Our recent blog on the true cost of healthcare ignited a robust response from social workers who specialize in public health. This relatively new but growing social work specialty stresses a socio-epidemiological approach to the prevention and management of the chronic diseases that plague our society.

The healthcare debate rages on. Politicians on both sides of the aisle insist that they have the answer to the staggering cost of healthcare in the United States, but no concrete solutions have emerged. One party tends to favor socialized medicine while the opposition, agreeing that healthcare should be available to all citizens, hasn’t figured out how to pay the staggering bill.

Positive Tomorrows, an Oklahoma City non-profit, is opening a private school for homeless children that was designed by the kids themselves. That’s right. A private school for homeless (not privileged) children.

Remember taking film to the drugstore to get it developed? Or hustling over to Blockbuster on a Friday night to rent films for the weekend? How about “looking up” facts for your homework papers in the Encyclopedia Britannica? Or spending rainy Saturdays in the library writing your thesis?

Ahhh…the good old days. Whatever happened to books printed on paper and bound between covers with printer’s glue? The world has gone digital and library collections are gradually becoming obsolete. How long has it been since you visited a library?

Helping people through the physical and mental issues they’re dealing with is often just a part of the healing process. For many, spirituality is a core value of their life, and therefore an integral part of the therapeutic process.

It is a serious misperception to view social workers as low paid civil servants who push paper on behalf of the less fortunate and perhaps undeserving. Social workers occupy a unique position in our social fabric.

From the very outset, the history of social work is populated with empathetic leaders who, upon discovering profound human suffering, not only offered a helping hand but immediately set out to change the social conditions contributing to the suffering. Social work's earliest pioneers - Florence Kelley, Alice Hamilton, Julia Lathrop, Sophonisba Breckinridge, and Grace and Edith Abbott, among others—laid the foundation of the profession's social leadership role and, to this day, this inclination to activism sets social workers apart from other civil servants.

When it comes to your clients and your fellow caseworkers, nothing is more important than meeting face-to-face. The more time spent directly with your client, the more likely you are to achieve the individual case goals and fulfill the mission focus. On paper it seems simple and obvious, yet paper is exactly what continues getting in the way. That’s where having the right human services software comes in.

"Getting adopted is like finally being able to sit down after standing up for a painfully long time." — Sam, age 9, in foster care - Social Work Today

This touching testimony from a little boy finally emerging from the foster care system opened our eyes to the ongoing trauma children in state custody experience. 

Let’s begin 2019 with some good news…

This Christmas Brian Breach got into the spirit of giving, but with a twist; he decided to give to givers. He dressed down as if he were homeless, printed a sign that asked for donations to feed his family at Christmas, and stood in front of a mall with a tin cup. When anyone approached and dropped coins into his cup, he would give them a crisp new $100 bill. “I wanted to recognize the good giving people who would willingly share the little they have to help a stranger in need.” 

Ensuring your computer systems and employees are Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant is something that is of the utmost importance for agencies who deal with health information that must remain private and safeguarded. While training to be HIPAA compliant can vary based on your industry, one area that can reach across the board is proper computer etiquette.