Dear Linda,

LINDA MAY GROBMAN — THE OPRAH WINFREY OF SOCIAL WORK

    I thought that I would follow up my recent e-mails to you with a letter. I hope it will reach you in time for you to be able to publish it. I have just returned home from school here in London, UK.
    I am attending Middlesex University here in London, where I am completing the first year of a three-year Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology and Psychology — Joint Honours. I combine my degree with working part-time as a community outreach support worker/counsellor, working with a diverse range of clients and service users with a range of issues and support needs (e.g., mental health, substance & alcohol abuse/addictions, HIV/aids, ex-offenders, physical health issues, young people, learning disabilities).
    I work with different social/supported housing providers and agencies here in London, working mainly in the urban communities in London. I find the job challenging and take great satisfaction in helping people who are deemed vulnerable, who are generally not engaging with society as a whole.
    I wanted to say that you are both a great role model and inspiration to me and certainly to many other social work professionals and social work students. You are a pioneer, challenging the conventional stereotypes that exist about social work. Where you lead, many follow. As I said, I think that you are “the Oprah Winfrey of Social Work,” and for me, The New Social Worker magazine provides me with the information, through informative articles and inspiration to be the best that I can be. I hope to attain my goals after I graduate in 2011.
    I hope to move to the U.S. to work as a social worker/counsellor specialising in working with clients that have mental health, substance, & alcohol abuse issues/addictions.
    Please continue to challenge perceptions and stereotypes in regards to the social work profession.
    I look forward to the next edition of the social worker magazine.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Anthony Brown
Student, London, England, UK


Editor’s Response:  Thank you, Mark! I am quite honored that you have dubbed me the “Oprah Winfrey of Social Work” and paraphrased my favorite singer/songwriter, Carole King, both in the same letter. I do what I do as a labor of love, and I hope that it does make a difference in people’s lives as social workers, as well as in educating the public about what we do and dispelling some of the myths and stereotypes about our profession.

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