Social Work Kete

Social Work Kete #9

27 August 2009

Citizens Initiated Referendum
Law should stay as it is, Children's Commissioner. Following the Citizens Initiated Referendum result at the weekend, the Children's Commissioner Dr John Angus said the Referendum was a strong indication that New Zealanders are "thinking hard about how we bring up our children". He stated that his advice to Government will continue to be that the current law is good for children. In his media release he ended by stating: "The change to the law in 2007 was an important step towards keeping children in New Zealand safe and secure".

ACC
On 20 August ANZASW joined with the NZ Association of Counsellors (NZAC) and the NZ Association of Psychotherapists (NZAP) to issue a joint media release challenging ACC’s drive to push down operating costs at the expense of the current options available to their clients. The media release also raised concerns held by representatives from all three organisations about the introduction of a new Clinical Framework that is expected to affect the duration, intensity and type of counselling sessions available to clients. Subsequent to the media release NZAP has published an Open Letter to the Minister for ACC, Nick Smith. The letter focuses on the situation of those who suffer most deeply from the experience of abuse, victims of childhood sexual abuse 

Daffodil Day, Friday 28 August 2009: Daffodil Day is the Cancer Society of New Zealand's annual flagship event and one of the most important fundraising and awareness campaigns in the country.http://www.daffodilday.org.nz

Next week is Continence Awarness Week and Adult Learners Week.

Nominations for the Asthma Foundation's Achievers Awards close on Monday 31 August. If you know someone who has asthma or another respiratory illness, has a great attitude to life and achieves things despite the challenges they face, then you can nominate them for an Achievers Award. Everyone nominated receives a certificate from the Foundation and a group of Supreme Achievers will be presented with special awards by the Governor-General in Wellington in November 

Culture and Suicide Prevention in Aotearoa, a 2-day symposium being held September 10-11 in Wellington by suicide Prevention Information New Zealand. the key note speaker is Dr Tracy Westernam, an internationally recognised authority on Aboriginal and indigenous mental health. www.spinz.org.nz

SOCIAL JUSTICE WEEK 13-19 SEPTEMBER: Each year Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand, at the request of New Zealand’s Catholic Bishops, organises Social Justice Week. This year’s Social Justice Week is calling on New Zealanders to re-examine their attitudes to crime and punishment, with a call for the wider community to work together to find a justice system focused on reconciliation rather than revenge. For more information visit http://www.caritas.org.nz

Social Workers Day - 23 September 2009
The countdown for our very own national Social Workers Day - held on Wednesday 23 September - is well underway. Visit the Social Workers Day page on this website to find out more. http://anzasw.org.nz

Mental Health Awareness week runs from 5 October to 11 October this year. The theme this year is based on 5 concepts described by the Mental Health Commission as five winning ways: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn, Heke tipu oranga, he taonga tuku iho, ka pakanga ake, aue te aiotanga, te manawanui. The Team at ANZASW is planning to run a news feature in the next edition of NoticeBoard. Contact us if you have information you would like to share

Chief Social Worker, takes academic post
Dr Marie Connolly has been appointed an Honorary Professor in the University of Auckland's FacultyofEducation. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0908/500454.htm

An evaluation of parents attending Parenting Through Separation programes has been published and is available on the Ministry of Justice website. This report documents a significant reduction in parental conflict with children being caught in the middle, reporting behavioural changes in areas know to contribut to the welbing of the children. 6000+ parents have attended the programme since April 2006 with 90% of parents surveyed agreeing that the programme helped them to understand how separation affects their children. Further info on the Parenting through spearation programme is available at www.justice.govt.nz/pubs/reports.index.html

The latest issue of the Social Policy Journal of New Zealand (Issue 35, June 2009) is a special issue on research funded by the Families Commission. The papers cover a range of topics: demography, partnership issues, economics, employment, childcare, parenting, culture, Pasifika families, youth gangs, migrant families, familial relationships, older people and family violence. Several papers address the ways in which parents’ employment impinges on family life – the issue of work/life balance. Pasifika families are the focus of group of papers that explore, housing, wellbeing and youth gangs, and two papers discuss research into special services for families 

Call for Papers
Professional Supervision: Common threads, different patterns. Supervision Conference at Centra Airport Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand - 30 April – 01 May 2010. This conference will explore themes and issues for supervision and papers may address knowledge and skills, cultural and sociopolitical perspectives, policy, management, education training and research. Abstracts should be sent to barbara.a.burt@gmail.com before 1 October 2009.

Professor Carolyn Noble, of the School of Social Sciences at Melbourne’s Victoria University, has been commissioned to edit a special Australian and New Zealand Issue of the Journal of Social Work 11 (1) 2010 published by Sage. Carolyn has advised that she will determine an overall theme after she has received abstracts, though as a prompt she has set the question: After Neoliberalism, new managerialism and post modernism - what next for Social Work? Abstracts are required urgently. Carolyn can be contacted via email carolyn.noble@vu.edu.au

Sandra Grey and Charles Sedgwick of the School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, are conducting a survey titled “The role of NGOs in political decision-making” and welcome participants to this and future surveys. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacs/staff/grey.aspx

Evaluation of the Primary Mental Health Initiatives:summary report August 2009:
A report has been released that evaluates the Ministry of Health-funded Primary Mental Health Initiatives (between June 2005 and November 2007). The report found that up to 80% of service users benefited from the variety of interventions offered. The report concluded that mild to moderate mental health problems can be addressed by primary care. Features of an optimal model include support from the DHB, training, access to brief psychological therapies and liaising with secondary care. The report is available at: http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/9281/$File/evaluation-primary-mental-health-Initiatives-summary-report-jul09.pdf

Supporting Parents - another Telethon needed
An article http://www.roxy.co.nz/national/another-telecom-needed-support=parents/1280/21179 regarding the HIPPY (Home Interaction Programme for Parents and Youngsters) programme and how funding is needed to get more of these programmes underway.

Who can protect our children?
A report, published in the Child Abuse & Neglect International Journal, was written by two Starship doctors and an Auckland Health Board Social Worker, Rebecca Strange, (ANZASW member), who works with child abuse victims. It studies the fate of 39 children aged under two who were treated at Auckland Hospital for "shaken baby syndrome" during the 1990s and follows their health and development for up to 17 years. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/articles.cfm?c_id=18objectid=10591094

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