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#MacroSW: Social Work in These Trying Times

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by Stephen P. Cummings, MSW, ACSW, LICSW, and Sunya W. Folayan, MSW

This article is based on a #MacroSW Twitter chat held in September 2018. #MacroSW Twitter chats are held every Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern. For more information, check out https://macrosw.com. The New Social Worker is a #MacroSW media partner.

     In September 2018, the #MacroSW Twitter Chat focused on the topic “Social Work in These Trying Times.” This chat was based on the following premise: “In these trying times, it feels as if we need to be engaged multiple times a day at all levels. For example, a social worker may be addressing multiple emergent needs at an agency (putting out fires) while providing expert testimony to a state legislator, while following the latest federal policy initiative announced this morning (one that could have a detrimental effect in the long term if a campaign to respond isn’t started right away).”

    For this chat, we discussed the following questions:

    Our chat partners supported the notion that things are harder right now in these times. One instructor engaged in the chat noted that her students are harder to motivate. A student reported that she feels as if she is living “in a badly-written B-movie” and that keeping a positive outlook has been incredibly challenging. Not all participants reported feeling bleak—at least one reported that at least, where he works, his environment and clients are doing well and the outlook remains positive there.

    As one of the #MacroSW chat partners, I (Stephen) was working on this article the day after the midterm elections. I was at the Detroit airport, waiting to take off to join my colleagues at the Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting (APM). I had to get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch my first flight out, but that didn’t stop me from watching election returns come in from across the country until 11:00 p.m. I forced myself to shut everything off and get some rest.

    How could I not watch the returns in real time? I spent much of the last year facing some difficult political topics head-on. I’ve taught social work classes since 2005, starting out while I was working as a hospital social worker. At the start of my teaching experience, there was a spirit of neutrality—as in, let’s discuss this topic or issue, triangulate the topic from various sides, and reach an understanding. My personal point of view is secondary, and I won’t even openly discuss where I stand.

    I was new. I was learning, and I admit, I was a little intimidated in this role of instructing students.

    Chat participants noted that external pressures are present and challenging. The growth of misinformation was acknowledged as one major example. A participant described her ability to say “no” as a way to encourage and emphasize balance in her life. One discussion member expressed concern that, during these times, the study and practice of macro social work is “not taking center stage.”  

    I reflect on these #MacroSW chat notes, and I acknowledge that I still have a lot to learn. My goal is to keep learning until I die. Maybe I’ll reach Transcendence, that peak of the Maslow Hierarchy I ask my students to envision and conceptualize. I sat in the airport, bleary-eyed and tired, reflecting on the spirit of our time. I had watched as my home state of Iowa re-elected Steve King, the state representative for our 4th District, despite clear and visible evidence that King is a white supremacist. My 9-year-old is aware of this and asks me how this can be. My son asks how a president can be president while leading a program that deliberately separates children from their parents. My students want to discuss how climate change can be addressed, meaningfully and purposefully, in a time when those in power continue to deny that it’s happening, despite clear evidence to the contrary and uniform scientific confirmation. I ask myself why I entered this profession, with so much passion and idealism, more than 20 years ago.  

    Participants noted various ways to keep motivation and positive feelings going. One participant described her “encouragement wall,” where students can take and leave comments. Another participant described how she started having conversations with her colleagues, and another noted how it’s good to talk with other social workers, as people in the profession often do recognize the stress of the work, and with this knowledge and understanding, are able to provide support to each other.

    I reflect on the principle written in the NASW Code of Ethics: Social workers challenge social injustice. “Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers’ social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice. These activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers strive to ensure access to needed information, services, and resources; equality of opportunity; and meaningful participation in decision making for all people.” (NASW, 2018)

    I appreciate how, in our #MacroSW chat environment, we support each other during these trying times. I certainly struggle with the concept of self-care. It’s not that it’s hard, or that I’m too busy. I struggle with how the “self” in self-care implies that the burden is on me. Institutionally, we have wellness programs, and we have lip service. Some of it may work! I also have “protected time” that winds up being over-scheduled to address an emergent institutional need, or a staff or student crisis, or so I can present to others the work on which I’m focused. What I would like to see is a macro-level recognition that, particularly in these trying times, acknowledges that as social workers, our energies are being directed at supporting others, and our reserves are depleting.

    The nature of the demands social workers experience is reflective of our positioning in the field. Members of the social work profession are among those helping professionals who both lead and are in the direct line of care with our clients, patients, or target populations. We are the ones with the ever-increasing caseloads, the ones with clients who need help right now, the ones with the patients who need to meet with their families to discuss possible outcomes, and the ones with the student who is struggling with a challenging home environment and who is thinking about giving up. It’s because we see so much, and understand the systems at work up front and behind the scenes, that we find ourselves adding just one more hour to our day, or just a few minutes more in that patient room.

    The social workers participating in the chat recognized several realities as making their practice more difficult or complicated. These included: white supremacy, communities under siege from law enforcement and public policy, medical personnel frequently dismissing mental and physical distress from Black community members and other persons of color, changing population patterns and encroaching gentrification that erases neighborhoods and erodes foundational relationships of shelter and support, among others.

    In these trying times, do we consider the realities of our colleagues in this work and how their needs for self-care may differ from ours?

    Direct service work has traditionally been seen as “women’s work.” Social workers have historically been expected to give unconditionally, while asking for little in return. What are the implications of this on our ability to address the importance of self-care? This shouldn’t be just a notion carried out by the social worker when the system permits. Self-care should be baked into the structure of social work practice. Agencies must allow time for it. State and federal budgets must account for manageable caseloads.

    Is this a fantasy? Of course, it doesn’t have to be. Part of the issue is time-honored: social workers not positioned in a way that their work is valued enough to remunerate appropriately, either through wages, benefits, or professional respect.

    How do we derive hope from this? As one chat participant stated, “If we give up, then what?” Perhaps as another participant responded, “Advocacy is life- and career-affirming, especially during the dark times.”

References

#MacroSW. (2018, September 18). Social work in these trying times. Retrieved from: https://macrosw.com/2018/09/18/macrosw-for-9-20-2018-social-work-in-these-trying-times/

National Association of Social Workers (NASW). (2018). Code of ethics. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Stephen Cummings, MSW, ACSW, LISW, is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Iowa School of Social Work, where he is the administrator for distance education.

Sunya W. Folayan, MSW, is a social work entrepreneur and macro practitioner with decades of experience. She is a licensed clinician, classroom and field instructor, nonprofit leader, textile designer, and emergent researcher. She uses her quiet time to reflect, read, write, and travel—most enjoyably by ocean liner and train.

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