Teletherapy/Telehealth and COVID-19
NASW is taking action at the federal, state, and local
levels to promote sound COVID-19 policy responses. This includes advocating for
insurance reimbursement for clinical social workers to provide in-home teletherapy
via video chat or audio-only (under Medicare as well as commercial plans),
working to enable social workers to use virtual learning to satisfy CEU
requirements, and providing economic relief and supports for vulnerable
populations and others. NASW is also encouraging member engagement in advocacy
around these policies.
Visit NASW's COVID-19 Resources page
Ending Racism
NASW is committed to social justice for all and to ending racism. Across the country, we are mobilized and increasing our efforts in the face of America's racism pandemic. Learn about NASW's racial justice work.
Professional Development Opportunities
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 (1 –
2:30 pm ET)
CE Category: 1.5 Social
Work contact hours
Presenters: Robyn
Golden, LCSW and Michael S. Spencer, PhD
In
2016, the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) kicked
off its Grand Challenges for Social Work Initiative. This
webinar will focus on the status of the Close the Health Gap: Grand
Challenge for Social Work. We will
provide an overview of the priorities of this Grand Challenge and describe
barriers to health equity, including under the COVID-19 pandemic. The
presenters will share examples of social work successes in these areas, and
highlight the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
consensus report, "Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health
Care to Improve the Nation's Health." The
presenters will highlight the integral role that social work plays within the
context of health care and in addressing inequitable outcomes by offering
person-centered, tailored interventions to meet each individual’s, family’s,
and community’s unique needs. We will also discuss the current challenges of the
COVID-19 pandemic and 2020 political and economic environment, and the key
role the social work profession, as well as social work researchers and
educators, are playing or can play to reduce inequities in health and
well-being.
Wednesday, July 22, 2020 (1 – 2:30 pm ET)
CE Category:1.5 Clinical Social Work contact hour
Presenter: Dr. Lawrence Shulman, EdD, MSW,
This webinar will address the dynamics and skills of engaging and working with hard-to-reach individuals, families, and groups. The client(s) often face a "first decision" -- whether or not to accept the need for help and to accept the worker. Discussion will include: dealing with denial in the beginning phase of work; confronting authority issues with mandatory clients (or semi-voluntary clients); creating conditions of trust and safety which allow clients to lower their defenses; challenging the "illusion of work"; understanding resistance and responding to it constructively; dealing with taboo subjects such as physical and substance abuse, sex, death and violence.
Attention will be paid to issues involved in working inter-culturally (differences of race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc.), intra-culturally (working with persons who are like us), working effectively with other professionals and integrating elements of evidenced-based and evidenced-informed practice without becoming overly prescriptive and losing individual worker artistry.
The workshop will describe the core skills of practice including "tuning in," contracting, elaborating, empathizing, sharing one's own feelings, providing data, and making a demand for work. A premium will be placed upon honesty in relating to clients, the genuineness of the worker's empathy, the worker's capacity to integrate the personal and professional self, and the importance of confrontation and demand. Process recording examples will be used to illustrate the principles with a range of client populations and problems.