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School Social Work NOW!
Supporting Innovative Practice,
Effective Leadership, and Applied Research
Vol 4, Issue 36
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Greetings!
 Sadly, we bring you news of the death of retired school social work leader Renee S. Levine on August 17th. Renee was a dedicated and caring school social worker who was certain that all students could learn to read and spent much time and energy to that end. In 2000 she was named Pennsylvania School Social Worker of the Year. We extend our deepest sympathies to her family. Read more about Renee and her career by clicking here.
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Most of us were stunned when news of Robin Williams' depression and suicide was announced. One who brought so much joy and kindness to others was himself in deep pain. We will miss his humor, talents, and kindnesses. But let us also be aware--especially as September and the new school year are just around the corner--that many students are also in pain. So are many adults among our colleagues and educators. Please keep an eye of compassion on them and do not hesitate to ask how they are. None of us needs more sorrow.
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On October 6th, ACSSW will also be hosting its 2nd annual multidisciplinary, Wisconsin-based Mental Health in Schools Institute. Check out the WI Mental Health in Schools Brochure to view the topics which include: child maltreatment and related trauma treatment, anxiety and school refusal, boundaries/ethics and technology, Signs of Suicide Program, bullying prevention, assisting students in military families, managing conflict in the workplace, violence assessment, and more! Register today. Seating is limited.
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JANUARY 26-27, 2015 . . . NEW ORLEANS!!
Save these dates!!
The 4th ACSSW National School Mental Health Institute is off and running! In collaboration with Louisiana State University and Tulane University ACSSW will again be hosting an interactive professional development offering for school social workers. This mental health institute is the only national offering of this type designed for school social workers!
Excellent presentation proposals have been submitted from experts from around the country. The brochure is being developed and should be out in late September. Watch this newsletter and the ACSSW website for details in the near future.
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... social workers often feel under-prepared or untrained to intervene in cases in which substance abuse is present. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) have put forth a public health model to identify and provide treatment services to individuals with substance disorders. This approach, called SBIRT, is an acronym for Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment.
SBIRT is beginning to be introduced in schools. Learn more about it here.
Special education systems and policies are reflected and embedded in cultural beliefs about disability. Variations in the special education systems in the United States and Japan reflect cultural differences in beliefs about disability and affect the experiences of parents with children with disabilities, including expectations for their relationships with professionals. Enhancing parents' experiences is critical, as they have a direct impact on children's development through their caregiving and advocacy. Discussion of U.S. and Japanese parents' beliefs about disability and special education, as well as their experiences, illustrates the cultural embeddedness of special education service provision and affords opportunities to consider diverse strategies for strengthening school social work practice beyond what is taken for granted within any particular cultural context. Continue.
Allen-Meares and Lane (1983) authored an article in NASW's Social Work journal tifled "Assessing the Adaptive Behavior of Children and Youths," which appraised the status and use of adaptive behavior as a concept and measurement tool that would work in the school system. . . at the time, the ability to assess a child's whole experience was trending toward a more comprehensive set of measurements as a complement to those more typically administered. Because school social workers are knowledgeable about the importance of a holistic approach and understand how environment affects behavior, they were ideally suited to assess the adaptive behavior of pupils identified as candidates for special education services. Full article.
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Think back to a time when you set yourself a goal but didn't achieve it. Perhaps you planned to get fitter, or learn a new language.
You probably felt frustrated when you realized that you'd failed. But did you reflect on what went wrong, and think about how you could improve next time?
. . . Take our short quiz to explore your goal-setting approach, and to learn about some of the obstacles that can get in your way. Read more.
False Dichotomy Makes for a Confusing Myth About Leaders
If you've look at any literature on leadership, you'll certainly have come across the statement -- Leaders are made. You have almost certainly come across the term "born leader" as used in common speech. Both are equally wrong and misleading in ways that have practical implications, particularly for leadership development.
In Western society we have a tendency to want to dichotomize things. More.
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In the 24 states that have not expanded Medicaid, 6.7 million residents are projected to remain uninsured in 2016 as a result. These states are forgoing $423.6 billion in federal Medicaid funds from 2013 to 2022, which will lessen economic activity and job growth... The authors note that opting to expand Medicaid would generate state savings and revenues exceeding the cost of expansion. Read key findings. Full report.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has launched an online access tool of national data gathered from the "Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4: Report to Congress." The NIS-4 data, collected in 2005 and 2006 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, provide updated estimates of the number of children who are abused or neglected. NIS-4 data combine information about children whose incidence rates of maltreatment was investigated by child protective services with data on maltreated children identified by professionals. NIS-4 also provides information on the nature and severity of the maltreatment, as well as the characteristics of children, perpetrators, and families involved. More. Full report. |
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October 6, 2014
A multi-professional perspective
Pewaukee, WI
January 26-27, 2015
ACSSW National Institute on
Mental Health in Schools for School Social Workers
New Orleans, LA
Brochure coming soon!
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Recommended Read for August
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from the children's viewpoints...
Our New Home: Immigrant Children Speak
by Emily Hearn and Marywinn Milne
Our New Home is a collection of writings and drawings by children from around the world who have immigrated to Canada. The editors have divided the collection into four sections. They are: leaving their homelands, American differences, adjusting to a new culture, problems they experience, and their feelings about different topics. The children are from many different countries such as China, India, Argentina, Germany, Pakistan, Russia, Vietnam, and many more. Their words and pictures show their excitement, fears, and challenges about moving to a new country.
 Making It Home: Real Life Stories from Children Forced to Flee
by Beverley Naidoo
"We took flight from the war a long time ago. . . . Nobody tells me why. . . .We saw lots of people dying and houses burning down." Displaced by war, children from Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, Liberia, Sudan, and Burundi talk about the horror left behind, the family separation, and the struggle to adjust to a new place, whether as a refugee in a camp or as an asylum seeker in the U.S. Their first-person accounts, many with full-color photos, have been collected by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), which runs programs to aid war-traumatized children, and anonymous writers supply short introductions to each war zone. Many of the kids' voices sound the same, and there's too much politics for one small book. But the aching personal details will grab readers, as will the global connections. As Beverly Naidoo points out in her foreword, these stories challenge the racism against today's asylum seekers."
Living As a Refugee in America: Mohammed's  Story (Children in Crisis) by Helen Howard
Now in an American high school, Mohammed, 15, tells the story of how he fled the Taliban in Afghanistan and wandered through Iran and Turkey before coming to the U.S. with his mother, brother and sister. Living as a Refugee in America weaves Mohammed's story with facts about Afghanistan's recent history and discusses the plight of refugees driven by war and famine across the world. The moving first person narrative, printed in italics, features full-color, captioned photos of Mohammed, his family and friends. It also discusses issues such as discrimination, cultural barriers and maintaining dual identity.
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This toolkit assists high schools and school districts in designing and implementing strategies to prevent suicide and promote behavioral health. It includes tools to implement a multi-faceted suicide prevention program that responds to the needs and cultures of students. Toolkit.
Free 1.5 CEUs for School Social Workers
ACSSW is very pleased to offer an opportunity for any school social worker to earn 1.5 FREE CEUs due to ACSSW's sponsorship of an excellent program:
Plan, Prepare, Prevent: The SOS Online
Gatekeeper Training Module
The SOS Signs of Suicide® Prevention Program is an award winning, nationally recognized program designed for middle and high school-age students. The program teaches students how to identify the symptoms of depression and suicidality in themselves or their friends, and encourages help-seeking through the use of the ACT® technique (Acknowledge, Care, Tell). This course is available free to school social workers. With sponsorship from ACSSW, all learners will receive 1.5 contact hours upon completion. Click to Learn More. To register call 781-239-0071 or email SOS Registration and mention that you'd like to register.
Columbia University Teachers College Press published 4 guides geared to support teachers, administrators, student personnel staff, and parents. For a limited period, and as supplies last, TCP has agreed to provide FREE copies of the guides to social workers and educators working with military kids in schools including: teachers, school administrators, PPS workers, and military parents. School social workers should be aware of this wonderful, time-limited, FREE offer from TCP. Many school social workers will benefit from these guides.
The process is simple. Each individual desiring a free book would need to click on the link, select the type of book s/he desires, and fill out name, mailing address, etc. on the Qualtrix form after selecting the book desired. The book will be mailed in a few weeks.
Helping Traumatized Children Learn, vol. 1 & 2, are available for purchase or free download on the website. Click here to learn more about this.
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School Social Work Positions
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Continued - listed by state abbreviation
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Mt. Diablo, CA
Denver, CO
Connecticut (various)
Washington, DC #1
Washington, DC #2
Savannah, GA
Chicago, IL #2
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Evanston, IL #1
Evanston, IL #2
Harper Woods, MI
Carson City, NV
Las Cruces, NM
Buffalo, NY
Cleveland, OH
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Ohio Univ Assist/Assoc/Full Prof-Athens, OH
Bluffton, SC
Austin, TX
Georgetown,TX
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University of Southern California Invites You . . .
In preparation for Nation Suicide Prevention Week, September 7-13, 2014, the University of Southern California School of Social Work invites you to participate in You Matter, a grassroots campaign designed to foster well-being and bring back some much-needed human connection. Join us, and help our movement grow.
How It Works
The mission of the You Matter campaign is to facilitate human connectedness to promote positive mental health. Use our You Matter Care Cards as expressions of appreciation or simply to tell someone you care. We challenge you to take this opportunity to say the thing you always think but never say - keep it simple or go deep; it's up to you!
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Download and print your You Matter Care Card at
- Write a message to tell someone why they matter.
- Take a photo and share it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter with hashtag #youmatter.
- Share the card.
- Tell the recipient to pass it on.
As National Suicide Prevention Week approaches, now is a great time to spend a few moments reminding someone that they truly matter. Need inspiration? Check out the USC blog post on 60 ways to use a Care Card.
In a report released this month, Vanderbilt University researchers combed research journals to assess what's known about the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for children with autism through age 12. The review, produced for the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, is an update to a 2011 report.
Since that time, there has been a significant uptick in quality studies looking at the impact of various behavioral interventions, the researchers said. The current review assessed 65 studies of which 19 were considered to be good quality. By comparison, just two of the 45 studies on behavioral interventions included in the 2011 report met that threshold.
In particular, early intervention that is intensive and based on the principles of applied behavior analysis "can significantly affect the development of some of the children with ASD." the report found. More. Comparative Effectiveness Review.
Texas District Launches New Counseling Hotline
Students in a Texas district can send an anonymous text message to a school helpline monitored by a counselor and assistant principal. School officials say the system helps students to receive assistance with issues, including depression, problems at home and academic concerns. Learn more.
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Archived
The CSMH and the IDEA Partnership presented a webinar, School Mental Health: A Federal Perspective, on January 30, 2014. Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, the President put forward a number of initiatives aimed at making schools and communities safer and to increase access to mental health services in his plan, Now is the Time. As he said, "We won't be able to stop every violent act, but if there is even one thing we can do to prevent any of these events, we have a deep obligation, all of us, to try." This webinar provided an overview of federal efforts that have already been put in place, as well as those that have been proposed for the upcoming years. Presenters David Esquith, Director for the Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), U.S. Department of Education, and Ingrid Donato, Branch Chief, Mental Health Promotion, Center for Mental Health Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provided participants with information about other existing federal initiatives to prevent youth violence and promote positive student outcomes. Strategies that support students, schools, and communities as well as the importance of cross-system partnerships were highlighted. The webinar recording is available as well as the PowerPoint. Access here.
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Grants of up to $500 are available for "innovative programs, events, or projects" from the Meemic Foundation. Apply online using their easy application that takes less than 30 minutes to complete. These grants are open to any employee of a K-12 public or private school. Universities and colleges may also apply. Fill-in-the-blank application.
Grants are accepted year round, but the third quarter cycle ($500 max per grant) ends September 30. Funds will be available in mid-November.
The foundation says it supports "basically anything that supports teachers and enhances the student's educational experience" - from field trips to books to behavior modification programs; science, music, or art equipment to professional development.
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