By Catherine Cassingham, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, and Teresa van Oort, MHA, MSSW, LCSW-S 

What an exciting year for learning! 2024 is coming to a close and we have so many exciting offerings planned for 2025. AOSW is excited to offer several opportunities to engage in learning, professional development, growth and networking. 

AOSW’s 2025 Annual Conference: Unite to Ignite: Cultivating Connections, will take place on June 11-13, in Atlanta with pre-conference offerings on June 10. This year’s conference already has a large variety of presentations planned, with topics ranging from advance care planning, DEI, suicide education, patient navigation, oncology education, and many more. We are excited to share that Bryan Miller, LCSW, OSW-C, will be our opening keynote speaker. 

The 2025 Conference Committee is thrilled to share a wide variety of topics, and the ability to showcase so many new speakers. Registration will open in early 2025. 

In addition to a robust conference, AOSW CEU Webinars Committee is thrilled to already have a number of webinars planned for the remainder of 2024, with more to come monthly in 2025. This is a great way to gain CEU credits for both your state licensure and OSW-Cs is through AOSW’s webinars, which are offered throughout the year. On November 20, 2024, Linda Hutkin-Slade, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, and Cheryl Whittington Fogel, MSW, LCSW, ACHP-SW, OSW-C, are leading Helping Patients Deal with Changes in Memory, Thinking and Focus (aka Cancer Related Cognitive ‎Impairment)‎. This session will focus on working with patients experiencing cognitive changes as a result of their cancer treatments. Then on December 12, Christina Bach, MBE, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, is leading 2024 Pets Are Wonderful Supports…Usually‎: Ethical, Legal and Practical Implications of Emotional Support, Service and Therapy Animals in ‎Oncology Settings, providing updates, education and legal implications of integrating animals into cancer treatment supports. Both are open for registration now! Keep checking the website as more webinars will be added as they are scheduled. You will also see AOSW webinars advertised on SWON, email blasts, and social media (Facebook and Instagram).   

Calling all potential speakers! As 2025 planning gets underway, we have been working to streamline the application process for webinar speakers. Are you interested in presenting? Or have you recently been to a talk locally that your national AOSW members could benefit from? We have a new online form speakers can complete. If you have questions about the process, feel free to email Catherine Cassingham, our CEU webinar chair. She would be happy to talk to anyone who is interested in speaking or she can reach out to speakers you have seen and enjoyed!