The New Social Worker Top 5 Articles for 2016, and More!

by Linda May Grobman, MSW, LSW, ACSW

     The year 2016 has been an eventful one, and we now look forward to see what 2017 will bring. What have social workers been reading over the past year? Let's look at The New Social Worker's most popular articles from 2016 for some insight.

Top 5 Articles Published in 2016

     First, let's look at the top five articles (based on number of page views) of those we published in 2016. They are:

#1

A Social Worker's Thoughts on Child Protection Social Work, by Cathy Lipke, from our Winter 2016 issue. "Each day is different, and each case calls for different skills." Takeaway: child protection work is the best job ever.

#2

Mindfulness: 10 Lessons in Self-Care for Social Workers, by Deborah Lisansky Beck, from our Winter 2016 issue. "Mindfulness is not a test of your skills, nor is it a competition. There are no final exams or papers to write. Relate to yourself with a sense of caring, curiosity, open-mindedness, and acceptance." Takeaway: One size does not fit all when it comes to self-care.

#3

Top 10 Things Social Workers Need To Know About  Human Sexuality, by Jeremy Irvin and Kimberly McKay, from our Spring 2016 issue. "Social work programs throughout the country help prepare you for many of the challenging content areas that you will face throughout your career. The topic of human sexuality, however, is typically glossed over." Takeaway: Human sexuality may be more complex than you think.

#4

What Every New Social Worker Needs To Know...Trauma Informed Care in Social Work, by Elisa Kawam and Marcos J. Martinez, from our Summer 2016 issue. "Even when we are not serving the most vulnerable, we still may be working with people who have endured a traumatic event, which has affected their lives and their well-being." Takeaway: Trauma informed care (TIC) on the micro and macro levels will likely lead to better client outcomes.

#5

The Impostor Syndrome and the Social Worker, by Danna Bodenheimer, from Real World Clinical Blog. "Whereas feelings of being a fraud or impostor are commonly associated with being a new social worker, these psychological states are actually endemic to clinical social work practice across all stages of experience. Some social workers talk openly about feeling like an impostor, while others keep their feelings private and to themselves." Takeaway: If we recognize external factors that "conspire" to make us feel "less than," a truer sense of self can evolve.

Other Top Articles

     The following articles from our archives are the top overall articles for 2016. These were published prior to 2016 and continue to be highly relevant to our readers.

• What Is an Ethical Dilemma?
• 10 Essential Tips for Your Amazing Social Work Résumé 
• 5 Ways To Ace Your Social Work Job Interview
• What I Wish I Had Known: Burnout and Self-Care in Our Social Work Profession

     Our most commented-on article published in 2016 was:

A Social Work Career Later in Life, by Phyllis Babrove. This short piece, published as part of our Social Work Month Project 2016, spoke to our many readers who have entered the profession at a "non-traditional" age or are thinking of doing so. It has received 23 comments on our website and many more on Facebook.

     AND...an article from The New Social Worker's Fall 2015 issue won the 2016 NASW Media Award for Best Magazine Article! Congratulations to Jonathan Singer and Sean Erreger for their award-winning article Let's Talk About Suicide: #LanguageMatters.

New in 2016

     In June 2016, The New Social Worker Press published a new book, The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals, edited by Erlene Grise-Owens, Justin "Jay" Miller, and Mindy Eaves. The book uses a convenient A-to-Z format to present practical self-care strategies and includes a self-care planning form that individuals can use to keep themselves accountable. The book is being used by individuals as well as by agencies that want to support their workers' self-care.

     In conjunction with the publication of the book, we now have a self-care section on our website, which also houses the Self-Care A-to-Z Blog, written by Erlene Grise-Owens and occasional guest bloggers.

     We are on a mission to support social workers in self-care, so stay tuned!

     In 2016, I was honored to be selected as a Social Work Pioneer by the NASW Foundation. I am so grateful to be recognized by my peers in this way. Thank you. I am in awe of the Pioneers as a group and will work to continue to live up to this title.

What's Up for 2017?

     So, what's up for 2017? We are already planning our awesome month-long celebration of social work during March - Social Work Month! Please check out the submission guidelines for Social Work Month Project 2017, and consider sending in an entry by the January 17, 2017, deadline.

     The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is conducting its Social Work Month campaign around the theme "Social Workers Stand Up." Watch for more information about the campaign and The New Social Worker's participation. As social workers, we must stand up to injustice where we see it. 

     In Winter 2017, we are finishing our series on achieving racial equity through social work by Mary Pender Greene, Sandra Bernabei, and Lisa Blitz. I want to say "thank you" to these three dedicated social workers for sharing their expertise on this topic and their commitment to fighting racial injustice and inequity. This is an important series, and if you haven't read it yet, I invite you to click on the link above and check it out. As our nation and the rest of the world continue to struggle with issues surrounding race and racism, we will continue to explore such issues and social workers' role in efforts to achieve equal opportunity and justice, one of social work's Grand Challenges.

     We look forward to connecting with you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Who knows what else is in store? Follow us and subscribe to stay up to date!

     THANK YOU to all of our readers. Thank you for reading, and thank you for your thoughtful comments and engagement with us, with our writers, and with each other. THANK YOU, too, to the writers who share their experience and expertise with our readership! Each one of you makes such an important contribution to our profession, both in the daily work you do and in the sharing with others. THANK YOU to all the social work educators out there who spend their days shaping the future of our profession though your teaching and mentorship.

     I look forward to seeing many of you around the web, on social media, and face-to-face at social work conferences in the coming year. I look forward to hearing from you and hearing about the innovative work you are doing. If you would like to share something with our readers, let me know.

     Best wishes for the best year in 2017! The year 2016 was marked by a contentious election, a record number of reported hate crimes and/or bias-related incidents, and a lot of uncertainty. At the same time, as social workers, we can be proud of our accomplishments and for being part of a profession that not only encourages, but mandates, us to act to preserve human rights and attend to human needs. As we enter the new year, I have been thinking a lot about our core values. "Respecting the worth and dignity of all people" is my motto, and if we keep this in mind as our guiding principle - in our daily lives, in our work, in our advocacy for and with others -  I think that's a good place to start. Together we'll stand for our ideals and for our clients.

     Peace and a good year to you,

              LInda