Dear Social Work Colleagues,

 

Hello! Welcome to Issue #144 of the Social Work E-News! Thank you for subscribing to receive this e-mail newsletter, which is brought to you by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine, SocialWorker.com, SocialWorkJobBank.com, and other social work publications.

 

I just returned from the 2012 Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting (CSWE APM) in Washington, DC. It was SO good to see so many of you there! Besides exhibiting and talking to lots of colleagues in the exhibit hall, I attended several continuing education sessions on topics such as poetry therapy, poverty and trauma, mandated reporting, and microaggressions in the workplace. I learned a great deal and hope to report on some of these topics in the future in THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER.

 

REMINDER…. The Fall 2012 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER is available NOW! Highlights of the Fall issue include: thwarting disclosure in court (book excerpt), burnout and self-care, homeless education, workplace safety for social workers, social work grad school applications, Red Cross digital disaster volunteers, the Disaster Distress Helpline, book reviews, and more! Also included is a photo montage of social work students in action doing advocacy.

 

You can download this issue (and others) of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine in PDF format FREE at http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Downloads/. Please allow time for the download to complete.

 

Individual articles from this issue are also available on our Web site in Web format. Just go to http://www.socialworker.com and start reading!

 

IT'S ALSO IN PRINT! Don't forget--THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER is available in a print edition. Most individual issues from 2009 to the present are available now at http://newsocialworker.magcloud.com. You can also purchase all four issues from 2011 or 2012 in one perfect-bound volume. They are available at:

2011 volume: http://amzn.to/KFDkgE

2012 volume: http://amzn.to/QM3l2h

 

 

November marks the observance of many different awareness months, weeks, and days. These include (but are not limited to): National Adoption Month, Native American Heritage Month, Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, American Diabetes Month, National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, International Drum Month, Epilepsy Awareness Month, Transgender Awareness Week, and others.

 

Coming in December: Universal Human Rights Month, National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, Seasonal Depression Awareness Month, World AIDS Day (December 1), Rosa Parks Day (December 1), and more.

 

Don’t forget—you can go to http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Subscribe/ and subscribe (free) to receive an e-mail reminder and table of contents of each issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine when it is available. If you are a subscriber to the E-News (which you are reading now!), this does NOT mean that you are automatically subscribed to THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine. They are two different publications! Subscribe to both to get the most advantage.

 

The Social Work E-News has 28,600+ subscribers, and thousands of social workers (and people interested in social work) visit our Web sites. If you like our Web sites, The New Social Worker, and the Social Work E-News, please help us spread the word by using the "Share" button on the right side of this newsletter to share the newsletter with your friends and contacts. Tell your friends, students, or colleagues to visit us at http://www.socialworker.com, where they can download a free PDF copy of the magazine, become one of our 15,800+ fans on Facebook, participate in discussions, and lots more.

 

Until next time,

Linda Grobman, ACSW, LSW

Publisher/Editor

THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER®

 

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by Rich Kenney, MSSW

 

We all have our time machines, don’t we? Those that take us back are memories.... And those that carry us forward, are dreams.
Uber-Morlock from the movie,
The Time Machine

Who needs wormholes or cosmic strings when you have a slide trombone and a bag of cotton?

Postulates of special relativity and concepts of the Alcubierre drive are beyond my comprehension. They fall within the realm of physics and, like wormholes and cosmic strings, are related to theories pertaining to time travel. I am not a physicist; I am a social worker. What I do know, however, is that time travel is not just for scientists. Hospice social workers can dabble in time machines, too. At least, I do.

For the past few years, I have been working with hospice patients in Oklahoma. Hospice is an option for people when their life-limiting illnesses no longer respond to cure-oriented treatments. In addition to assisting patients and their families with end-of-life issues and care, I help them to return to the past.

While physicists look for ways to apply the possibilities of quantum mechanics and symmetric polygon arrangements, I explore the realities of the powers of old paintbrushes and Klingon warrior swords. These are some of the time travel tools I use in life review, the process of looking back to the past with the goal of bringing new meaning and perspective into the present. It provides hospice patients with opportunities to recount and re-evaluate their life stories.

A Bag of Cotton

“There’s an animal in Gloretha’s house and it’s not hers.”

That was the part of the nurse’s telephone message I kept thinking about while driving to Muskogee from Tulsa to see Gloretha, a petite, ninety-one-year-old woman with emphysema. In reading her chart earlier that day, I learned that she lived alone in a “cluttered and unclean abode.” Another report noted that, despite her breathing difficulties, she was “feisty and frank.”

When I sat on Gloretha’s worn couch after giving her my business card, dust quickly filled the room.

“I don’t want no prayers or bedpans,” she said. “I want to live my last days. I want to smoke Pall Malls at the casino.”

“Casino?” I asked.

“Slots at the Hard Rock every Friday,” she said. “Cab takes me.”

Pots and pans rattled down the hallway.

“That cat again,” she said, sensing my surprise. “He come up  from the hole under my sink. Follow me.”

Gloretha led me into her kitchen, then leaned against the counter. “Go ahead,” she said, pointing to the cabinet.

I gripped the handle and cautiously opened it. Without warning, something grabbed me. Shaken, I turned around.

There was Gloretha, her frail hand clutching my elbow. Her innocent laughter filled the tiny, ramshackle house. It was wondrous... childlike. Then, her long cough, cutting the moment short and reminding us of the present.

Over the next few weeks, I found services to help clean and repair Gloretha’s residence. We even found a home for Potsandpans, her kitchen-crashing tomcat. One day, I noticed a bag of cotton hanging from the wall in her living room. Inside were several cotton balls.

“Just a child when I picked it,” she told me. “Reminds me when I was young, when times was hard. Cotton brings me back.”

Gloretha asked me to hand her the eighty-year-old bag so she could hold the cotton balls. She described the struggles of picking cotton in the fields of Webbers Falls in the late 1920s to earn money for her family.

“Bought my sister a winter coat for six dollars with cotton money,” she boasted. “Fought them green worms and grasshoppers all day.”

She cupped the balls in her palms. “These remind me to live.”

A time machine. Evidence.

 

Read the rest of this article at:

 

 

Articles from the Fall 2012 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER include:

 

…and more!

 

As a recognized leader in our field, The Guidance Center provides a broad range of services that have helped children, adults, and families unlock potential and build better lives for more than 50 years. With over 40 programs, we offer treatment, prevention, growth, and education services to more than 26,200 people annually. We have an exciting opportunity for a Therapist to join our team of talented professionals.   

 

If you are interested in becoming part of our world-class team, please submit your resume on-line at http://www.guidance-center.org/careers.  

 

The Guidance Center is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Find jobs for new grads and experienced social work practitioners at http://www.socialworkjobbank.com, THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s online job board and career center. Post your confidential résumé at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/c/resumes/resumes.cfm?site_id=122

 

If you or your agency are hiring social workers, don’t forget to post your jobs on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Please check the SocialWorkJobBank “products/pricing” page at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/r/jobs/post/index.cfm?site_id=122 for job posting options and SPECIAL offers.  Our audience of professional social workers is active and engaged in the job search, receiving more than 480,000 e-mail job alerts last year and actively applying to open positions. Your jobs will gain additional exposure to our social networks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Also, please note that SocialWorkJobBank.com is part of the Nonprofit Job Board Network. You can post your job to SocialWorkJobBank and get exposure on other network sites for a reasonable additional fee.

 

Job seeker services are FREE—including searching current job openings, posting your confidential résumé/profile, and receiving e-mail job alerts. Please let employers know that you saw their listings in the SOCIAL WORK E-NEWS and at SocialWorkJobBank.com.

 

There are 1,069 jobs currently posted on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Check it out today.

 

 

 

National Adoption Month 2012

 

Presidential Proclamation of Adoption Month 2012

 

Child Welfare Information Gateway Adoption Resources

 

Native American Heritage Month 2012

 

 

 

Alzheimer’s Association

 

Answers About Alzheimer’s Part I

 

Alzheimer’s Disease Fact Sheet—National Institute on Aging

 

 

 

National Coalition for the Homeless—Homeless Youth

 

11 Facts About Homeless Youth

 

 

 

GLAAD

 

Transgender Awareness Week Kicks Off in Boston

 

 

I am seeking articles for upcoming issues of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine. I am especially interested in articles in the following categories:

 

·         field placement

·         practice specialties

·         news of innovative social work practice

·         technology

·         what every new social worker needs to know about…

·         other topics of interest to social work students, new graduates, and seasoned professionals

 

Our style is conversational and educational, and articles typically run 1,500-2,000 words for feature articles (considerably shorter for news items).

 

I also welcome submissions of poetry, photographs, illustrations, artwork, and other creative work depicting social work and related topics.

 

Please contact Linda Grobman, editor/publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, at: lindagrobman@socialworker.com

 

 

 

 

Kathleen Monahan, DSW, LCSW, LMFT, is interested in understanding how sibling ordinal position influences social work practitioners, particularly the decision to enter social work as a profession and what type of social work one does. Sibling ordinal positions have been studied in the areas of marriage choice, I.Q., and choice of occupation.  With that said, this is an area of investigation that has not been conducted in the social work profession and Monahan believes it will garner new and interesting information. 

 

Dr. Monahan invites you to participate in her survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Sibling_Ordinal_Position. The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

 

 

 

Eli Lilly and Company announced that applications for the 2013-2014 school year are now available for the 15^th annual Lilly Reintegration Scholarship. The program provides funding for tuition, books, and lab fees to people living with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and related schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, so they may pursue and achieve their educational and vocational goals. Information is available at www.reintegration.com.

 

“Since its inception in 1997, the Lilly Reintegration Scholarship has helped hundreds of students to pursue educational opportunities, leading to meaningful jobs and achievement of important life goals,” said Bart Peterson, senior vice president, corporate affairs and communications, Lilly. “Despite living with the challenges associated with severe mental illness, these dedicated students are an inspiration. Lilly is proud to celebrate the 15^th anniversary of the program as part of our continuing commitment to the neuroscience community.”

 

An independent judging panel comprised of psychiatric care professionals reviews applications annually and selects scholarship winners. Lilly Reintegration Scholarship recipients have studied at Harvard, Yale, and MIT, as well as hundreds of state and private universities, community colleges, and trade schools. Recent areas of study include engineering, law, psychiatry, culinary arts, graphic design, social work, physics, education, and computer sciences.

 

“Fifteen years ago, the prospects for higher education and a career for a person battling mental illness were small, as were opportunities to earn an academic scholarship,” said Ralph Aquila, M.D., executive director of the Center for Reintegration and chair of the Lilly Reintegration Scholarship judging panel. “However, data collected from this program over the years show that we have helped many people achieve their goals. On average, our Lilly Reintegration scholars have a 71 percent graduation rate, whereas the nation’s average for an incoming freshman class is 55.5 percent.” 

 

The goal of the Lilly Reintegration Scholarship is to help people with schizophrenia, related schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, or bipolar disorder acquire the educational and vocational skills necessary to reintegrate into society, secure jobs and to improve  their lives. Through the scholarship program, Eli Lilly and Company furthers its ongoing commitment to providing tools that enhance the reintegration continuum, allowing people to move their lives forward and achieve their individual potential.

Lilly, a leading innovation-driven corporation, is developing a growing portfolio of pharmaceutical products by applying the latest research from its own worldwide laboratories and from collaborations with eminent scientific organizations. Information about Lilly is available at www.lilly.com. 

 

• Student Role Model: Christine Webb (in PDF and print version only)  

 

• Ethics: Clinicians in Court: Thwarting Disclosure - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Ethics/Clinicians_in_Court%3A_Thwarting_Disclosure/  

 

• Field Placement: What I Wish I Had Known: Burnout and Self-Care in Our Social Work Profession - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Field_Placement/What_I_Wish_I_Had_Known%3A_Burnout_and_Self-Care_in_Our_Social_Work_Profession/  

 

• Homeless Education: Providing Stable Education for Children and Youth in Transition - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Homeless_Education%3A_Providing_Stable_Education_for_Children_and_Youth_in_Transition/  

 

• Workplace Safety for Social Workers: A Student’s Analysis and Opinion - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Workplace_Safety_for_Social_Workers%3A_A_Student%27s_Analysis_and_Opinion/  

 

• Evidence of Time Machines - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/General/Evidence_of_Time_Machines/  

 

• Being Who We Are, Every Day, Everywhere (in PDF and print version only)  

 

• Your Social Work Graduate School Application: 14 Tips To Help You Get an Acceptance Letter - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Your_Social_Work_Graduate_School_Application%3A_14_Tips_to_Help_You_Get_an_Acceptance_Letter/  

• Research: 10 Benefits of Student Participation in Undergraduate Social Work Research - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/10_Benefits_of_Student_Participation_in_Undergraduate_Social_Work_Research/  

 

• International: ABCD in Practice: A Practical Lesson From the Field Placement (in PDF and print version only)  

 

• Tech Topics: Red Cross Digital Disaster Volunteers Offer Support Through Social Media/Sidebar: Disaster Distress Helpline - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Technology/Red_Cross_Digital_Disaster_Volunteers_Offer_Support_Through_Social_Media/  

 

• Web Special Article: Perspective on Social Welfare Policy and Retirement Income Security - http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/General/Web_Special_Article%3A_Perspective_on_Social_Welfare_Policy_and_Retirement_Income_Security/  

 

• Slide Show: Social Work Students in Action—Advocacy! - http://www.flickr.com/photos/newsocialworker/sets/72157631686039144/show/  

 

• Reviews  

 

 

 

In addition to the free PDF and Web versions of the magazine, the magazine is available in PRINT at http://newsocialworker.magcloud.com! Order it today!

 

You can also purchase bound volumes for 2011 and 2012 at Amazon.com. Search for “The New Social Worker” (in quotes).

 

Our online discussion forum/message board is a place for open discussion of a variety of social work-related issues. Join in our discussion at http://www.socialworker.com (click on the “Forum” link).

 

 

************************

 

 

The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics is a free, online, peer-reviewed journal published by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER. It is published twice a year, in full text, online at: http://www.socialworker.com/jswve

 

The Fall 2012 edition is available now! Read it online at:

 

Artices in this edition include:

 

Editorial by Linda May Grobman, MSW, LSW, ACSW

 

W. Dana Holman, DSW

 

Jeremy Carney, MSW, Ph.D. & Kristen McCarren, BSW

 

A. Antonio González-Prendes, Ph.D. & Kimberly Brisebois

 

Gretchen E. Ely, Ph.D., Chris Flaherty, Ph.D., L. Shevawn Akers, MSW & Tara Bonistall Noland, MSW

 

Margo J. Heydt & William P. O’Connell

 

Kamilah Majied, Ph.D. & Tamarah Moss-Knight, Ph.D.

 

Gail E. Trimberger

 

 

Hegland, K. F., & Fleming, R. B. (2010). New Times, New Challenges: Law and Advice for Savvy Seniors and Their Families. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.

Reviewed by Peter A. Kindle, Ph.D., CPA, LMSW

 

Hunter, S. (2010). Effects of Conservative Religion on Lesbian and Gay Clients and Practitioners: Practice Implications. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Reviewed by Peter A. Kindle, Ph.D, CPA, LMSW

 

Lesser, H. (Ed.) (2012). Justice for Older People. New York, NY: Rodopi Press.

Reviewed by: Stephen M. Marson, Ph.D., Senior Editor

 

Nichols-Casebolt, A. (2012). Research Integrity and Responsible Conduct of Research.  NY: Oxford University Press.

Reviewed by: Charles Garvin, Ph.D.

 

 

Go to the journal Web site at http://www.socialworker.com/jswve to read this and other available issues. You can also sign up for a free subscription, and you will be notified by e-mail when each issue is available online.

 

This is the final edition of the Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics to be published by White Hat Communications. Beginning in 2013, the Association of Social Work Boards will be the publisher of this journal. Read Linda Grobman’s editorial in the Fall edition for more about this transition.

 

 

 

RIDING THE MUTUAL AID BUS AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN GROUP WORK: A “DAYS IN THE LIVES OF SOCIAL WORKERS” COLLECTION, edited by Linda May Grobman and Jennifer Clements

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