 groups, including the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Psychotherapy Action Network.

9-8-8 Crisis Health Line and S-311 Address Critical Community Need: Division of Consumer Affairs Must Act Now to Ensure Successful Implementation
Insider NJ
“Daily, we field dozens of calls and emails from social workers with degrees who have passed the licensing exams and completed all necessary steps for licensure, but who cannot get a response from our licensing board,” said Jennifer Thompson, MSW and Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers – New Jersey Chapter (NASW-NJ). “These social workers stand poised to help meet needs across our community but can’t obtain their license to practice.”

Caitlin Cantor is a member:
How to Date With Self-love
Psychology Today
Loving yourself means knowing yourself, honoring your needs, validating your feelings, setting boundaries, putting yourself first, and speaking to yourself with kindness and support. You can’t expect to love yourself and exist in relationships as though your needs don’t matter, your boundaries are negotiable, and your goal in life (and relationships) is to please others. Engaging in the world this way sends yourself the message that you don’t matter as much as everyone else.

Laurie Duraney is a member:
Recent cocaine busts indicative of growing problem in Wisconsin
The Badger Herald
5 Door Recovery’s Clinical Supervisor and Licensed Clinical Social Worker Laurie Duraney said the number of individuals seeking treatment for a primary cocaine addiction recently increased — about 50% of patients come to 5 Door Recovery seeking help with a primary cocaine addiction. “We rarely see people who are only facing addiction to one substance,” Duraney said. “But about 50% of the patients are facing cocaine as their primary addiction. For example, a patient may be addicted to cocaine and opiates or cocaine and alcohol, but cocaine is the primary source.”

Daniel Olavarría is a member:
[Audio] 4 tips for talking to your Latinx parents about mental health
NPR
Daniel Olavarría, a licensed clinical social worker who serves clients in New York, California and Florida, says you can say: No mom, no dad. It’s not your fault. The world is moving quickly, things are changing and this is what people are doing now to show up as the healthiest version of themselves. I know that you didn’t have time to take care of yourself, but thank you so much for what you did [for me], because now I do. Nevertheless, we recognize that parents aren’t perfect! If your family members may have negatively contributed to your mental health, you can show compassion for their errors while still honoring your reality.

Ryan Wexelblatt is a member:
Building social capital is critical for strong relationships. ADHD can get in the way.
The Washington Post
Ryan Wexelblatt, a clinical social worker in New Jersey who specializes in ADHD said that people with the disorder have trouble understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings. The partner of a person who has ADHD might consider their relationship one-sided and think, “They’re asking me for something but not really giving anything in return,” he said. This inability to invest in social relationships also leads to a lack of social capital.

Gloria Manns is a member:
[Video] Counselors help students deal with grief at local high schools after Blacksburg shooting death of Roanoke teen
WFXR
On Monday, grief counselors were available at Patrick Henry and William Fleming high schools to assist students and staff members who are still processing their grief after the shooting death of a Roanoke 18-year-old, Isiah O. Robinson, in Blacksburg over the weekend. “People don’t want to talk about death because people are afraid of feelings,” said Gloria Manns, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Gloria Manns, owner of Manns Counseling Center, has been helping people cope with feelings for over 50 years. Grief counseling is one of her specialties, so she has a pretty good idea of what relatives and friends of Robinson are feeling.

GOP bill: Ban critical race theory training for government employees
Kenosha News
The National Association of Social Workers Wisconsin chapter executive director Marc Herstand said in a statement that the bill aims to ban something that does not exist, saying there is no evidence of Wisconsin agencies teaching its employees to hate each other or white people. “The biggest danger from this bill is the unintended consequences of intimidating state and local government employers who are simply trying to help their employees understand and respect the different racial and ethnic backgrounds and experiences of their fellow employees and the Wisconsin residents who they help every day,” Herstand said.

Laurah Pastel Shames is a member:
Consumers Continue to Stockpile as Pandemic Ages
The Street
“If it’s out of anxiety and fear that when I need this, I won’t be able to get it, it’s a valid fear,” Laurah Pastel Shames, a clinical social worker in Miami, told WPTV in West Palm Beach, Fla. That’s especially true “when we are kind of used to going to the supermarket and realizing the things that were easily able to be picked up are now a lot more difficult to find,” she said.