Take a Stand, Claim a Seat
by Hayley Roberts-Carr
When there isn’t a seat at the table, you have to start with bringing your folding chair. Maybe you are the only social worker in the placement. You may be the only one in a dress, or the only one on your floor of the building with no gun at the hip. At times, you will be the only one who has a disagreement or, at least, the only one who speaks it. Lean into that discomfort. Essential knowledge from day one in our field seminar is to reflect, acknowledge, and appreciate the fact that we will continually be navigating difficult spaces with people, institutions, and ideas. It is uncomfortable to always be in the midst of progress, rejection, and human suffering, but we must learn to embrace it, because we belong there.
My social work field experiences have echoed my professors’ essential wisdom. I accepted placement in refugee resettlement when refugee bans were being enacted across the country. This led me to Washington, DC, with fellow college students to meet with our Tennessee senators and representatives about refugee rights. This was absolute discomfort for all. I later accepted a clinical placement as a victim advocate in a police department when civil rights protests grew throughout the summer prior. I met the police chief on a bridge historically used for lynchings, with a #BLM poster in my hand saying, “Nice to meet you. I’m the intern this fall.”
I can see now that the discomfort I felt in these situations was not convincing me to “get out” but, rather, to lean in. These spaces were new and difficult, and social workers thrive when they know how to lean in and discern what about this situation is disruptive to comfortability. This discomfort may be friction in a system that does not want your approach. Discomfort may also arise with personal feelings that make us aware of our own human experiences. Leaning into discomfort is a tool for justice that allows good and complicated work to be done.
As social workers, we will continually wrestle with the discomfort of injustice's existence, and our comfort will not fully arrive until there is resolution. We may go from being in the protests with sore feet from marching the city’s streets to being at the office with heavy hearts from reading life narratives we want to see transform. Social workers are called to spaces where our mere presence is a protest against structural and environmental injustices, and we are essential as advocates at all levels of practice.
We are often warned it’s just a little too late, or not yet the time. But when we embrace discomfort, these can both be just the right moment. This is uncomfortable work, and it’s essential that we embrace and acknowledge that we may be the “only ____” in many rooms, positions, and institutions throughout our social work careers. Do not take this as a warning to pursue more familiar surroundings, but rather, an encouragement to lean in and embrace your seat at the table, even if that means you will always be sitting in the most uncomfortable chair.
Hayley Roberts-Carr is a Chattanooga-based soon-to-be social worker. She was recognized as the 2020 MSW Student of the Year for the NASW of Southeast TN. Hayley hopes to pursue ministry and social justice work through policy practice, community development, and grassroots advocacy from the local to the international level.