We are excited to announce nominations are now OPEN for our NASW-MA annual awards . The awards event will be held in Framingham the evening before Symposium 2020 (April 29th).

NASW-MA recognizes a very special group of outstanding social workers and organizations who have shown excellence in social work and social work values annually with the following awards:

 

Nominate your social worke r hero or social justice ally today! Nominations must be received by November 1.

During National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (September), NASW-MA President, Sarah Coughlin, was recognized at a Red Sox game. In addition to her work with NASW-MA and the Charlestown Coalition, Sarah is a substance use disorder clinician at MGH. Sarah has been working in the trenches of the opioid epidemic for the last twelve years.

We are proud to call Sarah both our President and an NASW member, and are thrilled to see her get this well-deserved recognition.

With baby boomers now becoming seniors, public policy funding will need to be more concerned with ailments of old age, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. On September 19, Kathleen Angco-Vieweg, LCSW, of Collaborative Care Consultants and Adam Kinney, CDP, CADDCT, of Elite Home Care Agency, gave a presentation entitled “CBD Oil and Dementia.” With recreational marijuana now legalized in MA, it was important to differentiate it from CBD Oil, which comes from the hemp plant, and by law must contain less than .3% of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. CBD Oil has been found to lower the agitation found in Alzheimer’s and other dementias. It has also assisted with the side effects of chemo and radiation. It is interesting that CBD Oil is labeled as a supplement and is not regulated by the FDA. More research needs to be done on CBD Oil and also medical marijuana. Our knowledge base around these issues is in their infancy.

Our Membership & Advocacy Manager Noël Schutz passed her licensing test last month! Proud to have this newly minted LCSW here with us.

Congrats, Noël!

This month there is an exciting membership campaign for regular members. Will you participate?

Current regular NASW members may refer eligible prospective members to join or reinstate as regular NASW members. To show our appreciation and gratitude for helping to grow the association and make our voice louder, all those who successfully recruit members before October 31st will be offered a special gift. Those recruited will be offered a gift, too.

Click here for more information and for details on how to participate.

Thank you for helping us grow our ranks so we can be an even more powerful voice for social workers in the State House and in your practice!

If you have any additional questions about the recruitment campaign, contact Noël Schutz, Membership and Advocacy Manager.

Sunday, October 6, 2019

2:00 - 5:30 pm

The Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont

Join us for a screening of the 2018 film Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy, followed by a discussion with experts in substance use disorder treatment from McLean Hospital. Discussants: Karen Kantor, LICSW , McLean Hospital, and Monika Kolodziej, PhD , Director of Psychological Services at the Ambulatory Treatment Center at Naukeag, a residential treatment program in the Substance Use Disorders Division at McLean Hospital.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

6:00 - 8:00 pm

AdCare Outpatient Services

95 Lincoln Street, Worcester

Join the Central Region Book Club for "Homer & Langley" by E. L. Doctorow. The discussion will be facilitated by Michael Nowicki, LICSW , Clinician, Community Healthlink, Elder Services of Worcester. Registration will begin at 5:45 pm.

This annual conference brings together school social workers and school adjustment counselors from across the state who work with youth in all levels of schools.

Keynote: Elizabeth Englander, PhD, Founder and Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center (MARC) at Bridgewater State University. Her keynote, " Life Online: Social Media Use and Social Development in Children and Adolescents," offers a deep-dive into the myriad issues facing school-aged youth with the growing considerations of social media.

Morning Workshops:

Afternoon Workshops:

Sunday, November 3, 2019

3:00 - 6:15 pm

Temple Shalom of Newton

175 Temple Street, Newton

Panel Speakers:

The cross-currents of professional and personal identity in late-career catch many good social workers off-guard. This conference will orient social workers currently in the second half of their careers to the important developmental challenges of late-career life. All social workers serving mature adults will learn from this developmental focus - as well and our clients anticipate and prepare for transition to the new autonomy, identity hazards and opportunities of this tricky period - with or without continuing 'work.' We will challenge our social traditions of bearing late-career stresses in isolation, in favor of a more communal model of growth.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

2:00 - 5:30 pm

The Studio Cinema, 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont

Join us for a screening of the 2018 Japanese drama film Shoplifters , following a "non-biological family that relies on shoplifting to cope with a life of poverty." Our discussant will be Charles Glazier, LICSW, CGP , a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in work with children, teens, and families.

Friday, November 22, 2019

9:00 am - 12:30 pm

Grand View Farm, Burlington

Speaker: Dr. Patricia Papernow , one of the world’s foremost experts on blended families. She is the Director of the Institute for Stepfamily Education and the author of  Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships: What Works and What Doesn’t . 

The term “blended family” captures the fervent wishes step couples often bring for connection and a fresh start. The realities often involve “resistant” children and anxious, confused adults struggling with intense feelings of “insiderness” and “outsiderness,” questions about discipline, “appropriate” rules, and ever-present ex-spouse relationships.

Whether working with individuals or kids, couples or families, Dr. Patricia Papernow will help participants recognize the five major predictable challenges stepfamilies face. She will provide psychoeducational, interpersonal, and individual interventions for successfully navigating these often intense and divisive forces.

NASW- MA has developed a policy team in order to further strengthen advocacy and political action in our state. Noël Schutz , Membership and Advocacy Manager, is a newly minted LCSW. Using her background in social work, Noël will be supporting member engagement in our advocacy efforts. If you are interested in learning how to get more involved in advocacy, our Legislative Advocacy Committee, or PACE, our political arm, email Noël at [email protected] .

 

Jamie Klufts , Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives, has her MPH, and will be leading our advocacy efforts on bills related to public health, including priority bills to close the "Snap Gap" and the Healthy Youth Act. Jamie can be reached at [email protected] . Rebekah Gewirtz , Executive Director, has a wealth of knowledge in public policy, and will be focusing on bills pertaining to social work practice, children and families, welfare, and economic justice. Rebekah can be contacted at [email protected] .

 

Delaney Gagnon , Advocacy Coordinator, is pursuing her BSW at Simmons University. Delaney will be supporting NASW-MA’s annual Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD). She will also be assisting in activating members around legislation and programming, and providing support to the policy team. Delaney can be reached at [email protected] .

Chair of NASW-MA’s Mental Health and Substance Use Committee Matt Fein , LICSW, testified alongside Zoi Andalcio, LMHC, in support of piloting safe consumption sites in MA. These two emphasized the mental and behavioral health - and life-saving - necessity of this harm reduction approach. In our testimony, NASW-MA highlighted that this approach is directly in-line with the social work value of self-determination.

In his testimony, Matt stated, “Conversations with fellow social workers have made it apparent that this loss of life is felt in every aspect of the lives of persons in this state and the systems that support them.”

Are you looking to start or expand your private practice? NASW-MA's Therapy Matcher network needs you!

Our call volume is higher than ever, especially with recent media attention from the Boston Globe .

With our new membership cycle underway, now is the perfect time to join Therapy Matcher! Joining now gains you access to up to a free month of referrals. Learn more about Therapy Matcher here or contact Barbara Burka, Therapy Matcher Director: [email protected].

The Private Practice Google Group is an exclusive member benefit powered by social work colleagues from across the state and NASW-MA. By signing up you'll receive timely updates from your colleagues about ethics, billing and insurance, and other critical private practice issues. You can also pose your own questions to the group to crowd source answers from colleagues. NASW-MA also uses this platform to send important clinical alerts to members.

Sign up to join the group by sending an email to [email protected] with "Join Google Group" in the subject line.

In the past, all licenses came up for renewal on October 1 ^st in even years.

From here on, your license will expire on your birthday, set from two years from your next birthday after October 1, 2018.

Note that this could mean that your next renewal date will be significantly longer than two years from your last, depending on when your birth date falls.

The number of CEUs will remain the same for each licensee – 30 for LICSWs, 20 for LCSWs, and so on - no matter the length of time between renewals.

Chapter 260 is a new state law that mandates Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault training requirements for social workers and other medical providers. 

The only course currently approved for this requirement is the online course developed by DPH. It is free of charge, and available at this link: https://chapter260training.org/courses/training/

 

You can take the course now or any time before your licensure renewal date. This is a one-time requirement, and will not need to be repeated for further renewal cycles.

The Board of Registration has recently approved the course for 2 social work CEUs.

Print out the certificate of completion and save with other CE records. It will not indicate anything about CEUs, but it will count that way.

SWAN is a free, confidential colleague assistance program sponsored by the Massachusetts Chapter of NASW. SWAN assists social workers with consultation regarding personal and professional issues, which may be having an impact on their ability to practice in an optimal manner. Learn more about this service and member benefit here .

NASW-MA hosts Licensing Test Prep courses each month in various parts of the state. Upcoming courses include:

Be in touch with Adam Linn or Samantha Thompson-Foster for more information.

NASW and NASW-MA signed an amicus brief opposing the Trump Administration’s Final Rule that would weaken protections for migrant children and make it easier to imprison them and their families for longer periods of time. Social workers adamantly oppose the new regulations that overturn protections guaranteed to immigrant children under the Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA).

The amicus brief argues that the Trump Administration's Final Rule irresponsibly counters various court decisions implementing the FSA and ignores the recommendations of its own Department of Homeland Security advisory committee that "detention or the separation of families for purposes of immigration enforcement or management are never in the best interest of children." The brief also argues that long-term detention of children has a proven devastating impact on their health, education and general welfare, particularly in the case of infants. The amicus brief advocates for family unification in the community, not in detention centers. Read the brief here .

Hot off the press: the judge presiding over the case ruled in our favor and struck down the Trump Administration's rule. There was specific mention of our amicus brief in the decision language. When we work together for change we can be successful! This is a ruling to savor for so many vulnerable migrant children and their families.