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• Social Work Month 2012
  • Social Work Month 2012 Toolkit Homepage
  • Social Work Month 2012 Press Releases
  • Social Work Month 2012 Multimedia
  • Social Work Month 2012 Key Messages
  • Social Work Month Activity Overview
  • Social Work Month 2012 Logos
  • Social Work Month 2012 Photo Project
  • Social Work Month 2012 Merchandise
  • Social Work Month 2012 Proclamation Template
  • The History of Social Work Month
  • Questions: socialworkmonth@naswdc.org

  Social Work Month 2011
  Social Workers Change Futures - Targeted outreach and promotional ideas, including tips for securing endorsements, hosting events, publishing articles and marketing your private practice.

  Social Work Month 2010
  Social Workers Inspire Community Action - Visual guides to three social work public education websites, profiles of inspiring social workers, and tips for promoting the profession.

  Social Work Month 2009
  Social Work: Purpose and Possibility - Information and tools for social work student recruitment, sample consumer radio PSAs, and specific tips for working with the media.

Military Home

Talking Points

• Social Work in VA: Meeting the Needs of the Newest Generation of Veterans (2012 | pdf)
  
  
  
  
  
• Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home with unprecedented physical and mental wounds. Traumatic brain injuries, multiple amputations, severe spinal cord injuries, severe depression, and post traumatic stress are common.

• Successful transitions from military service to civilian life are possible when individuals have safe and affordable housing, a solid financial situation, dependable employment and healthy relationships.

• Many veterans are returning to marriages and families strained or broken by multiple deployments, few employment opportunities, and a country which many times is oblivious to the wars in which they served and the sacrifices they have made.

• The social work profession, despite its support of peace and social justice, firmly believes in providing meaningful help to those who have been affected by the country’s decision to deploy its highly trained military forces.

• Social work with the military requires the same mastery of content relating to social policies, specialized service delivery, targeted clinical interventions, administrative practice skills and knowledge of population characteristics and needs.

• The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs—the largest employer of MSWs in the nation—has treated nearly a quarter of a million veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for post traumatic stress. Officials, however, acknowledge that the stigma of mental-health challenges prevents many from seeking help, and that resources are spread thin.

• The cost of health care and disability benefits for veterans usually does not peak until decades after service ends. Some estimates place long-term costs for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at nearly $1 trillion over the next 40 years.

• Social workers are involved in many different local and national organizations and partnerships to assist military men and women and their families. These include volunteer mental health networks, professional work in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense facilities, uniformed service, targeted university training programs, employment assistance programs, and private therapy services. 

• In the VA, Social Work coordinates the Community Residential Care (CRC) Program, the oldest and most cost-effective of VA's extended care programs.  Another example is the seamless transition program designed to facilitate injured active duty military members to VA hospitals. 

• The USC School of Social Work’s Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families (CIR) is collaborating with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies on the Virtual Patient, a new virtual reality training module to help prepare students to interact with real clients, particularly those who have been exposed to combat stress.

• Give An Hour is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free mental health services to service members, veterans, and their loved ones. Social workers comprise more than 40 percent of these volunteer mental health providers.

• The U.S. Navy is increasing social workers exponentially by offering an opportunity for MSW candidates without their license to enter the Navy and complete a two-year externship.

• The Army Medical Department Center and School has partnered with Fayetteville State University in North Carolina to offer an accelerated eight-month MSW program to soldiers who have a BSW, or a 14-month program for soldiers who have a non-social work bachelor’s degree.

• The U.S. Air Force is offering eight MSW scholarships to any school of the student’s choosing through the Air Force Health Profession Scholarship Program.