NASWCA Region H Sponsors Lights for Liberty Vigil
By Ahmanise Sanati, LCSW, PPSC, Region H Director
As the country continues to fund inhumane detention camps around the country and as we prepared for ICE raids in our communities, thousands of advocates, activists and impacted persons gathered for vigils around the world highlighting the crisis.
On July 12, NASW-CA Region H sponsored Lights ..Read More…
Letter to the Editor
Re: Kaiser’s Mental Health Clinicians Authorize Statewide Strike
(posted May 23, 2019)
As a former holder of several California and national offices, a practitioner with over 50 years of experience, an administrator responsible for building and overseeing large provider networks for three mental health organizations, and as co-founder of the first mental labor union with the ..Read More…
Kaiser’s Mental Health Clinicians Authorize Statewide Strike
After a weeklong strike in December (during which former Congressman Patrick Kennedy joined clinicians on picket lines), NUHW’s 4,000 therapists and professionals returned to the bargaining table to press Kaiser to fix the chronic understaffing that has forced many patients to wait months between treatment appointments.
Unfortunately, despite six additional months of bargaining, Kaiser ..Read More…
Fresno State MSW Student Wins Infographic Contest
Yenifer Gallegos-Mejia (center) is pictured with Tina Paddock, NASW-CA Image Council and Christopher Cajski, CalSWEC.
Congratulations to Fresno University MSW student Yenifer Gallegos-Mejia, winner of the 2018-19 CalSWEC Infographic contest!
Ms. Gallegos-Mejia received a check for $250 and her framed winning infographic of the contest topic “The History of U.S. Social Work as a Profession.” ..Read More…
A Chat With Social Worker Bill Dorsey About the Tubbs Fire
By Shelly Kalmer
Note: I wrote this article in late October when, at that time, the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma Counties was the most destructive in the state’s history.
On November 8, 2018, exactly 13 months later, residents of those counties awoke to beautiful, but extremely windy weather. Mobile phones began beeping ..Read More…
Social Work Month Excitement and Exhaustion
Jolene Hui at the Long Beach VA
By S. Jolene Hui, MSW, LCSW, NASW-CA Membership Director
I’m tired. Social Work Month 2019 exhausted me. But it’s a good exhaustion. Wait, is that possible? Yes, I believe it is—and I’ll tell you why.
This past month I spent time presenting and socializing at NASW-CA Regional ..Read More…
Social Work Joint Symposium: A Big Success!
NASW-CA Director of Membership S. Jolene Hui provides gifts to her former instructor Jorja Leap and Rene Castro, thanking them for their contributions to the symposium.
NASW-CA was proud to be part of the 34th Annual Social Work Joint Symposium at the California Endowment in Los Angeles on Friday, March 22.
Each year, field faculty ..Read More…
Get to Know Your Regional Leader
Melissa “Elle” A. Ortega, MSW, MPH, Regional Director Region F
Hello everyone! My name is Melissa A. Ortega, but I go by the nickname of ‘Elle,’ pronounced ‘L,’ like the letter.
I’m a public health social worker, born and raised on the cusp of the Inland Empire/LA County and currently, work and ..Read More…
Victor Bloomberg, San Diego, visits NASW office for March Social Work Month
Victor Bloomberg (left) with NASWCA Executive Director Janlee Wong