Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-NY)

Reps. Andrea Salinas (D-OR) and Marc Molinaro (R-NY) on September 12 introduced legislation to help grow the nation’s mental health and behavioral workforce to address a mental health and substance use disorder crisis.

The Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Plus Scholarship Act would create a scholarship for students who wish to enter the mental health and behavioral health workforce, including social workers. The legislation is supported by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and 14 other mental health organizations.

Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR)

“NASW applauds Reps. Andrea Salinas and Marc Molinaro for their vision to introduce the STAR Plus Scholarship Act. NASW supports opportunities to grow the social work workforce in a way that allows social workers to afford their education. This legislation would help social workers and other mental health professionals complete their education with the knowledge that they have financial support. This is a step in the right direction to meet the needs of individuals in a mental health professionals shortage area and help bolster the social work workforce,” NASW CEO Anthony Estreet, PhD, MBA, LCSW-C, said.

Take time to read the full press release.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, American Psychiatric Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association for Rural Mental Health, and National Association of Social Workers on June 28 released the following statement responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Johnson v. Grants Pass:

Today the Supreme Court held that laws that criminalize sleeping in public when no safe and accessible shelter options are available are not cruel and unusual punishment. As we described in our amicus brief in this case, which Justice Sotomayor drew on in her dissent, this will have devastating consequences on the large and growing number of Americans experiencing homelessness, including people with mental health disabilities.

People with mental health disabilities are disproportionately injured in interactions with law enforcement, being 12 times more likely to experience police use of force and 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement. Additionally, criminal citations and incarceration impose serious burdens, increase financial instability, and create barriers to employment and housing.

Though the Supreme Court today removed a shield against cruel policies that criminalize nonviolent conduct associated with being homeless, it does not mean that such have to exist. Governments can – and many successfully have – put in place community-based services that meet the needs of everyone in the community, without resorting to criminal enforcement. As we described in our amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief, community-based housing and mental health services are a more effective and less expensive way to address homelessness than incarceration or hospitalization.

Research shows that scalable interventions, such as supportive housing, assertive community treatment, mobile crisis services, supported employment, and peer support services are proven solutions to homelessness and a more effective use of resources. By employing these community-based interventions, governments can address homelessness without resorting to criminal enforcement.

Everyone needs a safe place to sleep. As leading mental health organizations that work on behalf of people with mental health conditions across the country, we will continue to advocate for the housing and services that will truly end homelessness.

Read the U.S. Supreme Court Decision

Did you know that clients with borderline personality disorder are over-represented in all levels of mental health care?

Nicole Roder, LCSW-C

Research shows that about 20 percent of all patients admitted to psychiatric hospitals meet criteria for BPD, as well as 10 percent of people seeking outpatient mental health treatment.

As a DBT therapist, I specialize in treating these folks, who come to me desperate for help with changing their suicidal behaviors and dysregulated emotions. For clinical social workers, this means that we will almost definitely encounter a client with BPD at some point in our careers.

Unfortunately, despite the high prevalence of individuals with BPD in our client populations, many social workers misunderstand the diagnosis. Most of my clients have told me that their past providers seemed to dislike them, blamed them for their painful emotions, or even unilaterally discharged them without warning.

Myths and Facts About BPD

It’s true that BPD is difficult to treat, especially without specialized training and an accurate understanding of the disorder. My hope is that, by dispelling certain myths about BPD, this article can help social workers combat the structural stigma that surrounds this diagnosis and advocate for better treatment of clients with BPD.

Myth: BPD is untreatable.

Fact: Many people with BPD recover.

There are several treatments that have been shown to be effective in treating BPD. The most well-researched is Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which is what I practice. I work for a DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Program that includes individual therapy, a weekly skills group, and between-session phone coaching. I have personally treated many people with BPD who have fully recovered. I’ve seen people go from frequent suicide attempts and having raging fights with loved ones to living full and satisfying lives.

Myth: BPD can’t be diagnosed in children or teens.

Fact: BPD can be diagnosed at any age.

I’ve treated quite a few adolescents with BPD. There is nothing in the DSM that requires clinicians to wait until a client is an adult to give the diagnosis, as long as the symptoms have been present for at least a year and are not better explained by normal development or another disorder. In fact, BPD symptoms (which you can find below) often first appear during the teen years, and diagnosing a client early can help them get access to treatment.

Myth: People with BPD are manipulative and impossible to work with.

Fact: People with BPD are doing the best they can.

I have gained so much from my clients. When someone has untreated BPD, it is true that they often experience uncontrollable emotions and behaviors. They might feel intense sadness, fear, shame, or anger and engage in disruptive behaviors like self harm or isolation. When they behave this way, their therapists and loved ones might feel manipulated, but feelings aren’t facts. The truth is that they are using these behaviors to relieve their painful emotions. Figuring out and changing the causes of behaviors works better than judging and blaming.

Hopefully, learning about these myths and facts will help social workers show empathy to their clients with BPD and refer to effective treatment when necessary.

Nicole Roder, LCSW-C, DBT-LBC, is a bilingual, DBT-Linehan Board of Certification certified therapist in Columbia, MD. Find her online at https://www.gladstonepsych.com

Studies indicate Black fathers, even when absent from the home, tend to be more engaged with their children than fathers of other groups. However, Estreet said Black fathers can experience mental health stressors that other groups do not and it is important they seek out therapy, including from clinical social workers.

“Black men are facing higher challenges, you know, when compared to other groups, such as economics, health care, educational disparities, systematic racism, social injustice,” Estreet said. “You know we are one of the only groups of people who can literally be watching the news and see somebody that looks like us and from communities like us be shot down and killed on live TV.”

“I would really say that therapy works, right,” Estreet said later. “You know, find yourself a therapist, preferably a social worker. I am a little biased.”

Take time to listen to Estreet’s interview below:

Social workers help people overcome mental illness so they can live more fulfilled lives. Learn more at NASW’s HelpStartsHere.org.

By Heather Rose Artushin, LISW-CP

Now more than ever, libraries are much more than book depositories. They are living, breathing community centers, filled with people who have psychosocial needs – people who could benefit from the support of a social worker.

“After the pandemic, libraries saw a huge increase in people with poverty, housing needs, food insecurity, and mental and behavioral health problems who needed extra support,” explained Beth Wahler, Ph.D., MSW, a consultant who runs Social Work Consulting Services for Libraries. There has also been a notable increase in the number of incidents of harassment and protests that occur at libraries, whether it be in opposition to library events or collections, and many libraries have begun collaborating with other professionals to be prepared to respond to situations as they arise.

The library is an important place where social workers can connect with people in the community in need of support.

The first library social worker assumed the role in 2009, and for the next decade the field remained primarily limited to large, urban libraries focused on supporting unhoused patrons. Then, in 2020, the libraries shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the doors finally re-opened, the need for library social workers became increasingly apparent to library staff across the country and around the world.

Just as the psychosocial needs of library patrons have rapidly increased since the pandemic, funding has been simultaneously cut from many of the organizations that would help address those needs, leaving libraries as one of the only remaining free, public places where people can go to access resources that might help their situation.

“Libraries are a community hub,” Dr. Wahler shared. “They have been front and center of their communities, and people feel comfortable at the library – there’s no stigma associated with visiting the library as there would be visiting a mental health or substance use facility.” Patrons who come to the library with complex needs might otherwise be falling through the cracks, making the library an important place where social workers can connect with people in the community in need of support.

What is unique about library social work is that it is neither macro nor micro – it is a generalist role where social workers can fluidly move between both ways of working with people. What a library social worker does daily varies greatly depending on placement and community context. “Most of the time their role is to help connect people with existing resources or to be part of the community conversation about what resources are missing, or if there are gaps,” said Dr. Wahler. “They are working with individuals who have lots of needs and using their micro level skills to assess people’s needs and connect them to resources, as well as macro skills to work collaboratively in the community.”

While a small percentage of library social workers provide clinical mental health services, most provide resource connection and service coordination. In some libraries, social workers have been recruited to provide internal support to staff who are dealing with increased job-related stress and responsibility. “Training [offered by social workers] can increase staff capacity to de-escalate situations that arise, or work with people who are in crisis,” offered Dr. Wahler. “Some social workers do library policy analysis, looking at how different groups might be disproportionately impacted by policies, to make it as equitable as possible for everybody. Some do group programming, host housing clinics, or conduct mental health sessions to reduce stigma. Their duties reflect the biggest unmet needs in the surrounding community.”

Social work programs are beginning to offer some specialized training in library social work, and Dr. Wahler believes universities will continue to grow library social work offerings as the field expands. A former professor and director of a university social work program, Dr. Wahler was approached by an urban library about nine years ago, asking for practicum students. “My previous work had been with people who were unhoused, faced substance use problems, and mental health problems, which were the same things the library needed help with,” she shared. After conducting a needs assessment with staff and patrons, she piloted a program with social work students in the library and gathered data to help justify creating a full-time social work position.

Soon, libraries started approaching Dr. Wahler from all over the world, and a little over two years ago she ventured out on her own to lead a consulting business where she helps libraries build social work programs of their own.

Her book, “Creating a Person-Centered Library: Best Practices for Supporting High-Needs Patrons (Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited; 2023),” which she co-authored with Sarah Johnson, MLIS, LMSW, Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois, offers strategies for libraries to better support high-needs patrons, including organizational and leadership strategies to support staff.

Social workers can advocate for funding for an in-house social worker in their local library, negotiate a collaboration between their agency and their library where social workers can visit regularly to meet potential clients where they’re at, or even offer to supervise a social work practicum student placed in a library where funding is limited. Libraries are the ultimate gateways to accessing care, strengthening communities, and meeting people where they are.

Ways Social Workers Can Collaborate with their Local Library

• Assisting with a needs assessment to identify staff and patron needs
• Facilitating programming for patrons on common psychosocial needs and community resources (for example, a public program about how to recognize if you or someone you love might have a mental health problem and what to do/where to contact if you need help)
• Providing staff training on working with people in crisis, community resources for specific populations served at that library, setting healthy boundaries, self-care strategies, preventing escalation, or de-escalation
• Offering to help build connections between the library and other relevant community partners who might use space at the library for outreach or to provide services.
• Hosting a resource fair to bring in community partners to meet with the public and provide information about their services
• Looking for potential funding sources for new programming/services
• Holding office hours at the library on behalf of their agency
• Supervising a social work student intern at the library
• Assisting patrons with applying for public benefits, creating resumes, or applying for jobs
• Developing resource lists or guides for your local community
• Advocating with local legislators on behalf of the library (for adequate funding and protecting the right to intellectual/information freedom)

Learn more about Dr. Beth Wahler’s work by visiting her website http://swinthelibrary.com/.

Heather Rose Artushin

Heather Rose Artushin, LISW-CP is on a mission to make a difference, one word at a time. Learn more at https://heatherrosewriter.com.

While most of the nation is sleeping, the work of overnight crisis hotline worker “Beth” is just beginning.

Working remotely from home, still wearing a pajama top and a chemise, Beth takes calls from people experiencing a variety of crises. An Afghanistan War veteran still haunted by nightmares of a civilian mother he accidently shot and killed; a woman living with mental illness who no longer has health insurance and is off her medications and displaying mania; and a young woman who is a runaway and unhoused who is being pressured by her boyfriend to go into prostitution.

Beth is portrayed by award-winning actress Tessa Thompson in the film The Listener, which opened in theaters on March 29 and is now available on streaming services such as Amazon Prime TV, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, and Fandango at Home.

Beth’s work is so mentally draining (she listens patiently to callers and tries to connect them to mental health and other services) that she takes a break to listen to calming music, massage her temples, and do yoga. But then Beth gets a call from a suicidal, unemployed sociology professor that forces her to reluctantly tap into her own history of trauma to offer hope and possibly save a life.

The film is directed by acclaimed character actor Steve Buscemi (known for films such as Fargo and The Big Lebowski and the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos) and one of the producers is Oren Moverman, a director an screenwriter who has a longstanding relationship with the National Association of Social Workers.

Moverman said the film’s team is working with mental health organizations and hope the movie will be a learning tool. He invites social workers to watch.

There are almost 730,000 social workers in the United States an about 113,000 work to help people cope with mental illness and substance use disorders, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the film, Beth is identified as a peer advocate who answers calls from people who have experienced similar mental health or substance use disorders. However, Mel Wilson, NASW’s Senior Policy Advisor, said many clinical social workers work at nonprofit organizations that offer crisis call lines such as the one represented in Moverman’s film.

People who answer nationwide 988 Suicide and Crisis lines also refer people who are undergoing distress to organizations that employ clinical social workers, he said.

Wilson praised The Listener, saying it will help raise awareness about the critical services mental health professionals such as social workers provide.

The film also alluded to the increased demand for mental health services due to the isolation and economic uncertainty spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a busy night,” Beth says to one caller. “They always are. Right now, it’s busier than ever.”

Learn more about The Listener and watch a trailer of the film at IMDB.com.

Wildfires on Hawaii’s Maui Island in August killed at least 114 people, forced tens of thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate, and devastated the historic resort city of Lahaina. Major news outlets on August 21 called it the “deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years.”

Amid the chaos, social workers stepped up when the American Red Cross asked them to help, said NASW Hawaii Executive Director Sonja Bigalke-Bannan, MSW, LCSW. When someone from the Red Cross asked her the range of problems and challenges social workers usually help with, Bigalke-Bannan said she replied: “Everything.” So, the Red Cross asked the chapter to take on a management-type role, including community engagement, staffing and shelters.

“Because the public has cultural conditions,” they asked for assistance from NASW, said Bigalke-Bannan, who then emailed the NASW Foundation, because “this clearly was not in our budget. They said, ‘Absolutely, yes. We’re there for you.’ We were so grateful for this help.”

Displaced survivors were staying in hotels and Airbnbs. Many others could not get around because they lost their cars and bikes. People sought various shelters, including gyms and community centers, Bigalke-Bannan said. Many homes burned, and the chapter tried to assess things, like if folks knew of friends or family members who needed medication, or if housing was needed.

Read more in the NASW Social Work Advocates magazine.

Self-care is essential to maintaining a healthier and happier life. It involves dedicating time to activities that promote overall well-being, to better your physical and mental health. Experts say practicing self-care has proven benefits, such as effective stress management, reducing the likelihood of illnesses, and bolstering your energy levels.

International Self-Care Day (ISD), observed annually on July 24th, promotes healthy lifestyle self-care programs worldwide. Created by the International Self-Care Foundation (ISD) in 2011, ISD provides a platform for individuals and groups to independently advocate for self-care within their communities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines self-care as “individuals, families and communities’ promoting and maintaining their own health, preventing disease, and coping with illness and disability, with or without the support of a health worker.”

Health care contributors, including social workers, are invited to responsibly use ISD to advance healthy lifestyles and overall wellness.  The International Self-Care Foundation offers support to organizations conducting public health programs aligned with these goals and requests summary reports for future reference and potential implementation elsewhere.

According to Dr. Manjulaa Narasimhan, a scientist with The World Health Organization, “self-care is the first line of response for all health care.” There are a plethora of self-car interventions for health and well-being.  You can learn more about The Seven Pillars of Self-Care from the International Self Care Foundation.

The DEI team at NASW acknowledges there is no singular definition of “healthy lifestyle,” nor is there intended to be, because it means a myriad of things to different populations, cultures and societies, and they are intersectional and can all be valid.

NASW honors the importance of self-care in the practice of social work and encourages the practice of self-care in the Purpose section of the current NASW Code of Ethics.