NASW Social Work Talks

Carla Gonzalez is a clinical social worker and domestic violence survivor who leverages her professional skills and uses her platform as Miss U.S. World Elite (among other titles) as a vehicle for speaking out against domestic violence, bullying and sexual assault.

For Brenda Wade, MSW, LCSW-C, CSSW, writing is both a means of self-care both and as a way to explore the challenges that she sees in her work as a school social worker. Published under the pen name Hunter William, Wade's Charm Town fiction trilogy shines a spotlight on the lives of children and adults in a Baltimore school. See the EP14 show notes for resources

Opioid addiction has become a public health crisis in the United States. Our guest, David Stoecker, LCSW, is founder and director of Better Life in Recovery. He recommends that we look at the opioid addiction pandemic through a harm-reduction lens, rather than a punitive one. He argues that abstinence is not the only path to recovery and that we need to create healthy communities and to provide recovery support to those who need it. See Episode 13 show notes for resources

NASW President Kathryn Conley Wehrmann, PhD, MSW, LCSW, talks about her career path and her efforts to support social workers, especially those new to the profession.

NASW Senior Practice Associate Roxana Torrico Meruvia, MSW, talks about Social Work Speaks, NASW policy statements and how members can get involved in the process. See Episode 11 show notes for resources

In this special episode, our guests weigh in on the crisis currently brewing around immigration in the United States, specifically related to children separated from their families at our southern border. Our guests are Melvin H. Wilson, LCSW, NASW's Manager of Social Justice & Human Rights, and Guadalupe G. Lara, LMSW, NASW Board of Directors Member-at-Large. See Episode 10 show notes for resources

Our guests in this episode are Heidi McIntosh, Deputy Director of Programs at NASW; and Julie E. Shroyer, MSW, Senior Policy Advisor at Polsinelli, a top Washington, DC law firm. We talk about the skills that social workers bring to the table, the importance of social workers participating in the 2018 mid-term elections; and the challenges of advocating for the disadvantage in the current political climate.

With the conference just days away, we speak again with the conference organizers to give you idea of what you can expect, whether you attend in person or virtually.

May is Foster Care Month, so we speak with Matt Anderson and Malissa Flores, two social workers from the Children's Home Society of North Carolina, who partner with public agencies to help kids move from foster care into permanent families. See Episode 7 show notes for resources

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW, discusses how public policy is an important part of social work. See Episode 6 show notes for resources