Good morning! ☀️

It’s officially Spring 🌸🌷🌼 Enjoy your allergies!

Instead of our usual question, today we start off our newsletter with lyrics written by Tara K., one of our OG supporters. She re-wrote the lyrics to “Fireworks” by Katy Perry in celebration of Social Work Month.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

A Musical Parody of Firework by Katy Perry 

Do you ever feel, feel like enacting change that actually sustains 

Advocating for social causes, as you wrestle against capitalistic chains 

Do you ever feel, feel a burning need within, 

Fighting for vulnerable populations to achieve a win 

Do you ever feel, feel buried deep in cases that make your eyes sting?

Six feet under paperwork, but no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you, without a doubt 

'Cause there's a spark in you, despite the burnout. 

Cause baby, you do the social work 

Come on show 'em what’s their worth

Make 'em go, "Aah, aah, aah"

As you case manage and provide counseling 

Baby, you do the social work 

Come on, put your skills and learning to the test 

Show the world that your clients are the best, best, best. 

You just gotta ignite their light, and let them shine,

So they can live their life like it’s the 4th of July. 

Make your clients feel that they’re not a waste of space

They’re original, cannot be replaced

If they only knew what their future holds

After trauma then comes help to recovery 

Find the reason why they feel that their doors are closed

It’s your job to help them open one that fulfills their end goal

Like have sessions with them so their self-efficacy can grow 

And when it's time to terminate services, they will know.

You just need to keep your passion for social work burning bright

Tackle tough issues like homelessness and poverty

To help people who are disenfranchised be alright

So we can live in a more equitable society. 

Cause baby, you do the social work 

Come on show 'em what’s their worth

Make 'em go, "Aah, aah, aah"

As you case manage and provide counseling 

Baby, you do the social work 

Come on, put your skills and learning to the test 

Show the world that your clients are the best, best, best. 

You just gotta ignite their light, and let them shine,

So they can live their life like it’s the 4th of July. 

Do you ever use, use critical race, feminist, and queer theories to inform your work 

Creating inclusive programs and policies should be the norm and not a quirk 

Do you ever feel, feel that a trauma informed approach is key but you are lost in how to proceed? 

So many models for micro, mezzo, and macro social work but trust that you will succeed. 

You just go validate and listen your clients to build strong rapport 

Consult with your peers and supervisors cause that’s what they are here for 

Be mindful of your biases and be sure to self reflect 

Watch out for countertransference and always show respect. 

Cause baby, you do the social work 

Come on show 'em what’s their worth

Make 'em go, "Aah, aah, aah"

As you case manage and provide counseling 

Baby, you do the social work 

Come on, put your skills and learning to the test 

Show the world that your clients are the best, best, best. 

You just gotta ignite their light, and let them shine,

So they can live their life like it’s the 4th of July. 

Bloom, bloom, bloom 

Help them grow to shine like the moon, moon, moon, 

Bloom, bloom, bloom 

So you can end sessions soon, soon, soon. 

Who’s ready to record a live, musical video of these incredible lyrics? 😎

News

Therapists supporting Ukraine

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, people have begun to organize different channels of support for refugees.

For example, a website called It’s Complicated helps connect Ukrainian refugees to mental health therapists. Anyone who has been affected by the Ukrainian war is eligible to receive free counseling and therapists on the website come from different countries, speak different languages, and use different treatment types in their work.

Mental health support for displaced people is not a new concept. Parenting booklets to help guide parents in helping their children during these situations have been created and groups have been formed in an effort to support the mental and social health of people in these emergency situations.

If anything else, the situation in Ukraine is a juxtaposition of the beautiful and terrifying dualities of human nature.

Other social work-related news

• Pallet, a company that employs homeless workers to build homes for the homeless, raised a $15 million funding round to scale its impact

• Black therapists are struggling to be seen on TikTok. They're forming their own communities instead

Policy

Legislation across the nation

Instead of covering one story more in-depth, today we will cover what has been going on across the country this week.

In Illinois, parents, schools, and districts are learning how to best go about using the new law which enables students to take days off from school for mental health reasons. Parents are questioning how that information is being shared and tracked, different districts are seeing different rates of use in mental health days, and questions have arisen over the role of schools in promoting the use of these days.

In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker unveiled legislation that requires greater investment into mental health. The legislation also ensures that insurers cover mental health as they do physical health.

In California, there continues to be an emphasis on pushing legislation that may help with the homelessness crisis. Republicans in the state push for “greater accountability”, and are advocating for different bills, including one that would allow people who are unable to care for themselves to be put into conservatorship.

Research

The DSM-5-TR

Blare the trumpets 🎺🎺🎺

After 10 years, the new, revised edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) has been released 🙄 Anyhow, there are some interesting changes to the manual.

• Prolonged grief disorder has been added as a diagnosis. It attempts to capture situations where a person faces difficulty coping with a loss for a long period of time. In the past, people who had these symptoms would get diagnosed with either a depressive disorder or an adjustment disorder.

• Unspecified mood disorder, which had been removed from the DSM during the last edition, has now been re-added to aid in diagnosing someone who may not present with symptoms that are fully captured by bipolar or depressive disorders

• Nonsuicidal self-harm has been added to the DSM to help with diagnosing someone who may engage in self-harm without necessarily having suicidal tendencies.

There are also changes including gender-inclusive language and a focus on race and discrimination. As discussed last week, the DSM is not without its controversies. At the moment, however, we don’t seem to have a better way to codify mental illness, and if there is a better way, then it has not become as popular as the DSM.

Other reads on research

• There have been significant increases in children diagnosed with mental health concerns from 2016-2020

• Severe COVID-19 (being bedridden) is related to long-term mental health difficulties

P.S. Make sure that the newsletter is hitting your inbox and not your spam/junk mail. If you need help on how to do this, you can reference this article.