November, 2023

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Mental Health Act reform ditched, King’s Speech confirms

Community Care

There will be no reform of the Mental Health Act 1983 before the next election, the government has confirmed. Today’s King’s Speech – setting out the government’s last full legislative programme before an election in 2024 or early 2025 – did not include a mental health bill, meaning any reform would have to be carried out by a future government, if at all.

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Treating Anxiety

Gary Direnfeld

About that anxiety. It referred to as a disorder because those feelings of fear are either unfounded or far greater than what is reasonable to the trigger. Given an anxiety disorder, the saying, “trust your gut,” just doesn’t hold. The nature of the disorder is to be held hostage by feelings that don’t fully fit the situation.

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One Foot in Front of the Other

My Brains Not Broken

Time can be tricky to manage. Sometimes, it feels like time is moving at a snail’s pace. Other times, it feels like our life is moving faster than we can keep up with – weeks, months (even years!) might feel like they pass in the blink of an eye. Regardless of how it moves, my least favorite aspect of time is when I tend to lose track of it.

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Promoting progressive AMHP anti-racist practice

Social Work With Adults

Lyn Romeo: It's an honour to host blogs from social workers, researchers and people with lived experience of health and social care. This post addresses core challenges for Approved Mental Health Professionals (AMHPs) and others involved in anti-racist mental health practice. Dr Caroline Leah: Since the Mental Health Act came into force, rates of compulsory detention in mental health hospitals have more than doubled.

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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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Mattel doll honors NASW Social Work Pioneer Wilma Mankiller

Social Work Blog

Mattel has honored another one of the NASW Social Work Pioneers ®, Wilma Mankiller, by issuing a Barbie doll inspired by her. Mankiller’s father was Cherokee and she developed a deep appreciation for her heritage. Mankiller (1945-2010) became the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and helped create the office of Indian Justice within the U.S.

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CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO HOST THE SWSD 2026 CONFERENCE

The International Association Of Schools Of Social

The Joint Steering Committee, representing the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) for organising and hosting the 2026 World Conference on Social Work and Social Development (SWSD2026).

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The Narcissistic Ex – a 90-minute workshop

Gary Direnfeld

The Narcissistic EX- my 90-minute workshop helping people better understand their situation and how to manage: Are you following me on Facebook yet? If not, you are missing many more posts! I am Gary Direnfeld and I am a social worker. Check out all my services and then call me if you need help with a personal issue, mental health concern, child behavior or relationship, divorce or separation issue or even help growing your practice.

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Justice for Palestine!

Reimagining Social Work

This text is a formative advance version of a special editorial from the following members of the ANZSW Journal Editorial Collective: Neil Ballantyne, Liz Beddoe, Kerri Cleaver, Yvonne Crichton-Hill, Emily Keddell, Eileen Joy, Ian Hyslop, Deb Stanfield, and Shayne Walker.

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‘Many care homes wouldn’t be here without foreign workers:’ fears over Tories’ plans to limit immigration

The Guardian

Proposed policies restricting numbers and rights of foreign health workers create alarm among care home operators Read more: Curbs on migrant workers would be ‘dangerous’ for social care, warns government adviser For years, Mike Padgham just couldn’t get the staff. When he would post job ads for vacancies at his five care homes in Yorkshire, he’d get very few responses.

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Gun Violence Continues: No End in Sight

Social Work Blog

By Mel Wilson, MBA, LCSW – NASW Senior Policy Adviser Lewiston, Maine has become the latest city to capture the nation’s attention when 18 people were killed and more than a dozen injured in shootings at multiple locations in this town of less than 40,000 people. This tragedy followed a depressingly familiar pattern. The perpetrator used an assault weapon with a high-capacity magazine to commit the crime, reportedly suffered from a serious mental illness, was able to purchase the weapon legally,

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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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SDGs Halfway Point: Social Work for Transformative Change

International Federation of Social Workers

The following statement has been endorsed by the participants of the 27th IFSW Asia-Pacific Conference: In an inspirational display of solidarity and commitment, over 1,000 social workers from across the […]

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More staff found to be practising illegally as social workers, says regulator

Community Care

An increasing number of staff have been found to be practising illegally as social workers, the regulator has said. Social Work England issued the warning on the back of an increase in cases referred to it about people misusing the title ‘social worker’, which is protected in law. The regulator opened 164 misuse of title cases in 2022-23, up from 105 in 2021-22, revealed figures in a paper to its board meeting last month.

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When The Trauma is Extreme

Gary Direnfeld

I asked. She told. She spoke about her experiences with things unimaginable to most. She said that previous therapists had said her background was the most extreme they have ever heard. Hearing that, my concern was that she worried about overwhelming the therapists. I don’t know. They may have been. However, I assured her that although her experiences were indeed extreme, I have actually heard similar and worse.

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Solidarity in motion: Let us work together

Reimagining Social Work

By Eileen Joy and Meryl Fraser. Earlier this month members of the Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work Journal issued a plea for Justice for Palestine. Sadly we note that our plea must remain, that Palestine is still under bombardment and the genocide of Palestinians continues apace.

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Curbs on migrant workers would be ‘dangerous’ for social care, warns government adviser

The Guardian

Proposals to stop workers bringing dependants should be halted unless jobs are made more appealing to Britons, expert says Read more: Fears over Tories’ plans to limit immigration The government’s top immigration adviser has attacked plans to prevent overseas care workers from bringing family members to the UK, warning that to do so could be “very dangerous” for the social care sector.

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Let’s give social work with older people the recognition it deserves

Social Work With Adults

Lyn Romeo: I am delighted to host this blog from Gerry Nosowska, founder and Director of Effective Practice , which supported the Social Work with Older People research project. For too long, this vital area of practice has been largely unseen. Real improvements in the lives of older people, including outcomes that matter to them, arise out of good social work practice.

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Digitising social care: reflections on progress

Social Care

"Many providers have jumped at the chance to access the funding and support available and are positive about the opportunities technology opens up to improve the ways they work." [Image created by freepik.com ] Building momentum It’s been 18 months since the Digitising Social Care programme began, delivering the three year £150 million investment in digitally transforming adult social care, set out in the 2021 white paper, People at the Heart of Care.

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Councils rationing adult social care through ‘subjective’ eligibility judgments, finds think-tank

Community Care

Councils are rationing adult social care through “subjective” eligibility judgments, a think-tank has concluded. The Institute for Government (IFG) said that a long-term decline in the number of people receiving adult social care, amid increases in requests for support, was most likely down to rationing, not the use of strengths-based practice to make people more independent and less in need of care.

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Don’t Take That Away From Him

Gary Direnfeld

His problems seemed endless. The list of problems was long and the parents were exhausting all their punishments. There was only one left, his part time job. As awful as school was and as much as he got into trouble there, no amount of punishment would make things better. That job looked like something he might work for. They wondered about taking it away.

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Pushing back on a child welfare poll full of loaded questions

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

A new poll reveals that even when the questions are rigged, Americans are less likely to buy the snake oil the family police establishment has been selling. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act have destroyed the lives of millions of children and families. But the "Bipartisan Policy Center" thinks they're models of a glorious era of bipartisanship.

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Covid taskforce had no warning of ‘eat out to help out’, inquiry told

The Guardian

Former head of body set up to coordinate pandemic policy agrees that he was ‘blindsided’ by Rishi Sunak’s plan UK politics live – latest updates The government body set up to coordinate Covid policy had no warning about Rishi Sunak’s “eat out to help out” scheme and felt “blindsided” by the Treasury over it, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

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Native American Heritage Month and National CASA/GAL’s commitment to advocating for Native children and youth

National Casa Gal

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month throughout November is a reminder of the rich history and contributions of Native Americans. Read More. The post Native American Heritage Month and National CASA/GAL’s commitment to advocating for Native children and youth appeared first on National CASA/GAL Association for Children.

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Supporting the Unsung Heroes: Clinician's Guide to Easing Caregiver Distress

CAPC

How clinicians can help caregivers alleviate their distress—from a simple, "how are you" and assessment to the adoption of strategies that can improve their well-being.

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Fast-track programme to train 320 more social workers in £19m contract extension

Community Care

Fast-track programme Think Ahead will train 320 more mental health social workers after the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) extended its contract up to 2027. The £18.9m extension covers two cohorts, starting in 2024 and 2025, each of 160 trainees, the same size as the 2023 cohort. Following a five-week grounding in social work law and theory, mostly delivered online, the participants will be placed in units of four to six in NHS or local authority mental health services and expected

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Still Lecturing Your Teen?

Gary Direnfeld

If you are in your thirties or forties, consider what it feels like if I ask if you have put grab bars in your shower. It probably feels irrelevant at the moment. It’s just is not a consideration. Indeed, if I tried to convince you of the need before you actually need them, you will likely be annoyed with me. That is what many teens feel when we seek to advise them of how current choices can play out in their adult life.

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NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending Nov. 7, 2023

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

● Who says there’s no learning curve in journalism? Almost exactly 12 years ago, NPR aired a stunning series of reports on the obscene rate at which Native American children are torn from their families in South Dakota. It was called “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families.” Almost as obscene: the response from local news outlets which, having been beaten on a huge story in their own backward, often responded by minimizing the findings or, worse, rallying around state government a

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Third of UK carers with bad mental health have thoughts of self-harm, survey finds

The Guardian

Lib Dems call for £1bn support package to improve help for carers through access to respite care and increased carer’s allowance A third of carers with poor mental health have considered suicide or self-harm, data shows. Figures given to the Liberal Democrats by Carers UK reveal that many of the UK’s millions of carers who look after relatives have bad mental health, with some “at breaking point”.

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When the Bipolar Medication Isn’t Working — Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Disorder

Nnatasha Tracy

I have spent years of my life with bipolar medication not working -- or, at least, bipolar medication not working to the extent that one would want. I know this isn't the common refrain around medication -- the common refrain being, take bipolar medication and get better -- but it is a reality that many of us live with. So, the question is, what do you do when the bipolar medication isn't working?

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What is Palliative Care’s Role When Caring for Patients with a Serious Mental Illness?

CAPC

A psychiatrist explains how palliative care can help patients living with a serious mental illness, and shares five practical tips for successful patient encounters.

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DHSC rejects experts’ plan to curb ‘inhumane’ solitary confinement of disabled people in hospital

Community Care

The government has rejected an expert panel’s proposal to “severely curtail” the “inhumane” solitary confinement of people with learning disabilities and autistic people in mental health hospitals. In a damning report published last week , psychiatrist and learning disability expert Baroness Sheila Hollins said there was “no therapeutic benefit” to the long-term segregation of people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 in hospital.

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Mental Health Advocate: Rosalyn Carter

Bipolar Bandit

Rosalyn Carter was not only the First Lady of Georgia and the United States, she was also a huge mental health advocate. She shared a story of a relative who had mental illness and he scared her because he would run down the street yelling. She would later share he probably just wanted friendship. He was different and back in those days I’m sure the stigma attributed to lack of knowledge and made her hide.

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Our annual call to end child welfare’s public celebration of family executions

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Tomorrow, on “National Adoption Day, who will stop to remember that for some children and some young adults every mass adoption ceremony, every treacly feature story on the local news is an act of cruelty – ripping the scab off a wound that never fully heals? Termination of parental rights is child welfare's "death penalty." So why do some of the very judges who order a family "executed" preside over public celebrations of the aftermath?

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How can we scale-up innovations? Lessons from the development of four local Shared Lives schemes

Health & Social Care Workforce

Dr Carl Purcell is a Research Fellow based in the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce, part of the Policy Institute at King’s College London.

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‘Empowering the Next Generation: Upholding Every Child’s Rights Through Social Work and Positive Parenting

International Federation of Social Workers

The IFSW Asia-Pacific conference held two weeks ago in Cebu, the Philippines, was a vibrant center for sharing innovative ideas and transformative practices in social work.

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‘I need to make this love story’: documenting the radical dementia care of a pioneering reporter

The Guardian

In a profoundly intimate film, director Maite Alberdi follows an influential Chilean journalist and his partner as they navigate life after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis At the start of the Chilean documentary The Eternal Memory, a woman asks her husband, who has Alzheimer’s, if he likes his life. He beams back at her. “I love life.” The couple will be instantly recognisable to audiences in Chile.

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