Membership for the 2022-2023 school year is now open!

Please navigate to Join SSWAN for more information.

FIRST TIME SSWAN members will receive a FREE membership in 2022-2023.

This is made possible through our partnership with Children's Hospital and Medical Center.

**Remember that all current members must register and pay each year**

A Message from the President:

November 2022

Can you believe that it is almost Thanksgiving? As I write this, I am sitting at an airport on my way home from the Midwest School Social Work Association Conference in Carmel, Indiana. What a conference! I had the opportunity to hear wonderful speakers and to collaborate with members from 10 states that make up the Midwest School Social Work Association, as part of the Midwest Council.

Joining me at the Midwest Conference were SSWAN members Emily Arkfeld and Stephanie Hoesing. I am very thankful for their willingness to represent Nebraska along with me at the conference.

One of my favorite parts of the conference is the annual banquet. The banquet is where all 11 state associations honor their School Social Worker of the Year. How inspiring it is to hear about the amazing work these folks are doing. This includes the work of our very own School Social Worker of the Year, Stephanie Hoesing from Omaha Public Schools. Nice work Stephanie!

I would like to take a minute to reflect back on what we have accomplished together as an organization the last 2 months, and look ahead to what we will be accomplish together during the remainder of the school year.

We have welcomed over 130 SSWAN members, more than ever before! This includes more than 20 first time members who received a free membership. On October 21^st, we experienced a wonderful fall retreat, where over 70 SSWAN members gathered to learn about Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model in Education at UNL’s Innovation Campus. Thank you to Jewel Schifferns and Children’s Hospital for helping to make these accomplishments possible.

Looking ahead to the months to come, we will offer our last 2 Neurosequential Model in Education modules in November. We will also be offering 2 free 1-hour CEU opportunities for our members through our BYOB’s. I think it is amazing that through your SSWAN membership you are able to receive 7 free CEU’s!

As March rolls around we will meet again in person for our annual conference. Look for more information about this conference coming very soon.

I hope to see you all at our upcoming SSWAN meeting November 10, 2022, where we will have the opportunity to hear some of the exciting things happening around our state in the School Social Work profession.

Thank you for being a part of SSWAN! I am reminded of the saying, “together we can achieve more.” I am excited to see what we can accomplish together in the months ahead!

As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any ideas or feedback you might have at cerks@lps.org

Carrie Erks, LICSW

SSWAN President