I Am Every Social Worker! - Poetry

by Kerry Baharanyi, MSW, LICSW, PIP

Global citizen, Immigrant, African woman, advocator, living my soul’s purpose

I am a social worker

Standing in unity against gender based violence         

Refuting social and human injustice

Fighting in unison with people living with HIV/AIDS

Dismantling the status quo that continues to enslave my people, your people, and our people

I am a social worker

The right to self-determination

The right to dignity

The right to be treated as a decent human

I am a social worker taking the oath to uphold those values and principles

Wounded healer

Student of life

Explorer of cultures

Globe trotter at your service

Competent and educator

I am a social worker

Daring to fight for the voiceless, the disenfranchised

Equalizer and revolutionary

Distressed, devalued, in the trenches of society

Pleading and demanding change for our profession and for the people we serve

We are social workers.

Kerry Baharanyi, MSW, LICSW, PIP, is a social work supervisor in Alabama.