April 24, 2020
About Social Work Responds
The Association of Social Work Boards, the Council on Social Work Education, and the National Association of Social Workers are committed to collaborating on the range of issues affecting the social work profession and the people and communities we serve in this ever-changing and unsettling environment created by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
Follow Up
Based on previous Social Work Responds emails and calls to action, our organizations want to share critical follow up information.
- The National Advisory Board for the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency, lists products and resources that can be useful when coping with the effects of widespread public health crises. Visit their resources at https://mhttcnetwork.org/centers/global-mhttc/responding-covid-19.
“We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming…”
For the past four weeks, ASWB, CSWE, and NASW have come together to share Social Work Responds with you. Each week, we aim to communicate what we’ve learned from our respective memberships about COVID-19-related issues and concerns for social workers in order to develop ways to respond as a professional community.
While it has been gratifying to be recognized as an “essential” workforce in addressing and alleviating the impact of the pandemic, this role brings into sharp relief the need to balance our professional responsibilities and duties with self-preservation. Not only is “safe, competent, and ethical” the way we are called to practice as social workers, educators, and regulators, but this phrase also mandates that we care for ourselves to provide the best care to others.
Like you, we have been avid consumers of COVID-19 news at national, regional, and local levels so that we may provide support and leadership to the profession and highlight the distinctive value social workers bring to the nation’s pandemic response (and beyond).
This week, we would like to invite you to share how COVID-19 is affecting you as a social worker. We want to better understand the challenges you face, and how you have responded to these unprecedented times with creativity and grit – because that’s what social workers do!
Thank you for all that you are doing,
