Member

To view an article on the history of SSWAN click here. 

Scroll down to view a letter from the SSWAN President 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

    - alcohol and other drug use/abuse

    - teen pregnancy

    - violence

    - suicide and sudden death

    - child abuse and neglect

    - school safety

- coordinate the delivery of educational and mental health services

- develop resources to adequately meet the needs of students and families.

The best state level vehicle for School Social Workers to join together on current issues that affect our profession and the children and families we serve.

Fellow School Social workers:

I hope you are off to a great 2009-2010 school year! We definitely are experiencing some exciting times in the area of school social work. I have been an active member of SSWAN for the past 18 years and I feel very honored to help lead our organization. I am very impressed with the growth of our organization the last several years. Growth is exciting because it means there are more School Social Workers assisting children and families in the education system. I recently attended the Midwest School Social Work conference and council meetings and I would like to share with you a few ideas I took with me.

An important area School Social Workers need to focus on is basing our practice with research based evidenced based interventions. Feeling isn’t enough. I don’t think we should dismiss the gut feeling that gives us the desire to help someone but we need to back it up. The design and implementation and evaluation of RTI practices should naturally include School Social Workers as we work with a system approach.

We also need to be an active and contributing member to the school team. I believe that promoting the need of School Social Workers can be done by promoting what we do individually. We need to educate the community members and school board members and anyone who will listen to us or see us in action. Nic Dibble, LSSW, CSW and consultant for School Social Work Services in Wisconsin presented on using data to document the benefit of School Social Work Services and the presentation was excellent. I would encourage you to review some of his findings at  www.dpi.wi.gov/sspw/socialwork.html.  This can be an excellent resource on presenting to school boards, administrators, and community members at large.

School Social workers can assist in strengthening the social emotional and academic needs of all students. We can assist students and families as life long learners and partners. There is so much research out there that shows parent\family involvement significantly contributes to improved student outcomes to learning and student success. The principals of RTI are consistent with professional standards of School Social Workers jump on the wagon and locate the sources so you can improve your daily practice.

As School Social Workers we do not need to believe School Social Workers made the difference but that we can make the contribution as a member of the team. We need increased accountability, especially related to academic achievement; it is becoming the norm in education. We must show a correlation of impacting academic achievement and be a part of the data collection. I thought I would include a few helpful and interesting websites regarding interventions in schools for you to review:

www.resa.net , www.pbis.org , www.texasreading.org , www.cenmi.org/miblsi , www.progressmonitoring.org ,  www.nasdse.org, www.sswaa.org    

One last thought regarding the conference is quite simple but quite profound. School Social Work presentations included how important it is to practice as a School Social Worker and not just a Social Worker. We need to be sure we are making ourselves unique enough in the educational setting that they need to have us at the table working on some of the same, emotional, social and academic goals. We need to assist in working this into the educational setting.

There are exciting times in education even aside from the tough budget times we face in government large and small. I believe School Social Workers are needed more than ever and that is why being a member of SSWAN can assist you in your individual practice and in our profession as a whole. SSWAN membership can provide the following:

1. Discount to the annual SSWAN conference which includes CEU’s.
2. Summer Leadership Academy for members only which includes CEU’s.
3. Professional dialogue throughout the state.
4. Small working committees to assist your professional growth.
5. Discussion and support of best practices of School Social Work in the State.
6. A professional organization that can stand next to other professional organizations in the school setting….priceless.

I hope if you are not a current member you will consider being a part of a growing organization and representing School Social Workers of Nebraska. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at 402-829-5911.

Our annual conference is scheduled for Friday March 5^th at the ESU 3. I believe this will be one of our best conferences yet. Make sure you check the website for more details.

I would like to leave you with one thought from an unknown author.

“I’ve learned…that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you….”

 

Sincerely,

 

Laurie Cooley, President

School Social Work Association of Nebraska