News Archive
2015
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For some of South Los Angeles’ neediest kids, getting a college degree can seem downright unachievable.
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This post originally appeared on the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s website, www.mptf.com.
Openness matters.
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When confronted with terrifying and inexplicable events we experience extremely uncomfortable and seemingly unbearable individual and collective chaos. We are thrown into crisis. Nothing makes sense. Everything seems out of control. Life becomes terrifying. Our very survival appears to demand an immediate return to the perceived safety and certainty of life before the chaos of crisis.
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Five years ago, most people thought of online education in the vein of unaccredited programs with coursework that could be completed at a student’s leisure. The general consensus was that it probably wasn’t a “real” degree with anything close to a rigorous curriculum. And earning a reputable social work degree online? Forget it. How could anyone learn online the skills needed for such a personal, interactive profession?
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To say that William Vega is a man in demand would be a bit of an understatement.
As a Provost Professor at USC, he holds appointments in psychiatry, preventive medicine, family medicine, psychology, and gerontology, not to mention his main role at the USC School of Social Work, where he serves as executive director of the Roybal Institute on Aging.
“It’s an all-out effort and it’s taking all my energy and aspirations,” he acknowledged. “I’ve been more than willing to do it because I feel it’s part of my mission here.”
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Steven Su sits at his desk as an inmate pounds his knuckles against it, yelling he wishes he could kill someone, anyone.
In a confidential, one-on-one setting, Su often worries about his patients’ violent reactions.
Su, MSW ‘13, goes to a maximum-security prison every day. As a clinical social worker for the California Institution for Men, a 2,500-acre state prison located in Chino, California, he works with patients with psychosis, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, among other mental illnesses.
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The Los Angeles Unified School District is identifying students whose parents are on active military duty, city and district officials announced at Leland Street Elementary in San Pedro.
LAUSD is the largest school district in the country to ask whether a student has a parent serving on active duty or as a veteran or with the National Guard or Reserves, said USC School of Social Work Professor Ron Avi Astor, who researches the needs of children with ties to the military.
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On any given day at USC Telehealth, the phone will ring and a desperate parent of a child with special needs will reach out for help. They are trying to be the best caregivers they can to their son or daughter, but their resilience and resources have been stretched thin. They know they need someone to talk to, but publicly funded mental health care is geared toward the individual with special needs, leaving no supportive services for the overburdened caregiver.
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A $500,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will support a new program of research at the USC School of Social Work to identify community assets that support pathways to resilience for young children and their families.
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Ivy Hammond graduated from the USC School of Social Work in May 2015, becoming the first recipient of the Matthew Holland Scholarship in Social Work to receive a master’s in social work. Established in 2012 by Board of Councilors member Mark Spratt, MSW/MPA ’03, the Matthew Holland Scholarship in Social Work, named in honor of Spratt’s partner, is awarded to students who have demonstrated a commitment to LGBTQ matters through academic work, community involvement and other personal contributions.