Social Work Month in March is a time to celebrate the great profession of social work!
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) reminds us that social workers are on the forefront of helping our nation address mental health, substance use disorder, immigrants, and DEI programs. They work in numerous locations: communities, healthcare, government agencies, social service agencies, schools and veteran’s centers just to name a few. The field of social work is growing faster than average for all occupations. According to NASW, by 2033 more than 836,000 social workers will be employed in the United States. Social Workers go through years of education and training so they can help individual, families, communities and our society reach their full potential.
South Dakota Social Workers can obtain training at the 2025 Annual Conference to be held Wednesday & Thursday April 2-3, 2025 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, Sioux Falls, SD. There are 9.5 CEU’s available including ethics.
Two national organizations provide training to Palliative Care and Hospice Care social workers. NASW offers Educating Social Workers in Palliative and End of Life Care (ESPEC). This is an innovative training program for healthcare social workers to integrate the core principles of primary palliative care into clinical practice. The 2 part course includes:
- Interactive Online Training (8 CE)that reviews the domains of palliative care from the National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care and,
- ESPEC in Action: Strategies for Practice (3 CE) an interactive session to work on biopsychosocial-spiritual assessment, advance care planning, family meetings and Interprofessional communication.
The Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) offers a collection of courses, tools and resources designed to help social workers meet the needs of patients and families, and help palliative programs use best practices to integrate social work into the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT). These include training in core palliative care skills through their CAPC courses and learning pathways and documentation and billing tools. Clinical skills training courses may include Social Workers Caring for Patients with serious Illness where social workers can earn Social Work Serious Illness Designation.
Course are both Free and Open Access as well as CAPC members only. Check to see if your organization is a CAPC member. If not, SDAHO members can receive a 15% discount on your first CAPC membership. Go to www.capc.org/membership for more information.
