Welcome to the new NASW, MS Chapter website!

Our chapter website has changed, and for the better! We are now linked to our national website, providing you with access to both Mississippi and National resources! I invite you to explore how to navigate our new site, which currently contains the same information categories as before. You will notice you can use the tabs in the upper left corner to directly access national services. If you are looking for our former pages, you can find them by clicking the drop-down tabs in the header. If there is something you cannot find, let us know! Our contact information and office hours are now at the bottom of this home page. Remember to bookmark this page for future reference!

For those of you who are NASW members, I want to personally thank you for your membership! Your dues supported our advocacy efforts at the MS Legislature this year, and when they adjourned on March 29, we celebrated the passage of a number of bills directly impacting clients that we serve! Beginning July 1, 2019 we will see significant improvements in mental healthcare, K-12 school safety services, and coordination between MS Child Protective Services and the Family Advocates system for active military. There is still much more to be done! We look forward to the statewide elections over the next few months, and ask that you consider getting involved in your local voter registration and “get to the polls”efforts as well as keeping the NASW chapter office informed about candidates you support or oppose.

We need YOU! I want to personally invite you to join NASW if you are not already a member, and ask that you renew if you are a member! We need as many social workers as possible to continue to support advocacy in our state and national advocacy efforts. With continued threats to professional social work, and the services for clients we serve, now if the time for action and membership. As a continuous member for 33 years, I personally and professionally support our largest professional social work association, and value the benefits locally, nationally, and internationally as members of the International Federation of Social Workers.

I am always aware of the NASW Code of Ethics contribution to all Mississippi social workers through our licensing law, and how the NASW Standards of Practice can be used in practice areas along with the Code of Ethics for employment and client advocacy. These documents provide core support to the profession, supporting and protecting social workers and the clients we serve.

I invite you to share your personal story of why you are an NASW member! Send your stories to the chapter office at info.naswms@socialworkers.org to be considered for publication on our new website! A different member will be highlighted every month!

Thank you again for your NASW membership…to join or renew, just click Join/Renew in the top right corner!
Janice Sandefur, ACSW, LCSW
Executive Director
NASW, MS Chapter