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E-Newsletter • March 2025 |
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Editor's E-Note
March is National Social Work Month. To reflect that, this month’s exclusive delves into the needs of adults with disabilities and the effort to remove barriers to care access. Compared with the general population, adults with disabilities are twice as likely to report suicidality. This vulnerable population needs support, and social workers are actively working to meet their needs.
I’m excited to receive your comments at SWTeditor@gvpub.com. While you’re at it, visit our website at www.SocialWorkToday.com, like our Facebook page, and follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Enjoy the newsletter.
— Josh Hildebrand, editor |
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| In This E-Newsletter
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Adults With Disabilities Face Barriers to Behavioral Health Services
More than 70 million adults in the United States are living with a disability, which may include physical, sensory, cognitive, developmental, or intellectual difficulties. Research shows that this population is at an increased risk for substance use disorders (SUDs) and suicidality (which is thinking about, planning, and/or attempting suicide). For example, compared with the general population, people with disabilities are more than twice as likely to report suicidality, 1.8 times as likely to have an alcohol use disorder, and 2.7 times as likely to have any other type of SUD. Additionally, adults with disabilities can experience both suicidality and SUD, similar to nondisabled adults.
To better understand how people with disabilities access behavioral health services and whether those services are effective in meeting their needs, researchers from the Urban Institute, with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, produced four briefs—based on a literature review as well as interviews both with academic researchers and with people with lived expertise of disability who also experience SUD or suicidality. The briefs explore the current landscape of behavioral health services for the adult disability community, including screening and treatment for suicide risk and screening and treatment for SUD. Here are four of the key barriers identified in the briefs and three recommendations to address them.
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Oklahoma May Accept Out-of-State Social Workers
Oklahoma is enhancing access to social work care by attempting to pass a bill allowing out-of-state social workers to practice in the state, Fox 25, Oklahoma City reports.
First Responders’ Mental Health Struggles
Officials in New York City and beyond are attempting to alleviate the mental health struggles that first responders face daily. Increasing funding for mental health services, adding specialists to health teams, and creating a wellness program are all being discussed and implemented, according to FireRescue1.
Mental Health Support for Indiana Teens
One-third of Indiana high school students report experiencing poor mental health. To fix this, experts are advocating easier access to mental health services as well as adding mental health professionals to care clinics.
Music for Mental Health Issues
A company in Los Angeles is seeking FDA approval to use music as treatment for mental health issues, reports LAist. |
Loving Someone With a Mental Illness or History of Trauma: Skills, Hope, and Strength for Your Journey
Family members and friends of adults with a mental illness frequently navigate difficult journeys, often filled with fear, heartache, frustration, helplessness, exhaustion, and guilt … feelings that may be intermingled with immense pride and hope. Stigma can lead to suffering in silence, only magnifying the isolation and pain.
Loving Someone With a Mental Illness or History of Trauma, by Michelle D. Sherman, PhD, ABPP, and DeAnne M. Sherman, provides actionable strategies for these families and friends who give so much but whose own needs and sacrifices are often unappreciated. This book is grounded in Michelle’s 30 years as a psychologist and both authors’ lived experiences in loving family members and friends managing mental illness. It provides research-based recommendations, practical skills, up-to-date resources, inspiration from families with lived experience, and interactive activities to facilitate personal reflection.
Rooted in science, empowering, and hopeful yet realistic, this book is an invaluable resource for family members, friends, and mental health professionals. Learn more »
The Latinx Guide to Liberation: Healing From Historical, Generational, and Individual Trauma
The impact of colonialism, generational trauma, and individual trauma is often disregarded in the Latinx community. This pioneering guide by Vanessa Pezo addresses this trauma and takes Latinx readers on a journey of healing and liberation.
It explores what it means to have been systematically oppressed, how it impacts us, and how to change it. In doing so, this book challenges stereotypes, unravels the shame-based narratives around Latinx mental health, and refocuses the conversation around cultural empowerment, awareness, and transformation.
Each chapter is enriched with historically informed psychoeducation regarding the impact of various types of trauma on Latinx mental health. It also includes reflection questions and healing exercises to help readers process how they, their families, and communities have been impacted.
Accessible and interactive, this is an invaluable resource for Latinx people and mental health professionals working within the Latinx community. Learn more » |
The nation's top employers and recruiters of social workers advertise in Social Work Today magazine and post their job openings on AHCJobBoard.com. Check out the most recent opportunities that have been submitted by employers across the country!
Featured Employers
California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS)
Clinical Social Worker
Blythe, California, United States
Clinical Social Worker
Delano, California, United States
Clinical Social Worker
Norco, California, United States
Clinical Social Worker
Stockton, California, United States
Clinical Social Worker
Tehachapi, California, United States
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Defense Health Agency
Supervisory Social Worker (Clinical)
San Diego, California, United States
Social Worker
Ft. Riley, Kansas, United States
Social Worker (Substance Abuse)
JBSA Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, United States
Social Worker (Clinical)
Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, United States
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Oak Harbor, Washington, United States |
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