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Megan Garcia had no idea her teenage son Sewell, a “bright and beautiful boy”, had started spending hours and hours obsessively talking to an online character on the Character.ai app in late spring 2023…. Families around the world have been impacted. Earlier this week the BBC reported on a young Ukrainian woman with poor mental health who received suicide advice from ChatGPT, as well as another American teenager who killed herself after an AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with her.
Globally, at least a third of GPs report burnout – exceeding 60% in some specialties. Burned-out doctors struggle to maintain empathy. It’s not a moral failing; it’s a physiological reality. Chronic stress depletes the emotional reserves required for genuine empathy. The wonder isn’t that AI appears more empathic; it’s that human healthcare professionals manage any empathy at all.
Over the past two decades, Indonesia’s poverty alleviation and social welfare programs have undergone major transformations, marked by a stronger government commitment to evidence-based policymaking. This approach has had significant implications for program effectiveness, social impact, and the accuracy of budget allocation. However, there has been a growing tendency to move away from such evidence-based practices.
Most of the government editorial staff at Preventing Chronic Disease, an academic journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for more than 2 decades, have been told they’re being terminated, leaving the publication’s future uncertain, Science has learned. Reduction-in-force notices were sent to six of the journal’s federal staffers earlier this month, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CDC, confirmed to Science.
But this case—and Flock’s involvement, in particular—illustrates an expansion of the horrifying capacity to meld personal obsessions and the state’s interest at a systemic level. In big and small towns across the country (upward of 6,000), police departments are adopting Flock’s growing arsenal and, more importantly, buying into Flock’s stated ambition: “Our mission is to eliminate crime. Full stop.”
Scapegoating newcomers has become a convenient distraction from policy failure
Many years ago, long before the town of Fithian had street signs, I would walk through the door after school to see my mom crying. She didn’t know what we were going to have for supper.
Maybe, if my dad was lucky, he would bring home a pheasant, or squirrel, or some fish he caught from a local pond. Maybe we would have the frog legs that he and I had gigged the preceding Sunday.
The charity Care Rights UK believes one of the most common reasons people are forced out of their care homes is ‘revenge evictions’. Lauren Byrne, policy and campaigns lead, explains that this is where people are “threatened with eviction as a result of raising a complaint, as a sort of retaliation”.Above: Big Issue ambassador Rose Williams and her great aunt, who was threatened with eviction.
Maternity hospital in Ethiopia. The prevalence of FGM among women aged 15–49 in Ethiopia is around 65 percent.
Professor Paul Yip, director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention.
As food insecurity continues to rise across Isabella County, Central Michigan University’s Social Work Program is stepping forward with a clear message: hunger is not just a community issue—it’s a campus issue, too. Through collaborative teaching, student engagement, and partnerships with local agencies, CMU social work faculty and students are leading efforts to strengthen food access, raise awareness, and support local families affected by the recent pause in SNAP benefits. Above: Social Work faculty member Valerie Austin speaks to community members
A caller who recently reached out to the Wyoming 211 help line had a stark message for the person on the other end of the line: If I pay my utility bill to avoid a disconnect, I’ll have to eat cat food this month. Others in a desperate situation aren’t hiding their frustration about needing help at all — a cultural shame in Wyoming — or their stress navigating a perplexing, ever-changing and shrinking network of social services.
A St. Louis University study released in April found that 32% of parents of LGBTQ+ children have considered leaving Missouri, and 48% of LGBTQ+ adults have considered moving. Political climate was the top reason for their desire to leave. Analyses at the national level affirm a correlation between LGBTQ+ inclusion and economic success. A 2023 Wells Fargo report showed that states with larger LGBTQ+ populations had higher rates of economic growth between 2010 and 2019. The analysis notes that people identifying as LGBTQ+ tend to be younger and higher educated, but it still found a correlation between representation and economic growth when the data was controlled for age and education variables.
Around 4.5 million women are going through the menopause right now—but it is still shrouded in stigma…. Some 750,000 women remain on NHS waiting lists for gynaecology services. But women are also fighting back. Socialists fought to make abortion rights a trade union issue in the 1970s. Today, they are organising to make the menopause a working class issue.
The number of social workers joining Wakefield Council is set to increase as figures reveal a rise in caseloads for the authority’s safeguarding staff, a meeting heard. Current data shows the average number of cases being dealt with by staff is above maximum target levels.
Free radicals from astrocyte mitochondria appear to trigger brain inflammation linked to dementia. A new class of molecules that blocks these radicals at their source could open a path to more effective neurodegenerative treatments
For now, Americans are struggling to stay afloat. But the current is moving in one direction, and it’s not toward shore.
Scientists have discovered a surprising benefit of the acne drug doxycycline: it may lower the risk of schizophrenia. Teens prescribed the antibiotic were about one-third less likely to develop the condition as adults. The effect could stem from the drug’s ability to reduce brain inflammation. Researchers say the findings highlight an unexpected new direction in mental health prevention.
North Carolina’s 34-year-old child fatality review system initially led the nation in preventing child fatalities, said Jennie Kristiansen, Chatham County DSS director and a member of the N.C. Child Fatality Task Force. But after 15 years of legislative changes, McLeod said, the system became “disjointed.” There was no collective process, no oversight, and no way to capture all local data and share it with other agencies statewide, she said.
In the study, a group of 74 recently demobilized veterans agreed to wear a device on their wrist 24/7 as well as self-report through a brief daily questionnaire. The goal was to observe how the use of real-time data collected passively (through remote measurement) and actively (via a survey) could help with routing trauma sufferers to behavioral health therapists and other health care specialists as needed, says Dr. Shaddy Saba (above), Assistant Professor at the NYU Silver School of Social Work and a coauthor of the study looking at PTSD and cannabis abuse among veterans.
Texas Christian University handed its power to the people working hardest to dismantle learning itself.
> Rigid methodological adherence: The LLMs failed to account for users’ lived experiences, leading to oversimplified, contextually irrelevant, and one-size-fits-all interventions.
> Poor therapeutic collaboration: The LLMs generated overly lengthy responses, imposed solutions, and over-validated patients’ harmful beliefs about themselves and others.
> Deceptive empathy: The LLMs’ pseudo-therapeutic alliance included simulated anthropomorphic responses (“I hear you” or “I understand”) that created a false sense of emotional connection that could be misleading for vulnerable groups.
> Unfair discrimination: The LLMs’ responses showed gender, cultural, and religious biases and algorithmic insensitivities toward marginalized populations.
> Lack of safety and crisis management: The LLMs responded either indifferently, disengaged, or failed to provide appropriate intervention in crises involving suicidality, depression, and self-harm; it failed to refer patients to qualified experts or appropriate resources.
Desmond Lee, Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration, announced in Parliament various measures to improve safeguards in the child protection system in the wake of the death of Megan Khung.
General anesthesia redefined surgery and medicine, but over a century later it still carries significant risks. Too much sedation can lead to neurocognitive disorders and may even shorten lifespan; too little can lead to traumatic and painful wakefulness during surgery. So far, scientists have learned that, generally speaking, anesthetic drugs render people unconscious by altering how parts of the brain communicate. But they still don’t fully understand why.
Miss Julie’s School of Beauty is making history as the first nonprofit cosmetology school in the nation dedicated to helping survivors of sex trafficking.
The amendments would have included several more professions in the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program. The program currently offers to forgive the federal portion of outstanding loans for family doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.
Former College of Social Work and national safeguarding lead Annie Hudson will lead statutory review of Social Work England and make recommendations on future regulation of profession
During the meetings, discussions focused on ways to cooperate in the areas of child protection and developing the skills of social and psychological professionals, as well as enhancing the role of women and empowering them in the social development process.
SINGAPORE: The government has apologised to Beyond Social Services and other agencies for the misunderstanding over “finger-pointing” when the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) made its initial statement on Megan Khung’s case in April, Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration Desmond Lee (above) said on Wednesday (Nov 5)
After taking a social-work course at Colorado State University in 2023, one student had striking words to share in a course evaluation: “I don’t feel safe in this classroom,” they wrote, adding that “judgment and rejection” came from the two instructors. “This makes me shut down.”
A social worker at St. Louis County Library’s Mid-County Branch in Clayton, DeNyne Carter helps guests find more than just books.
“In these experiences, the students feel like they are actually right there,” said Dr. Amy Restorick Roberts, Associate Professor in the Department of Family Science and Social Work (FSW). “They are observing things that are very personal, and it really helps to give them perspective in terms of what they may encounter in the practice, and how they can better assess different situations and know the appropriate interventions to use.”
This case was uncovered after an official from a social welfare institution in Canton Sarajevo reported to the police knowledge of a criminal act. The prosecutor did not wish to reveal which social institution it was, as she believes that could lead to the disclosure of the identity of the minors.
Hampshire County Council’s out of hours service (OOHS) was recently named team of the year at the 2025 Social Work of the Year Awards for its work supporting children and vulnerable adults.
The Start Strong program, part of the NSW Department of Education’s early-learning funding framework is set to undergo major reform under the Chris Minns Government, aligning funding more closely with quality standards and directing investment to areas of highest need.
When mixed with alcohol, medications or illicit drugs, the county health department warns, 7-OH products can “cause severe respiratory depression and death. Importantly, these products are unregulated and may contain unknown concentrations of 7-OH, increasing the risk of unintentional overdose.” There have been six reported kratom-related deaths in Los Angeles County in just the past few months.
People feeling that their data is being collected at every turn leaves many numb to the issue of data privacy.
“By shining a green light, we let our veterans know they are seen, appreciated and supported,” DPSS Director Jackie Contreras said. Operation Green Light for Veterans is being led by the National Association of Counties to draw attention to the challenges some veterans may face while highlighting places in their communities to get support.
The significance of women to building sustainable peace is undeniable. Our research, supported by the United States Institute of Peace, has found that on average the incorporation of measures to include women in post-conflict society in a peace agreement reduces the probability of conflict recurrence by 11%. Even more significantly, if this process occurs alongside UN leadership, the probability of conflict recurrence is reduced by 37%.
The federal government shutdown coupled with new work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is revealing just how fragile the nation’s social safety net can be, according to University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) faculty who spoke during a virtual media panel hosted by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). Above: Clockwise from left, Dean Judy Postmus, Lauren Schuyler, Seante Hatcher, Stacey Stephens, Kaya Swann
The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, Scotland, also known as the “Sick Kids” hospital.
Tiffany J. Nhan, a student in the School of Social Work’s dual degree Master of Social Work and PhD in Social Welfare program, has been selected for the Minority Fellowship from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
A 74-metre luxury yacht moored in Venice, Italy.
Tensions are at an all-time high as students approach the NYU bi-annual battle to the death that is course registration. Beyond the usual praying for class availability, the frantic back and forth checking of Albert’s course descriptions and disgruntled primary sources from Rate My Professors… there is a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to choosing classes at NYU
Recent data from the 2025 UND School of Medicine & Health Science’s Biennial Report shows that while the total number of licensed social workers in North Dakota has grown by more than 21.5% over the past six years, the distribution remains uneven. Nearly 70% of the state’s social workers are located in urban areas, while rural regions have seen a 9.5% decline in their numbers…. The new curriculum was developed through the work of the Clinical Social Work Curriculum Committee, which includes Dr. Amanda Fackler, Angela Muhs, Shanna Urban, Dr. Isaac Karikari and Dr. H. Stephen Cooper.
The city says the first year of a social work program at the High Point Public Library is filling a critical gap helping those in need find housing, employment, federal benefits and other services. Launched last year, it served 623 people at the library during its first 10 months, most of whom had no prior visits to a health care provider said Eric Foushee, CEO of Mental Health Associates of the Triad.
“[E]xperts say, the sweeping data-sharing agreement authorizing DHS to merge Social Security data into SAVE could threaten Americans’ privacy and lead to errors that disenfranchise legitimate voters. The details of the agreement, which haven’t previously been reported, show it contains alarmingly few guardrails to ensure accuracy and scant specifics on how the data will be kept secure, election and privacy lawyers who have reviewed it say. Further, it explicitly does not bar DHS from deploying the SSA data for other purposes, including immigration enforcement.
A key measles and rubella committee of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will meet this week to discuss whether North American countries have lost their measles elimination status, meaning the measles virus has become endemic in those nations. A country is considered to have endemic measles if there has been uninterrupted transmission from a single outbreak of the virus that has lasted 12 months or longer.
In a recent article published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Genocide Research, we six scholars, with decades of experience in over 15 countries – including Burundi, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua and Rwanda – offered a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of working in these environments and steps toward more responsible, inclusive and ethical fieldwork.