NASW Social Work Talks National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

American children's mental health is worsening. Young people and their families are dealing with the emotional impact of inflation, social injustice, mass violence, and grief related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this episode, we talk about the problematic decline in children’s mental health in the United States, and what social workers can do to help.
Our guests are Gary Pettengell, co-founder and CEO of ECINS (Empowering Communities with Integrated Network Systems) and Kimberly Matias, LCSW, a school social worker in the Providence (Rhode Island) public school district.
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We speak with Mary Marden Velasquez, PhD, and Anna Mangum, MSW, MPH, about National Partnerships to Address Prenatal Alcohol and other Substance Use and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, the Centers for Disease Control grant that began October 2023 in partnership with the University of Texas at Austin.
Our host for this discussion is NASW member Lorrie R. Appleton, LCSW. 
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We speak with Dr. Charles Daniels Jr, PhD, MDiv, LICSW , co-founder and CEO of Fathers' Uplift in Dorchester, Massachusetts. 
Fathers' UpLift provides mental health counseling, coaching, advocacy, and resource support to assist fathers with overcoming barriers — including racism, emotional, traumatic, and addiction-based barriers — that prevent them from remaining engaged in their children's lives.
Dr. Daniels has spent the last decade providing therapy to Black men, helping them overcome the effects of toxic masculinity, racism, and oppression. He has taught at Harvard University and Simmons University and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs.
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We speak with Dr. Allison Werner-Lin about genetics and family life.
Dr. Werner-Lin is Associate Professor at the School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research addresses the intersection of genomic discovery and family life. Her work is among the first to explore the psychosocial challenges unique to women and men of reproductive age who carry a genetic mutation that confers elevated risk of cancer.
Dr. Werner-Lin has held multiple training grants to build and evaluate interdisciplinary educational programs in oncology, genome-based health literacy, and health care social work practice.
Our host for this discussion is Elisabeth Joy LaMotte, LICSW.
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We speak with Christina Erickson, MSW, PhD, about environmental justice.
Dr. Erickson is professor and chair of the social work department at Augsburg University. She is author of “Environmental Justice as Social Work Practice,” (Oxford University Press, 2018) and “Spanked: How Hitting Our Children Is Harming Ourselves” (Oxford University Press, 2022).
She co-developed the environmental studies program at Augsburg and teaches the course Environmental Justice and Social Change. She is the director of Augsburg's BSW program and has directed Environmental Studies. She was on the national working group to develop the Curricular Guide for Environmental Justice in 2020. 
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We speak with Shreya Bhandari, PhD, LISW, editor of the NASW Press book “South Asians in the United States: A Guide for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals.”
Dr. Bhandari is professor and director of social work, Purdue University Northwest. She is also alicensed clinical social worker with her own private practice. Her research focuses on violence against women, specifically domestic violence. She has worked in the area of domestic violence and mental health for about two decades as a researcher, educator, and practitioner.
You can buy a copy of "South Asians in America" on the NASW Press website.
You can watch this conversation on YouTube and leave a comment or question there.