The improvement method called deliberate practice can enhance social work through its use of focused training, expert supervision and regular self-evaluation, veteran social services worker Dustin MacDonald writes. He cites research tying effectiveness of clinicians to the amount of time spent in deliberate practice.

His elementary and middle school teaching experience pushed Gordon Capp into social work as a way to address children's deeper needs, and now he's working to add to his ranks. Capp is developing a training program for school social workers at California State University at Fullerton.

A Maine advocacy group is asking child welfare workers and agencies statewide for suggestions on how to improve the system, motivated by two children's deaths within the past year, allegedly at the hands of caregivers. Reforms enacted by the legislature last summer, including $21.2 million in new funding, left more to be done, the Maine Children's Alliance declared.

Adolescents who have experienced bias-based bullying -- meaning they were bullied because of their race, sexual orientation, disability or religion -- often reported school avoidance, psychological and academic difficulties, and fear of physical harm, according to a study in the journal Psychology of Violence. Researchers also found that those who were victims of general bullying, but not those who experienced single or multiple bias-based bullying, benefited from support from family, teachers, peers and the community, while victims of single bias-based and general bullying benefited from school safety and security measures.

Data-sharing between government units in child welfare remains underdeveloped even though it would immensely benefit recipients through evidence-based care, writes Shell Culp of Public Consulting Group. Funding and direction for modernization are available through the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System Final Rule and the Family First Prevention Services Act, Culp writes.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the CMS could soon permit health systems and hospitals to help with housing, nutritious food and other social determinants of health through Medicaid. "We believe we could spend less money on healthcare -- and, most important, help Americans live healthier lives -- if we did a better job of aligning federal health investments with our investments in non-healthcare needs," Azar said, noting officials at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation are exploring new strategies to better address social determinants.

Tomorrow's leaders may never reach that designation if we don't allow some leeway for communication that comes across as overly enthusiastic or candid, writes Karin Hurt. "We don't just need more people speaking up, we need to help our emerging leaders speak up in a way that can be heard so their ideas can add the most value," she writes.

Great leaders know they can't do it alone, so they recruit people who help them create order out of chaos, develop productive relationships and inspire employees to care about the organization's vision, write Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman. "[E]ffective leaders should know their strengths and weaknesses, so they can find people who complement them, not compliment them," they write.

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Listen to the latest installment of NASW's Social Work Talks Podcast to learn more about burnout and how to prevent it from NASW member Kristen Lee, an author and expert on this issue.