News (1,646 posts)

Queen Máxima tries her hand at cooking with chef Ghaith, watched by founder Fleur Bakker…. Bakker said that the seeds were planted when she did social work in refugee centres 15 years ago. “I was a bit frustrated,” she admitted. “I thought: how can it be that these people are in asylum centres for so long and then move on to benefits?”

How does a large multicultural country with many remote communities, few comprehensive cancer centres, and poor health literacy level the ground? The recently released Australian Cancer Plan is a good start.

Domestic workers perform grueling work with few protections. They provide care in isolated settings, leaving their essential labor all too often hidden. It can be a difficult job and a complicated one. When you work in a home, lines blur. For decades, feminist activists have said that work in the home—often performed for no pay by wives, mothers, and daughters—has been misunderstood as separate from “real” labor. This feminized care has been relegated and detached from a labor movement focused on men. Above: C and S work on reading skills.

Protests in and around Columbia University in support of Palestine and against Israeli occupation.

TEDx Speaker and the 2023 FFA Change Maker, Ahsley Machado says that from a young age, people in the agriculture industry are taught to use tools. Working with a lot of dairy producers, she sees how much they contribute to the local economy, but also that they’re leading the way with mental health struggles and suicide.

The program smashes through the wall between church and school, and it’s patently unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has ruled in cases like 1948’s McCollum v. Champaign that public schools could not invite preachers in. DeSantis seems to be banking on the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to back this norm-breaking law—a safe bet, given the number of court opinions in recent years that have allowed religion into public schools, including a 2020 decision that concluded that leaving religious preachers out of public schools was a kind of “discrimination.”

Dr. Joonmo Kang, assistant professor of social welfare, spent a year living in Jjokbang-chon, an extremely impoverished neighborhood in Seoul, as part of an ethnographic research project. Residents there routinely live through extreme heat and cold in tiny, 70-square-foot units about the size of a closet. Over the course of a year, he interviewed residents about their experiences and worked with local social agencies to understand how they worked with the residents.

Kirsten Muat, GMB Scotland organiser in Renfrewshire Council, said: “The scandal here is that carers in Renfrewshire were amongst the lowest paid of all local authority areas in Scotland. Had staff been graded properly years ago, they would be higher up the pay scale by now and they deserve for that to be reflected in their new salaries. Above: Home carers on the picket line at Mile End Centre in Paisley

Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like never before. In fact, if you rely on the Youth Allowance, there is not a single rental property across Australia you can afford this week

The University Junior High, which became the first fully integrated public middle school in Austin in 1957, has housed the Steve Hicks School of Social Work since 1994. The building also houses Raul Valdez’s “Heart and Soul” mural, which was painted in the mid-1990s.

Ohio House Bill (HB) 8 would force all Ohio public school teachers and school staff — including school social workers, counselors and school psychologists — to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents or legal guardians, regardless of suspected anti-LGBTQ+ abuse in the home.

As a professor of psychology, I focus my research on substance use in adolescents and young adults. A major change during my time in research is the legalization and explosion of cannabis availability across the U.S. There are arguments for and against increasing legalization of cannabis for adult use in the U.S., but expanded access to legal cannabis also may have unintended consequences for adolescents.

BASW recently attended the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Global Delegates Meeting and Conference in Panama, where BASW CEO Dr Ruth Allen was also announced as the new IFSW Europe President. Above: Takudzwa Leonard Mathende, Ruth Allen, Janet Walker & Omar Mohamed

Our research – which reviewed 25 years of studies examining women’s experiences of gender-based violence in sport – found perpetrators are rarely held to account. More commonly, they are free to continue abusing victims with impunity.

Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) social welfare officer Kevin Antonio Bumagat (right) gestures as he explains the operational guidelines and standards in the implementation of the Special Drug Education Center.

When Boston College professor Peter Gray remarried and became a stepfather to two small children in the early aughts, he made a discovery that surprised him. Most children were no longer allowed to play outdoors on their own. The Boston College evolutionary biologist soon noticed other changes that highlighted just how much childhood had transformed since his first son, Scott, graduated from high school in the late 1980s.

To reduce racial and gender inequalities in wealth, policymakers need to improve the financial capabilities of victim-survivors of violence through unconditional cash transfer programs — a.k.a. guaranteed income. Going beyond literacy to change, beyond individual solutions to systemic ones, will lead to true well-being for victim-survivors.

Members of the Tennessee Student Solidarity Network gather outside Alabama’s St. Clair Correctional Facility on March 2 for a solidarity protest with the Free Alabama Movement.

Assistant Professor of Social Work and Social Research Tamarah Moss (second from left) with University of Belize Social Work faculty.

The Social Workers Union (SWU) and British Association of Social Workers (BASW) are proud to support the updating of this activism toolkit and hope you will join us for its launch on April 27 in Manchester.

The research shows that women who reported having been pregnant looked biologically older than women who had never been pregnant, and women who had been pregnant more often looked biologically older than those who reported fewer pregnancies.

Decisions about when an older person (or someone whose physical or mental circumstances make operating a vehicle dangerous) should stop driving are often agonizing. They can rock the driver’s sense of independence and identity, and add to the responsibilities that many family caregivers shoulder.

“For the most part, when somebody takes suddenly ill in the day shelter or the winter shelter, or is seriously injured, (their option is) EMSA and the closest emergency room,” said Dan Straughan in an email to Oklahoma Watch. Newly retired, Straughan is the founder and previous executive director of The Homeless Alliance.

Wednesday, before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, President Shafik threw academic freedom and Columbia University faculty under the bus instead of providing what higher education and democracy require: a robust defense of academic freedom and its essential protection of extramural speech

Kecia Adams Council, blue blouse, and Coleen Anderson, to Council’s right, were among a contingency of Pitt County social workers who lobbied the Pitt County Board of Commissioners to hire employ more workers in the new fiscal year.

Over a ten-year period, biobank participants who met recommended levels of physical activity had a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and the protective effects were even more pronounced in individuals with depression.

The Welsh folk singer Lleuwen Steffan was working in a museum archive when she came across recordings of Welsh-language hymns she had never heard before…. Many of the hymns date back to the 18th century and passed down through the generations. Steffan said: “They’re conversational and the lyrics feel so current. There were committees who would choose what hymns would go into the hymn books. These were the unchosen ones, the cancelled ones, if you like.

The consequences of inadequate mental health support are dire for students and institutions, including higher rates of academic struggle and attrition. Singapore is a good example of a country where mental health is receiving national attention, particularly in the higher education sector.

The discovery has moved many people on mainland social media. All around his rural home in central China’s Shanxi province, Zhang Fuqing wrote everything that occurred to him, from daily routines to his family history and his curiosity about the universe.

The twin insurrections at the US Capitol in 2021 and Brasilia’s Three Powers Plaza in 2023 left no doubt about the international coordination of reactionary forces. Yet far too little is known about the entities of this network, their sources of financing, and their institutional allies operating inside our political systems. That is why we launched a research consortium on the Reactionary International: to trace the connections between the politicians, platforms, think-tanks, funders, foundations, publications, judges, and journalists that comprise this global network — and to support democratic systems to become more resilient to their insidious tactics.

Because of the heavy subject matter in the show, there were social workers and trauma counselors there on set for support, if needed.

With the increasing recognition of the therapeutic benefits of cannabis in treating various medical conditions, the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW), in collaboration with the School of Pharmacy, announces this dual graduate program, the only one in the country, MSW and Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics Post Baccalaureate Certificate.

Grants Pass, Oregon, a town of about 40,000, has several hundred homeless people.

Today, as student protests against Israel’s actions have grown in size and fervor, hawkish defenders of Israel have intensified efforts to quash them, often asserting, speciously, that protest rhetoric – even the mere sight of a keffiyeh – makes Jewish students unsafe. They then go further to claim that, therefore, Jews are being targeted and threatened. Apart from ignoring that many of the protesters are themselves Jewish these conclusions require two sleights of logic. Above: Columbia University President Minouche Shafik

Figures show 34,500 people incurred overpayments last year after falling foul of rules, landing many with huge debts

The Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) in Catarman is collecting stories on the experiences of solo parents in order to drum up awareness of the law that protects and enlists the benefits of single parents.

CalRecycle granted $2.1 million to the San Francisco Department of the Environment, which will use the money to expand its network of workers that recover high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste and distribute it to nonprofits and food pantries. City officials said they recovered 5 million pounds of food last year, averting it from landfills and reducing harmful greenhouse-gas emissions.

Greg (Matthew Modine) is a beleaguered social worker at a Colorado juvenile correctional center with a passion for bicycle adventure rides and a revelatory idea for rehabilitation… rounding up an unlikely crew of incarcerated students to complete a transformative 762-mile cycling challenge.

Mount Sinai researchers, in collaboration with scientists at The Rockefeller University, have uncovered a mechanism in the brain that allows cocaine and morphine to take over natural reward processing systems.

All of this makes the case that inequality is indeed “the great moral issue of our time,” and so, naturally, the preoccupation of the Left. But there’s more. Movements for racial and gender justice and equality have made it clear that formal equality — that is, equality before the law, the equality of rights that is supposed to attach to every individual — remains, as it always has in American history, unfinished business, notwithstanding constitutional amendments, various legislative acts, and court decisions.

UCCI is committed to nurturing the next generation of social work professionals through its comprehensive social work programme. The bespoke programme at UCCI is designed to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills, and ethical grounding required to make a significant difference in the lives of individuals and communities within the Cayman Islands.

The former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis (above), now secretary-general of the leftwing DiEM25 movement, was served with a betätigungsverbot, a ban on any political activity in Germany, including participation by video from another country.

When Kamea Macusi decided to pursue her MSW at UH Mānoa, she could never have imagined that just a few years later she would be working as a Fulbright scholar in the Jeollanam-do region of South Korea.

In 2023 alone, more than 500 anti-trans bills were proposed or adopted in nearly every state in the United States, targeting everything from drag performances to gender-affirming medical care to school inclusion policies for trans people. Support for these measures has been enabled and propelled by scientific misinformation, which has proven to be a distressingly effective tool in outraging a public that might otherwise be broadly empathetic, or at least uncertain about where to stand.

From left, Lia S. and Sam Schmidt of Our Streets Collective, founded by the Pittsburgh chapter of Food Not Bombs, and Howard Ramsey, walk away from Second Avenue Commons after delivering a letter to its staff and Pittsburgh Mercy leadership

Library interim CEO Beth Cote said violence isn’t the only concern. Over the last few years, a variety of social, mental health and addictions issues have been worsening inside libraries. Without any options for refuge, many people are spending more time at the library.

All clinicians brought up the struggle of trying to treat patients without the proper staffing, resources and time. Dr. Romajit Yatoome continued, “The big reason that we are on strike is because we are all feeling the pinch of the staffing shortages. It’s not just the physicians, but the nurses, techs, and social workers as well. We are all so overworked and patients are waiting 10 to 15 hours just to see a physician. This is not acceptable for anyone.

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a disturbing cognitive bias that afflicts us all. People with limited expertise in an area tend to overestimate how much they know—and we all have gaps in our expertise.

As a pro-choice member of the clergy, I’m sometimes pressed about moral justification for abortion. While most Christians (according to a Pew Research Center survey, May 6, 2022) view abortion as morally permissible depending on the situation, white evangelical pastors and Catholic priests have so dominated the airwaves on this issue for years that it appears (incorrectly) that the pro-life position is the only Christian point of view.

I have been a health care professional for more than fifty years. During that time I have risen in my profession and helped thousands of men and women to live fully, love deeply, and make a positive difference in the world. I have also been stressed, depressed, and suicidal during much of my professional life. I’m not alone.