January 2023 Newsletter

Monthly News & Updates

SPECIAL FEATURE

Beautiful Narratives and Bitter Brews

Cassie E. Brown, MSW, LCSW, NASW-MO Executive Director

I believe in telling stories.

Recently I had a beautiful interaction with an expert in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion wherein we differed in how we used formalities. Because of backgrounds and events in our lives, we brought different stories to whether to use prefixes like “Dr.” in interprofessional communications. Each of us had a different preference because we each had different events that had shaped us. I learned this because we each shared a story with the other about ourselves, our background, and previous experiences with titles and formality. Even before I met with this person, I felt warmly towards them. Instead of feeling embarrassed, annoyed, or defensive because our perspectives did not initially align, I felt a sense of connection and appreciation for them. 

NASW-MO’s online Continuing Education platform is moving to NASW’s Social Work CE Online Institute: https://naswinstitute.inreachce.com/ (InReach).

Starting in January, you can follow our website or go directly to InReach to sign up for NASW-MO’s excellent continuing education programs.

More good news! We are lowering our prices on many of our online-CE offerings starting in 2023! We want to ensure we are providing the best value to you, the social work profession. We want to be your first stop for social work online education. Remember that NASW-MO provides all the required CEs for Missouri licensure.

Please know that each NASW-MO course taken through InReach provides funding to NASW-MO supporting efforts such as our continuing education programs and advocacy.

Opportunities for the NASW-MO Board
Students and Professionals needed! Submit soon…

The NASW-MO is seeking Board Member nominations for the following positions:

• Secretary
• BSW Student Representative
• MSW Student Representative
• President-Elect
• Member at Large
• Unit A Representative
• Unit B Representative
• Unit D Representative

For more information on board member responsibilities:https://naswmo.socialworkers.org/About/Board-of-Directors

Reference Map for A,B, and D representatives:https://naswmo.socialworkers.org/About/Board-of-Directors/Chapter-Local-Unit-Map

As your current Vice President, I urge you to consider being a part of the NASW-MO.As Social Workers we are called by our Code of Ethics to lead. 

If you are interested in being a part of the NASW-MO Board, please contact Cassie Brown at chapter.naswmo@socialworkers.org.

The deadline to apply is February 28, 2023.

Thank you!

Heather Bradley-Geary, MSW

From the Executive Director’s Desk

Cassie E. Brown MSW, LCSW 
Chapter Executive Director

Welcome to 2023! I am writing to you from the past, as our office closed for the last week of December.

As this new year begins, I renew my commitment to you to serve with the urgency this moment demands. We are all rising to this occasion, to these times we have been given. 2023 promises to be no less demanding than the rest of this decade. We have been faced with so much as a world, a nation, and as social workers. I invite you to recommit yourselves in this upcoming year to caring for yourselves in all the ways we deserve and need. I recognize that we carry with us our humanity—even as social workers. We carry ourselves. We are the instruments of change.