Get Involved
The number of older people, particularly those over 85, is growing, and they need more assistance to remain active and independent. Well-trained, aging-savvy social workers serve as "navigators" and "expediters," empowering older adults and families to understand and choose among the bewildering array of available health and social services. They also provide counseling and direct services, facilitate family support, and coordinate care delivered through professional systems.
The Geriatric Social Work Initiative (GSWI) is
collaborating with social work programs, organizations and
other funders around the country to prepare needed,
aging-savvy social workers and improve the care and well-being
of older adults and their families.
We invite you to join us in this important work:
Learn more about GSWI
View our YouTube channel & follow us on Twitter @HGSWI
2012 Careers in Aging and Social Work
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Leadership Partners
Subscribe to Ripples the monthly newsletter of GSWI
Healthy Eating for Older Adults in the New Year
Every year millions of Americans make New Year’s resolutions in regards to health and older adults are no exception. However, as we age our nutritional needs change. A goal that a thirty year old might set may not be reasonable for someone who is fifty years or older. Below are some resources to help older adults set attainable goals pertaining to nutrition, gather information about the challenges they may face in regards to healthy eating, and tips about setting goals for the New Year.
USDA’s Older Adult Nutritional Resource
Food & Drug Administration's "Eating Well as We Age"
AgingCare.com's "12 New Year's Resolutions You Can Actually Keep"
What's
New
*NEW* Ripples, the e-newsletter of the Geriatric Social Work Initiative: January edition, Nutrition & Aging in the New Year. Click here for our latest issue.
*NEW* GSWI partners with AGHE & GSA for Careers in Aging Week awards
The Geriatric Social Work Initiative is pleased to announce that it will again partner with the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE) & the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in promoting Careers in Aging Week awards. Educational institutions are invited to apply for one of up to 20 $200 awards for their planned activities. To apply, download the pdf form. Applications are due by February 15, 2012. Winners will be notified via email on March 9, 2012. Click here to read about Schools of Social Work who received awards last year
Other News
Hartford Foundation Announces Strategic Planning for Geriatric Social Work
In a recent letter to grantees, the John A. Hartford Foundation has provided an update regarding the Geriatric Social Work Initiative and asked the social work community for input regarding the strategic planning process that the Foundation has undertaken.
Announcing the Ninth Annual Institute on Aging and Social Work
Nationally recognized experts in research methodology will lead a training institute specifically designed for social work faculty who received their doctoral degree at least three years ago in any area of social work. The institute, funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Research, and the Hartford Foundation, aims to strengthen participants’ knowledge and skills essential for developing an active research agenda and integrating scholarship with teaching (our application for grant support is currently under review at NIH). Co-directed by Barbara Berkman of Columbia University and Chandra Mehrotra of The College of St. Scholastica, the institute will be held in Duluth, Minnesota overlooking beautiful Lake Superior July 16 - 23, 2012. Participants will have the opportunity to obtain individualized consultation with distinguished professors and NIA staff and interact with members of last year’s cohort. Please visit the program Website or for additional information write to Dr. Chandra Mehrotra at cmehrotr@css.edu. Application deadline: March 28, 2012.
New APA Resource to Assist Family Caregivers
The American Psychological Association’s (APA) is pleased to announce a new web-based resource titled the Family Caregiver Briefcase for Psychologists. The Briefcase can be used to assist family caregivers through individual and organizational practice, research, teaching, advocacy and community service. It is also useful for other professionals who work with family caregivers, psychologists facing caregiving challenges within their own families, and caregivers themselves. Briefcase components include: Caregiving facts and figures, strategies for reaching family caregivers, caregiving interventions, assessment tools and much more. The Briefcase was developed by the members of the 2010 APA Presidential Task Force on Caregivers.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration: An Essential Element in Geriatric Social Work
Gerontology is, by its nature, an interdisciplinary science. Social workers in gerontology often work together with many other types of professionals including nurses, physicians, policymakers, and administrators. How are social workers important to interdisciplinary collaboration? See: GSWI's Own Interdisciplinary Collaboration Page & The Hartford Foundation Report on Interdisciplinary Geriatric Research.
health AGEnda - The John A. Hartford Foundation Blog
Keep up to date with the latest in the aging and the broader conversation around health, health care and health policy with the Hartford Foundation blog - health AGEnda.
The Handbook of Social Work in Health and Aging
A
publication by Dr. Barbara Berkman: The Handbook of Social Work in Health and Aging. Click
here to order a copy.
Action Briefs of the Hartford Geriatric Social Work
Initiative are now available:
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