The FAMCare Blog

Today's blog is written by guest blogger, Sharon Wagner, from Senior Friendly.  We truly appreciate her for sharing these helpful insights for seniors and their families.  

If you have loved ones who are getting on in years, they might have reached a point where they need more help than they will admit. Perhaps you noticed on your last visit they were having trouble keeping up with the house or they needed more assistance than usual. Discover how you can help your family member or loved one by being there in the ways they need.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a heritable neurodevelopmental disability that is characterized by delayed or inconsistent development in social interaction and communication and a restricted repertoire of activity and interests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found a higher prevalence of autism in children than ever before. Autism Spectrum Disorder is currently occurring at a rate of 1 in 59 children in the United States, an 18% increase over the past two years and a 151% increase since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first began to monitor the prevalence of ASD in 2000. Social work academics believe that increased prevalence can be explained, in part, by changes in diagnostic criteria, diagnostic substitution, improved awareness in the public, and increased recognition by clinicians.

Turning the calendar page to welcome a "new" year is an ancient time-keeping practice. Celebrating a "new" year is still the perfect opportunity to pause and take stock of life's evolving circumstances and prepare our minds and hearts for the task at hand.

COVID-19 has affected the world and its societies at unprecedented levels. Ever since the first few cases were reported in the US, things have been spiraling out of the control for both governments and healthcare authorities alike.

A lot of families have lost their loved ones while others are dealing with the long-term side effects of the virus. It’s not as easy for them to adapt to the new normal that others are embracing.

The history of social work is replete with religious organizations that were the early founders of social work and prayed for, with, and over clients as a matter of course. However, as secular and governmental social service agencies assumed a greater share of society’s burden of need issues of religious freedom and separation of church and state began to crop up.

Only because it is GVT’s business to provide technology services to the world of social services have we hesitated in the past to promote the central role that technology plays in the delivery of services to the vulnerable populations social workers serve. It has always felt a little too self-serving.

However, in the past fifteen years, technology has evolved from being one of the tools social workers use to what can only be described as the “heart of the matter”.

A surgeon and his scalpel are more than a doctor holding an instrument. They are a functional unit that can only perform their work in unison.

Today's blog is written by guest blogger, Beverly Nelson, from Stand Up for Caregivers! We truly appreciate her for sharing these helpful insights.

We all have rough periods in life. For seniors, however, slumps can be significantly harder to get out of, especially if they don’t have family around to offer support. Fortunately, friends, neighbors, and other community members have the power to make a difference for a senior feeling down.

12 Step peer support programs are based on the idea, originally formed by the AA movement in the late 1930s, that addiction is a progressive, incurable disease lessened only by undergoing spiritual transformation and abstaining from alcohol or any addictive substance or behavior (e.g., Narconon - Gamblers Anonymous).

As social workers keep their heads down tirelessly toiling away on individual case work, we thought it might be helpful to share with them the "big picture" perspective of their profession published by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) as its 2021 Blueprint of Federal Social Policy Priorities. It articulates meaningful actions our society should take to address the COVID-19 crisis, promote mental and behavioral health, eliminate systemic racism, and ensure civil and human rights for all. In case you missed it, here is a summary of your profession's "big picture" wish list for 2021.

Recent discussions with social workers from six different disciplines around the country centered around the lasting effects this dreadful pandemic has had on their constituents. Everyone agreed that the novel coronavirus and associated diseases have caused unprecedented - disruption.