Clinical Social Work Practice Tools:
Practice

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) wishes to bring attention to the importance of mental health as it affects millions of people in the United States. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), each year 1 in 5 adults and 1 in 6 youths ages 6-17 deal with mental illness. The impact has been further exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. While the pandemic has greatly affected the overall safety and wellbeing of the population, it has also highlighted longstanding issues with accessing care. A statical report from NAMI indicated 11% of those who are mentally ill in the United States were uninsured in 2022. The same report also found 148 million people in this country live in areas with a shortage of mental health providers.

As America faces a mental health crisis, the need for suicide prevention services is more imperative than ever. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, suicide is ranked as the second primary cause of death in young people among the ages of 10 to 34 and the tenth most frequent cause of death in the United States.

Blog

The specialty area of private practice can present a multitude of challenges for newer and even seasoned clinical social workers.

NASW is establishing a task force to revise "NASW Standards for Clinical Social Work in Social Work Practice," which was published in 2005.

As of January 2021, emotional support animals (ESAs) are no longer recognized as service animals and are prohibited from flying with their owners under the United States Department of Transportation’s Air Carrier Access Act.