social workers

Economy

Getting more men into so-called pink-collar jobs

6:06pm August 02, 2024

Jobs numbers came out today and they weren't great: Unemployment hit 4.3% and only 114,000 jobs were added to the economy in July. The U.S. economy's downshifting gears ... but there are bright spots.

Care jobs grew. Like social assistance: 9,000 new jobs in July.

Social work organizations have been calling out for more men in particular ... and with unemployment rising for men, a lot of them want jobs. So why aren't they meeting?

Today on the show: Getting more men into so-called pink-collar jobs. We learn about an experiment that showed a surprising way to encourage men into industries traditionally represented by women.

Related Episodes:
Wanted: Social workers
Ghost jobs

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Domoratska, 43, is one of 10 social workers left in Sloviansk, where there were once 40. She has a dozen clients. All the social workers who remain in the city are women between the ages of 30 and 62.

World News

For older Ukrainians in front-line cities, visits from social workers bring comfort

4:37pm September 16, 2022

In Sloviansk, many of those who remain are over 60. Social workers help with food, medicine and cleaning. An 86-year-old calls her social worker "Firefly," saying, "She brings light in a dark time."

Yanna McGraw is one of about a dozen full-time social workers working at libraries across the Midwest. A representative of the Public Library Association says over the past decade, more libraries have been finding ways to partner with social workers.

Why your local library might be hiring a social worker

10:22am January 03, 2022

by Darian Benson

Libraries in some cities are investing in staff members who can help patrons with complex issues such as housing insecurity, finding mental health and more.

Therapist Kiki Radermacher was one of the first members of a mobile crisis response unit in Missoula, Mont., which started responding to emergency mental health calls last year. That pilot project becomes permanent in July and is one of six such teams in

In Montana, Crisis Support Teams Offer Alternatives To Policing Mental Health

5:00am June 10, 2021

by Katheryn Houghton

Montana now has six mobile crisis response teams — up from one in 2019 — with more in the works. Each team has a different makeup, but all use mental health support to diffuse tricky situations.

Oakland City Vice Mayor and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan says sending police to mental health and behavioral calls they aren't trained for is a mistake cities keep repeating.

National

Oakland Becomes Latest City Looking To Take Police Out Of Some Nonviolent 911 Calls

4:24pm May 18, 2021

by Eric Westervelt

The city's fire department will oversee the pilot project that aims to pair an EMT with someone with lived experience in the mental health, addiction, criminal justice or homeless services systems.

Social workers know "compassion fatigue" is a risk of the job, and have learned ways stay healthy and empathetic.

Helping Hands Need A Break, Too: How To Lend Support Without Burning Out

7:00am October 17, 2020

These days, there are hundreds of reasons to open your heart to others, but it's easy to get exhausted. Try these tips honed by social workers for staying healthy and empathetic.

Michelle Huston, left, and her daughter, Lauren Magaña, reflected on their careers as social workers during their first interview with StoryCorps in Atlanta in 2018.

Together, Mother And Daughter Social Workers Face New Challenges In A Pandemic

6:18am October 02, 2020

by Janmaris Perez

Lauren Magaña and Michelle Huston work with elderly patients. It's challenging work that's been even tougher during the pandemic. They care for people at the end of their lives, now from a distance.

Some people land in the hospital over and over. Although research suggests that giving those patients extra follow-up care from nurses and social workers won't reduce those extra hospital visits, some hospitals say the approach still saves them money in t

Health & Safety

'To Stop Now Would Be Foolish': Doubling Down On Services For High-Cost Patients

5:00am January 22, 2020

A study this month showed giving extra social services to the neediest patients didn't reduce hospital readmissions. Now health advocates say that might not be the right measurement of success.

Lenh Vuong, a clinical social worker at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, checks on a former John Doe patient she recently helped identify.

Health & Safety

How Hospital ER Sleuths Race To Identify An Unconscious Or Dazed Jane Or John Doe

1:16pm May 07, 2019

by Susan Abram

A public hospital in Los Angeles gets over 1,000 unidentified patients a year. Most are quickly ID'd, but some require considerable gumshoe work — a task often complicated by medical privacy laws.

Shannon McGrath, pictured with her son Rayder, says it has been a lot easier to make her medical appointments recently, thanks to help from a "patient navigator" — assigned to her by Kaiser Permanente — who arranged McGrath's transportation.

Your ZIP Code Might Be As Important To Health As Your Genetic Code

3:02pm August 04, 2017

by Kristian Foden-Vencil

Health care forms increasingly ask about more than just medical history. That's because doctors are beginning to understand that patients' stress, and how and where they live, influence health, too.