Recent Mentions of NASW in the News
WVXU
Funding awards include $23,425 to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation: The Ohio chapter of the NASW will use this funding to offer the CEU-accredited Navigating New Laws training to additional Cincinnati based mental health providers. This training equips providers understand state laws so that they can safely serve transgender youth and is led by a transgender social worker. Access to affirming and confidential mental health care is identified as a leading need among transgender youth.
WAVE
“AI is not a licensed professional and does not protect the public,” said Brenda Rosen from the National Association of Social Workers. “Unlike a licensed mental health professional, AI chatbots cannot recognize nonverbal cues, cannot escalate when a client is in crisis, and cannot be held accountable for harm. And yet, these tools are being promoted and used in mental health settings across the country.”
WCTV
“We just want to be here to help. And this compact will allow us to do that,” said Christina Cazanave-McCarthy, Florida Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Executive Director.
Fortune
Regulators and advocates of the laws say they are open to changes. But today’s chatbots are not a solution to the mental health provider shortage, said Kyle Hillman, who lobbied for the bills in Illinois and Nevada through his affiliation with the National Association of Social Workers.
WBIW
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) has convened a national task force to establish a comprehensive Standard of Care for Suicide Prevention tailored to the social work profession. The initiative, which had progressed in recent months, will equip social workers across settings with a framework to assess and respond to suicide risk.
Social Work Advocates
The NASW New York State and New York City chapters have unified to become one chapter. The executive director of the new chapter is Shakira A. Kennedy, PhD, LMSW. She said a letter was sent to impacted members before the unification took place this year.
WBEZ Chicago
Illinois is one of the first states to put restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence in therapy. Guests include: Blase Ur, assistant professor of computer science, University of Chicago; Joel Rubin, executive director, National Association of Social Workers, Illinois chapter; and Secretary Mario Treto, Jr., Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
The Charlotte Post
School social workers are asked to step in for a variety of issues, including failing grades, bullying, violence, chronic absenteeism or to conduct a suicide risk assessment, said Valerie Arendt, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers North Carolina Chapter.
The Wall Street Journal/MSN
“I have known pharmacists, teachers, attorneys and many others leave their professional careers to become psychotherapists,” said Mirean Coleman, the National Association of Social Workers’ director of clinical practice. “Clinical social workers enjoy the concept and benefits of being their own boss and creating their own benefits and policies.”
Axios Chicago
"If you would have opened up a corner shop and started saying you're a clinical social worker, the department [of Professional Regulation] would shut you down pretty quickly, right? But somehow we were allowing an algorithm to work unregulated," Kyle Hillman, legislative director of the National Association of Social Workers, tells Axios.