Archive for April 2025

An English phrase seems particularly apt here: Is this entire CPD system ‘fit for purpose’?

Professor Geraldine Macdonald’s research at the University of Bristol focuses on developing robust evidence for interventions social care policy and practice. A registered social worker, Professor Macdonald has been a long-standing advocate of the importance of rigorous research in social care and specialises in the evaluation of complex social interventions.

A paper led by academics at Northumbria University… points to figures outlining the scale of the challenges and increasing numbers of people impacted:
– Approximately 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder
– 12.5% of 17 to 19-year-olds in England reported having an eating disorder in 2023, compared with 0.8% in 2017
– The financial cost of eating disorders to the English economy was estimated as £8 billion in 2020

Despite this growing demand, many communities face a severe shortage of mental health professionals such as psychologists, counselors, therapists, social workers, and psychiatrists, among others. To assess where these shortages are most acute, Addiction-Rep—a consulting firm for rehab and addiction treatment centers—analyzed data from multiple federal sources, measuring the number of mental health professionals per 10,000 residents in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas and all 50 states. The findings highlight significant disparities in mental health workforce availability, particularly in the South and pockets of the Mountain West.

As director of The Camden Life Center in Camden, New York, Jessica Perusse, LCSW-R, CSSW, has several ties to the students and faculty in the School of Social Work in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. Above: Jessica (center, with plaque)

With low overhead, abysmal wages, and largely nonperishable inventory, dollar store chains can easily be located nearly anywhere, including in small communities. Dollar chains are especially concentrated across the US South. In Louisiana alone, there are two dollar stores for every 10,000 people and almost half of those stores are in counties with fewer than 100 people per square mile. Their ubiquity has made dollar stores a Southern staple that is often the only choice for communities’ basic needs. While these stores continue to make money for shareholders, workers face a relentless grind of poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, and corporate-driven understaffing that puts safety at risk.

“This bill eliminates tenure,” said Sara Kilpatrick, executive director of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors. “If certain administrators can call for post-tenure review at any time and fire a faculty member without due process, that is not real tenure, that is tenure in name only.”