In the Public Eye — Summer 2025

Ohio Legislation Could Remove An Important Clinical Support Service for Teens

Ohio Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to eliminate mental health resources without parental consent for teens experiencing a crisis. House Bill 172 would remove an exception that currently allows youths ages 14-17 to access:

• Outpatient services from a mental health professional without parental consent if there is a “substantial probability of harm to the minor or to other persons.”
• No more than six sessions or 30 days of the above services, whichever occurs sooner.

The exception has been present in the Ohio Revised Code since 1989, according to a story posted March 24 in The Buckeye Flame. Ohio mental health experts say the need to provide these specific outpatient services without parental consent comes up rarely but is critical, the story explains.

Liam Strausbaugh, practice associate at the NASW Ohio Chapter, is quoted in the article. Strausbaugh said these sessions usually are only provided when there is an immediate threat to safety and the parents can’t be reached, or when a minor is seeking support in a crisis and there is safety concern regarding their parents’ response.

“Those handful of sessions are used really just to help process through an event, experience or thought to help that teen wrap their mind around a certain situation before bringing it to their parents,” Strausbaugh said. “These are usually pretty unique and usually critical circumstances.”

Despite their infrequency, Strausbaugh stresses in the article that the six sessions still serve an essential clinical support service for Ohio teens. “Eradicating those sessions will leave a lot of teens in the state without access to the necessary mental health services that they might need when they need them most,” Strausbaugh said.

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Tiffany Coco

NASW-Arizona

NASW-Arizona member Tiffany Coco uses her clinical expertise to assess patients’ emotional, psychological and social needs to help them navigate their organ transplant experience.

Coco, LCSW-S, CCTSW-MCS, is the transplant social work supervisor at the Department of Transplantation at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. She oversees a team of 20 social work professionals who work alongside nursing and medical staff to deliver an unparalleled experience to patients and organ donors before, during and after their care, according to story posted April 29 at the Mayo News Network.

“To prepare for a transplant, you’re preparing for a wave of emotions,” Coco says in the article. “It’s the excitement. It’s the nerves. It’s worry. It’s everything at once.” She helps people realize the donor’s death would have happened regardless, and the decision to donate is a beautiful gift.

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Edie Weinstein

NASW-Pennsylvania

Experts suggest people stop using common phrases for those who are grieving. In an April 21 Parade.com article, NASW-Pennsylvania member Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW, a clinical social worker who specializes in relationship issues, co-dependency and addiction, notes that saying things like, “You can always have another child or find love again” is not helpful.

“It minimizes the impact of someone who is deeply grieving a traumatic loss and intensifies the pain,” Weinstein says in the article.

This kind of statement also suggests that people or belongings are replaceable or all the same, or that getting another “copy” will fill that hole. And that’s simply untrue, the story states.

Weinstein suggests a better phrase would be, “Every emotion is normal. I will sit with you in all of your feelings, whatever they are.”

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Brittanie Apke

NASW-Kentucky

Up to one in five children aged 3 to 17 in the U.S. have a mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral disorder, says Brittanie Apke, an NASW-Kentucky member.

Apke, LCSW, is chief programming officer for CHNK Behavioral Health in Northern Kentucky. She was a speaker at an event that highlighted mental health awareness, and she emphasized the importance of parents talking with their children.

“Really listen and be open-minded and not judgmental, and don’t take things personally,” she said in an article posted April 17 at Linknky.com. “If your child is struggling, it is not always about you as a parent.”

Apke said it is important to ask a child if they are suicidal or harming themselves, which allows the conversation to start. “Research suggests that talking about suicide actually may reduce rather than increase suicidal thoughts.”

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Rachel Forbes

NASW-Colorado

Rachel Forbes saw firsthand how climate disasters ripple through communities—and why a new kind of social work was needed to meet the moment, says a story posted April 18 at the University of Denver News. Today, the NASW-Colorado member is a leading voice in the field of ecosocial work. Forbes is professor of the practice of social work at Western Colorado and MSW program director through the University of Denver. Her current research and teaching focuses on ecological justice in social work practice and the impacts of climate change on mental health. Forbes’ contributions include co-editing the book “Ecosocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy,” which aims to inspire social workers to advocate for environmental justice. “We want to build community among social workers who are interested in environmental issues,” she says in the article. “I’m hopeful that the relationships we have built by doing the book will lead to more projects, better research, more intervention.”

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Kelley Kitley

NASW-Illinois

During a live interview with ABC News on April 19, NASW-Illinois member Kelley Kitley, LCSW, shared how to do “emotional spring cleaning” and set yourself up for success in the warmer months ahead.

“We need to break it down into more manageable chunks,” she suggested. “Because we got through tax season and the winter doldrums are starting to lift.”

The goals set at the beginning of the year may no longer be familiar, Kitley said. “Get that notebook out and see some of the things you wrote down at the beginning of the year. ... We need to let go and make room so we can enhance our goals.”

It is also a good time for mental health cleaning. Conflicts that need attention can be addressed by setting a date to complete them, she suggested. “And have somebody hold you accountable. Talk that through, rehearse it with somebody ... .”