Join our Legislative Advocacy Committee (LAC) or Political Action for Candidate Election (PACE) Committee in 2020 to become a social work activist and help us turn the tide nationally starting right here at home!

LAC meets January 9 at 5:45 pm at our office in Boston. Remote/call-in participation options available!

You can find all of our member group meeting schedules on our website's calendar .

To join today or ask questions about either LAC or PACE, please feel free to reach out to Membership and Advocacy Coordinator, Noel Schutz at [email protected].

Social Work Month in March is a time to celebrate the great profession of social work.

The theme for Social Work Month 2020 is Social Workers: Generations Strong .The theme has various meanings. As we enter a new decade it is important to look back and honor the powerful, positive impact the social work profession has had on our society for generations.

We also want to spotlight the life-affirming work that social workers from all generations — from the Greatest Generation to the Z Generation — are doing. And since NASW is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2020, Social Work Month is a great opportunity to remind social workers of the important work NASW has been doing for decades and the need to join.

Learn more about this year's theme here.

Once again, NASW-MA student members will receive FREE teal cords to wear at graduation. We look forward to seeing the next generation of social workers proudly displaying their NASW-MA membership at graduation this spring! New this year, faculty members of NASW-MA will also receive graduation cords, upon request .

If you're not already a member and want your cord before graduation, click here to join today! Deadline to join and request your cord is April 24, 2020.

For more information, contact Noël Schutz , LCSW, Membership and Advocacy Manager.

Do you have a micro, mezzo, or macro project, topic, or paper you have already written? Are you working on a project or paper (practice or research) for your internship or a class? If yes, this is your opportunity to spotlight your work!

Application Deadline for Student Poster Session Submissions:

February 11, 2020

BSW, MSW, and DSW/PhD students are welcome to apply

Read the submission guidelines here and complete the application form via the link below.

Networking Night @Symposium and Student Poster Session

Thursday, April 30, 2020

5:30 – 8:30 pm | Judging begins at 6:00 pm

Framingham Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center

 

Receive Recognition for Your Work!

Awards, Prizes, and Additional Recognition in Social Work Voice and E-Newsletter

 

More information and application here

Need approval to attend Symposium 2020? Use our professional development approval letter to show the value and benefits you will receive during and after the conference. 

Click here for the template letter. And be in touch with us if you'd like to talk more about this. Email: [email protected]

Join the Northeast Regional Council for an inspiring and educational CE event where participants will learn an overview of the criminal justice system and learn about advocacy for clients when they are arrested, advocacy for systemic work to impact mass incarceration, and additional information for participants who are interested in accepting referrals from attorneys for securing alternatives to jail and writing aid in sentencing report.

Social Workers as Advocates of Justice

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Salem State University, North Campus, 331 Lafayette St., Salem

Join the Central Region Book Club for a facilitated group discussion of the book, In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende. Barbara Driscoll de Alvarado, PhD, Associate Professor at Anna Maria College, will be our discussant.

Central Region Book Club: In the Midst of Winter

January 21, 2020

6:00 - 8:00 pm

Adcare Outpatient Services

95 Lincoln St.

Worcester

Registration, light refreshments, and networking will begin at 5:45 pm.

Join us for the Annual MLK, Jr. Forum on Racial Justice. This year's event, "Environmental Justice is Racial Justice," aims to confront environmental racism through the lens of social work. This event is free and open to the public, but you must register to attend. CEUs and a light dinner will be provided. Doors open at 5:00 pm. Space is limited.

MLK, Jr. Forum on Racial Justice: Environmental Justice is Racial Justice

January 29, 2020

5:30 - 8:00 pm

Boston University, Fenway Campus, 150 The Riverway, Room FCC 105, Boston

Join us for “Honing Your Team Management and Communication Techniques” with Ilene Marcus, MSW, MPA, Director of Development, Berkshire United Way.

Honing Your Team Management and Communication Techniques  

February 12, 2020

12:00 - 1:30 pm

MA Department of Mental Health, 333 East St., 4th Floor, Pittsfield

CE programs in the Berkshire and Pioneer Valley regions are always free for members! No registration required.

Join the Pioneer Valley Regional Council for “The ABC’s of Medical Marijuana” with Leslie Tarr Laurie, MS, Regional Director, New England Treatment Access.

The ABC’s of Medical Marijuana

February 13, 2020

7:30 - 9:00 pm

Dewey Common Room, Smith College, Northampton

CE programs in the Berkshire and Pioneer Valley regions are always free for members! No registration required.

Massachusetts has expanded health insurance, but still thousands of our families, friends, and neighbors can’t see a primary care doctor, get routine tests, or fill a prescription. Working for a small company or holding part-time job can mean living only a short step from medical and financial disaster. Come learn from the experts how Medicare for All legislation could change these outcomes in our state.

Medicare for All Forum

March 31, 2020

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

7:00 - 9:00 pm

First Parish Church United, 48 Main St., Westford

Save the date for NASW-MA's 38th Annual Nursing Home Conference!

June 11, 2020

Bentley University

Waltham

Call for Papers is now OPEN! Social workers in the field of nursing home social work can submit papers in advance of this important conference. Those papers that are selected will be shown at the conference. There is also a portion of the day's agenda dedicated to hearing from the authors of three selected papers.

Submit your paper to Samantha Thompson-Foster by April 1, 2020.

Additional information and conference registration will be available at naswma.org/events

The hearing scheduled for 12/2/19 on the Safe Communities Act, which is an NASW-MA legislative priority, has been rescheduled to 1/24/20. The Safe Communities Act ensures basic civil rights for migrant communities and prohibits state and local entities from aiding in immigration enforcement and deportation. View the fact sheet here .

We're looking for social workers to provide in-person and/or written testimony in support of this legislation at the rescheduled hearing. Contact Noël if you'd like to testify. Can't attend the hearing but want to take action? Use our pre-drafted email template to contact your state legislators .

Be sure to sign up for our Legislative Alert Network to get legislative action alerts and news related to professional practice, social and economic justice, and Beacon Hill delivered straight to your inbox.

We're thrilled to welcome 700 social work students and professionals to the State House again in 2020. This year, our NASW-MA Legislative Education and Advocacy Day or LEAD will take place on Monday, March 23, 2020.

March is Social Work Month and LEAD is a great way to celebrate the profession together with leaders in state government.

We are excited to announce our confirmed speakers so far:

Check our website for more speaker information as it becomes available.

Current and aspiring social workers will learn about the legislative process and be inspired to become advocates on behalf of the profession and the populations served by social workers. We look forward to advocating with you in March! Details and registration coming soon .

For more information, be in touch with Noel Schutz or Delaney Gagnon, Advocacy Coordinator.

Want to help advance our Fair Share Amendment legislative priority? Starting January 15, the Raise Up Coalition will meet every Wednesday from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm in the State House Cafe (4th Floor) to lobby legislators on this important economic justice issue.

PS the minimum wage in MA just went up again thanks to our work and the work of our Raise Up Coalition partners!

Social workers are on the front lines of many public health epidemics and understand first-hand how important it is for the state to promote community immunity. Efforts to achieve and maintain herd immunity, and by extension, standardize immunization requirements and exemptions and centralize the exemption process, represent an important step in-line with the mission of social work. For this reason, we are asking you to  help us  advance An Act Promoting Community Immunity (SB2359/HB4096).

 

Contact your State Senator and Representative today using our pre-drafted template to help us advance the Community Immunity Act today.

 

It is our moral and ethical obligation to protect the health and well-being of our most vulnerable residents. As rates of infectious diseases continue to increase nationwide, we must do everything in our power to enhance herd immunity in our state. My children and all the children of the Commonwealth deserve every opportunity to thrive, which can only truly be done when their health risks are minimized. Efforts to standardize data collection and transparency are needed now more than ever. 

During the last weeks of December 2019, a number of private practitioners began receiving calls or letters from a company called Cotiviti, requesting medical records be released for certain clients they had seen through AllWays insurance. This caused much confusion and concern, and several members reached out to NASW-MA about it. 

Through our ongoing contact at AllWays, we were able to quickly get in touch with the appropriate person there to investigate the situation. They explained that these were "CMS Risk Adjustment Audits”, and would not result in any kind of financial penalty for providers. They also clarified that providers are not mandated to participate. 

Once we let AllWays know the level of concern and anger in the provider community, they put a temporary halt to the audits for behavioral health providers, pending further investigation and communications. 

We appreciated hearing from members who had this experience, which helped to bring this situation quickly to our attention. Thanks to the longstanding contacts and connections that NASW maintains with AllWays (and other MCOs), we were able to advocate effectively on behalf of NASW members, which ultimately benefits clients as well.  

For more on our clinical advocacy, be in touch with Barbara Burka, Director of Clinical Practice at [email protected]

Are you a private practitioner who is not yet an NASW member? We have a very special offer for you!

 

Let Therapy Matcher expertly match new clients to your practice. We provide pre-screened, personalized referrals make growing your private practice easy. Join NASW-MA now for up to 5 months of FREE referrals.

 

If you are not a member and you join NASW before July 2020, you can receive introductory membership to our Therapy Matcher program FREE through June 2020. 

 

Join now! Start receiving personalized referrals to your practice right away. 

 

More information at  https://www.naswma.org/page/TMprovider or contact us at  [email protected].  

 

Contact us for more information about membership options for NASW members and non-members!

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.

Open Enrollment through the Massachusetts Health Connector is happening now through January 23, 2020.

Open Enrollment is the time of year when Massachusetts residents can enroll in or change health or dental plans for any reason. Free and low-cost options are available. Learn more here to help your clients navigate this process.

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 for more information.

A recent study from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said social workers play a crucial role in the nation's health care system but are often not compensated fairly for the important work they do. Participate in a January 15 webinar to dig deeper into the report and learn how you can elevate the social work profession in health care.

Learn about how NASW is advocating for social workers and their clients nationally in Washington, DC. The December edition of the Washington Update is now live.