The 2022 NASW National Conference recently took place both virtually and in-person from June 22 to 25. Three NASW-Michigan staff members were able to attend the conference in Washington D.C. including Executive Director Duane Breijak, Director of Policy and Advocacy Melina Brann, and Director of Membership and Communications Kaelyn Lewis, in addition to NASW-Michigan Board President Fatima Salman. 

We were so happy to be able to connect with some of you and learn how we can better serve our members. We hope those of you who attended found the conference to be educational and inspiring and that you left feeling more connected to the social workers in Michigan and across the country. For those who were unable to attend, we want to provide a recap and highlight how staff participated:

- Fatima was elected as Chair for the NASW National Council of Chapter Presidents (COCP) for a two-year term. The COCP consists of the board presidents of all the 55 NASW chapters across the country. COCP coordinates the efforts across the chapters and moves as a collective body to influence policy and change for all social workers across the nation.

- Duane was a panelist speaker at the NASW Open Forum on Reproductive Rights and Social Justice, one of the conference kick off events highlighting the important role of social workers in abortion access and reproductive rights.

- More than 50 Michigan social workers participated in the conference, either in person or virtual. On Thursday, June 23rd a Michigan Chapter meetup was held at the conference exhibitor area (see photo below).

- Two Michigan social workers exhibited at the conference:

• Michelle Woods, MSW Student Career Services Director for the University of Michigan School of Social Work, represented the Consortium of Career Directors in Social Work Education, providing career counseling to attendees.

• Ali Turfe, a Wayne County school social worker, advocated for mindfulness-based stress reduction training for social workers.

- Kaelyn, Melina, and Duane represented the Chapter at the U.S. Supreme Court and protested the overturning of Roe v. Wade. They were joined by hundreds of social workers from across the country.