A professional Social Worker is not a "do gooder, but a licensed professional.

Yet many people still misunderstand exactly what a social worker is and the positive contributions social workers make in our society. For instance, NASW in 2016 asked Harvard Medical School’s Health Publications to correct a definition of social workers that seriously downplayed the role social workers play in providing mental health services in our nation.

 Some reporters continue to write negative articles about a “social worker” making a mistake. However, on closer examination, the identified person in the story is often not a social worker by education, training or licensure. Other reporters will casually describe a local volunteer or community activist as a social worker. Although this is flattering, it ignores the fact that social workers obtain extensive education, training and credentialing so they can proudly carry the social work title. And some states have licensing laws that do not include title protection for social workers. In these states anyone can self-identify as a social worker – they just can’t call themselves licensed social workers. It is important consumers know there is a difference.

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Helicopter parenting may create "imagined incapacity" in children.

Helicopter parenting may create "imagined incapacity" in children.

"Imagine a young person very attractive and a little uncertain. Imagine further a mother of this only child a little hovering, a little too eager to be helpful and advisory. This not uncommon situation puts the young person at risk of what we can term "imagined incapacity": the half conviction of being unable to do all sorts of things that in fact she probably can do." Leston Havens, "Freud's Invention"

This "imagined incapacity" creates all kinds of symptoms such as anxiety and depression. There is a learned helplessness which takes persistent effort to overcome. Psychotherapy helps.

Benzodiazepines Continue to be Prescribed Without Psychotherapy to Older Adults

From Mad In America, 02/24/17

"A new study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, finds that older adults continue to be prescribed benzodiazepines without being offered psychotherapy. This practice persists despite decades of research warning of safety concerns with these drugs and demonstrating the effectiveness of alternative treatments."

I have a few "geriatric" clients in my practice. When they get off the benzos which is difficult because of the withdrawal which exaggerates the symptoms, such as anxiety, for which they were prescribed to begin with, they usually report that they feel better. I usually suggest they only take them if absolutely needed, and don't take them on a regular basis to avoid the development of physical tolerance.

Listening to older people's complaints takes time, time the primary care physician is not reimbursed for in our mercenary system of health care. There are many barriers and obstacles to the PCP referral to mental health professionals, but when done and psychotherapy is engaged in, benefits are worth in the cost in most cases.

Are you aware of ACEs - Adverse Childhood Experiences?

From Social Justice Solutions on 02/24/17

"In a nutshell, this ACEs science clearly shows that childhood trauma results in the adult onset of chronic physical and mental illness, violence, and being a victim of violence. It shows that most of us have experienced childhood trauma. And it shows that the systems we’ve created to change human behavior — whether criminal, unhealthy or unwanted — will actually work if we change them from blaming, shaming and punishing people to understanding, nurturing and and healing them."

For more click here.

The examined life is the beginning of a spiritual life

James Fowler has described a model of the development of faith. Readers were encouraged to assess their own level of faith. It was speculated that most people who were reading the article would be at least at stage 4, Individuative-Reflective, where a person is struggling with his/her religious beliefs. At this stage, the person is genuinely questioning his/her religious beliefs and the person becomes aware of conflicts and paradoxes and begins to doubt. At this stage many people "lose their faith" and traditional religious churches are threatened and suppress the expression of these doubts with many tactics. Often, the doubter drops away and stops attending the church and gives up the faith that the person was raised in.

Mainline churches are losing members and many sit mostly empty on Sunday mornings with only a handful of attendees most of whom are over 50. On Pew, and other surveys, increasingly Americans report that they have no religious affiliation and the "nones" as a group is rapidly growing in the United States as it has in Europe. The percentage of Americans who now say they have no religious affiliation is at 23% and is higher in younger age groups with Millennials at 36%. For more click here. Increasingly people say that they are "spiritual" but not "religious," but many seem to have some difficulty describing what this means other than that they do not participate in any organized religion.

If people are identifying as "spiritual" rather than "religious" what does this mean for them and for our society? If a person is to progress in his/her spiritual life to move up Fowler's stages of faith development what can a person do?

Spiritual health is a comprehensive idea which includes body, mind, spirit, and what some people call the shadow or the unconscious. The model is very rich in possibilities for spiritual development. In this article we will focus on the mind and the shadow. We will do this by asking what appears to be a very simple question but actually is very deep if a person wishes to explore what makes him/her tick. The question is: If you have or will have children of your own, how would you raise them the same and differently from the way you were raised?

We all grow up in our family of origin from which we inherit, at first unconsciously, but hopefully as one spiritually matures, consciously, our psychological legacy which is made up of the values, beliefs, opinions, practices, and rules of our family of origin. We realize as latency age children that there is the Smith way of doing things, the Pakula way of doing things, and the Vacarelli way of doing things. As children and young adults we assume, not consciously being aware, that this is just how things are, the way things are done.

When we consider having or have children of our own, we now have to decide, if we are conscious, whether we want to pass these values, opinions, beliefs, practices, and rules on to our children or do we want to chose some different values, opinions, beliefs, practices, and rules. Some of these values, opinions, beliefs, practices, and rules, we may decide were good for us and we want to pass them on to our children, and other of these values, opinions, beliefs, practices, and rules were abusive, or unjust in some ways and we tell ourselves, "I am not treating and raising my kids the same way I was raised." The degree to which a person makes these conscious choices is the degree to which a person is psychologically and spiritually mature.

In making these conscious choices, one might ask how these decisions are made? How does a person decide what a good life consists of and how it should be lived? Some of the information and criteria may come from reflection on the person's lived experience and the lessons he/she has learned, often the hard way, from suffering as well as from satisfying achievements and experiences. Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. Are you living an examined life? If so, what are the practices that you utilize to engage in this practice? Some people journal. Some people talk with family and friends in an intentional way about their questions and concerns. Some engage in social support groups whether it is clubs, organizations, churches, AA, classes of one sort or another, etc. Some seek out professional assistance whether it is psychotherapy, pastoral counseling, and/or spiritual reading.

When it is appropriate I sometimes ask my friends and clients, "What is your interior spiritual life like?" I am always pleasantly surprised with answers I receive. There are many other questions which we don't ask in polite company, but maybe we should like "Why do you think you were born?" "What do you believe is the purpose of your life?" "What gives your life meaning?" "What do you think happens when you die?" Lately, I have been asking people who are entering their second adulthood, 50 - 80+, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

These questions, unfortunately, are rarely asked in churches because churches try to provide institutional understandings and answers to these questions often based on some text that is claimed to be the authoritative word of god. In our postmodern age, this doesn't work any more for increasingly numbers of people who have moved on to stage 4 and 5 in Fowler's stages of faith model. Religions have not kept up with the evolution of our human consciousness. Many people at stage 5 would say, "My god is too big for any one religion."

If you considering developing some deliberate spiritual practice to enhance your spiritual life, you might consider describing your psychological legacy. What were the values, opinions, beliefs, practices, and rules you were brought up with. To what extent has your psychological legacy become conscious for you? To the extent that your psychological legacy has become conscious, what have you decided to keep and what have you decided to change? Journal about this or find someone to discuss it with for at least 60 minutes over the coming week. This may become an ongoing part of your spiritual practice to which you devote yourself on a regular and continuing basis. This reflection and consequent change in thinking and behavior will improve the quality of your life.

The pursuit of spiritual development involves more than just individual effort. It requires social support. What social resources nurture spiritual development since churches no longer seem to meet people's needs for spiritual growth in our postmodern world?

Crisis Intervention Mental Health Teams

SAMHSA ( Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association) has developed a short video describing CIT (Crisis Intervention Teams) in use in various places in the country. It is a great model. In Rochester, NY FACIT (Family Assistance Crisis Intervention Team) was implemented in the Rochester, NY police department back in the 70s. Monroe County, in which Rochester NY is located has a Crisis Mental Health  Team which is a bit different in that it does not necessarily assist with the police and may not respond for up to 24 hours. It can be reached at 585-275-5151.

March is Social Work month. What do Social Workers do?

Excellent description of Professional Social Work in letters to the editor on 02/26/17 in the Daily Journal in Tupelo, Mississippi.

"March is National Professional Social Worker month. Social workers stand up for millions of people every day. Most people do not know what social workers do: Social workers help individuals, families and groups restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning and work to create societal conditions that support communities in need."

For more click here.