#nasw

A.... disgruntled commentor mentioned that I would be a terrible social worker if I thought I should sacrifice the life of a child (unborn) to save its mother. 

This shows me what I already knew; that people have no idea what social workers do or what their values are. It’s a pretty versatile profession, which I will admit makes it hard to explain. But let me do my best to help you understand why a Social Worker (a human helper) would support abortion. 

Social workers help disadvantaged people overcome barriers that keep them from reaching their potential.

Basically, this means when a social worker is helping an individual, community, or institution, they identify barriers (socioeconomic, health, mental health, etc.)  to their client’s success and help the client overcome them.

Again, this is pretty vague. To better understand it, you need to look at social work’s core values. These are applied in every single step of every single situation. You are meant to live, breathe, and eat with these values on your mind. 

IF THESE ARE NOT VALUES THAT YOU HOLD, THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE A SOCIAL WORKER. FULL STOP. END OF STORY. IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN THEM, IT IS VERY LIKELY YOU WILL TAKE ACTION DURING THE COURSE OF YOUR CAREER THAT PUTS YOUR LICENSE AT JEAPORDY DUE TO POTENTIAL HARM TO YOUR CLIENT OR SOCIETY. Core Social Work Values:

Service

Social Justice

Dignity and Worth of a Person

Importance of Human Relationships

Integrity

Competence

These ethical principles are woven into everything a social worker does. How does that look in practice? Here are the definitions from the NASW Code of Ethics.

1. Service

There is no other discipline whose licensing board tells you that you must price your services fairly and consider the client’s ability to pay. That’s pretty darn special if you ask me. 

“Social workers elevate service to others above self-interest. Social workers draw on their knowledge, values, and skills to help people in need and to address social problems. Social workers are encouraged to volunteer some portion of their professional skills with no expectation of significant financial return (pro bono service).”

2. Social Justice

“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.”

3. Dignity and Worth of a Person: 

“Social workers treat each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity. Social workers promote clients’ socially responsible self-determination. Social workers seek to enhance clients’ capacity and opportunity to change and to address their own needs. Social workers are cognizant of their dual responsibility to clients and to the broader society. They seek to resolve conflicts between clients’ interests and the broader society’s interests in a socially responsible manner consistent with the values, ethical principles, and ethical standards of the profession.”

4. Importance of Human Relationships

“Social workers understand that relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change. Social workers engage people as partners in the helping process. Social workers seek to strengthen relationships among people in a purposeful effort to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities.”

5. Integrity

“Social workers are continually aware of the profession’s mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards and practice in a manner consistent with them. Social workers should take measures to care for themselves professionally and personally. Social workers act honestly and responsibly and promote ethical practices on the part of the organizations with which they are affiliated.”

6. Competence

“Social workers continually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills and to apply them in practice. Social workers should aspire to contribute to the knowledge base of the profession. “

From here, we branch off to the Ethical Standards section, which is looong. It covers responsibilities to:

Clients

Colleagues

In Practice Settings

As Professionals

The Social Work Profession

The Broader Society

So here’s the thing, social workers believe and don’t believe in things that many people, on BOTH sides of the political aisle, struggle to reconcile. Here are some examples:

Social Workers do not believe in the death penalty no matter what

Social Workers believe in Reproductive Freedom no matter what

Social Workers believe in Marriage Equality no matter what

Social Workers believe in Respecting and Protecting Undocumented People no matter what

Social Workers care about Prisoners  no matter what. Yep, even the really super bad ones

Explore NASW’s Website here When Social Workers say they fight against inequality, there are no caveats.  Social Workers are not naïve liberal idealists with their heads in the clouds. Their beliefs are evidence based. If significant data supports that something is bad for society (Increases poverty, widens inequality gap, worsens individual outcomes), it is disallowed by the code of ethics. These are not just knee-jerk opinions, they are carefully studied before being added into the code. 

Update: the National Association of Science Writers Conference has gone fully online! So, I know I made the right choice by deciding not to go in person, and the good news is some of the panels I wanted to go to are gonna be available online. 

That also means that if any of you dear readers are interested in going, it is now more accessible and affordable and safer.  Certainly less rewarding overall so I hope to try again for IRL in 2023. If you would like to become a member of NASW you’ll get a discount (and joining as a new member is cheaper than paying the difference.) 

If you don’t have someone who can “sponsor” you (ie send an email explaining that you are a real science communicator) then I can do it for...up to two more people. First two people who ask, but you have to either be a real science journalist/PIO or seriously plan to be one. And you’ll have to send me some clips and tell me about yourself and such.

If you’re going, HMU and maybe we can sit at some virtual table together! Yes, last time they had actual images of tables and chairs you could click on to “sit” with people. And as always, if you really want to know something about what I do, you can DM me on whatever social media.

I’m not an expert or panelist but I will tell you what I know about: 

Bay Nature Magazine (where I work now)  The Poynter Fellowship (which funds me and provides lots of resources)  Science Journalism Grad School (The one I went to at BU is no more but I researched them all) Other places I have worked (Vox, Ripley’s, Newsweek, PBS Newshour, National Geographic)  TikTok, Tumblr, other Social Media Covering animals Minimizing professional exploitation

This summer I dreamed that Emma Goldman

came to a theatre workshop.

She was quite hopped up about

what was happening at fifth avenue and fiftieth street

for instance

across from the cathedral and down the street from bergdorf’s.

She wanted to make certain that we were politically aware

of the implications of our existence.

So she marched out into the center of our workspace

wearing a long dark cape

high boots and white petticoats that

frothed at the bottom of her heavy skirt

as she kicked the stage clear of crates and claptrap

and adjusted her glasses with a quick push of an index finger.

  Before anyone could put her through the questioner

she snapped

“You there:  climb the walls

You there:  beat your breast

You there:  prostrate yourself before atlas holding up

the world right smack in the middle of rockefeller center

at fifth avenue and fiftieth street.

  And don’t tell me that if I want to lecture the audience

I should write a political tract

because what you have here is character and situation.

  You there:  repeat the word collectivity fast

until it sounds like the hoof beats of a horse running wild

with the news that we are all

up against the wall of economic oppression.

Because what you have here is character and situation

and the potential for women who are moving together

to move away from just carving out for themselves

a bigger piece of the capitalist pie.”

  What becomes a legend most?

Her visions.

Her life’s work.

Her hard realities.

And I dreamed that the world’s womanline rose up

to occupy rockefeller center

which came to be known as the new york based world wide

women’s center for international peace and equal justice

and clean air and water

and the very fish in the sea

leaped up and splashed the ozone layer with their joy

because finally

mere anarchy was loosed upon the land.

  Needless to say, atlas never got it up again.

  Clare Coss

1976

  The questioner – a theatre research form used to elicit thematic material.

The mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the profession’s history, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective:

service

social justice

dignity and worth of the person

importance of human relationships

integrity

competence.

This constellation of core values reflects what is unique to the social work profession. Core values, and the principles that flow from them, must be balanced within the context and complexity of the human experience.

Social workers across the country are concerned, confused, and angry. How can the organization that claims to represent us, the steward of our Code of Ethics, so blatantly violate the values it taught generations of practitioners to defend? Last month, national leadership executed sweeping NASW restructuring, resulting in the leaders serving fourteen state chapters being laid off. Many learned…

Information from @ UCAlumni4Palestine on Instagram

Some folks are probably quite aware of the bills being pushed in congress such as the "Encampment or Endowments" Act (1) and "No HAMAS" Act (2, 3). But to put it in plain terms - Members of congress are pushing bills that would prevent funding for Five Years if they don't remove "prolonged encampments." This funding includes the Federal Pell Grant and federal loans, which are essential for many folks, myself included, to be able to attend a university. The "No HAMAS" Act, which stands for "No Higher education Assistance for Mobs of Antisemitic and terrorist Sympathizing Students" (Yeah they really had to try to make that acronym work) more directly targets students. Any students who have been convicted for "trespassing, rioting, or damaging property while protesting on campus" would be prevented from receiving federal financial aid.

If these pass, many students, myself included, could lose necessary financial aid to continue our educations. When every class I have attended has so heavily emphasized the NASW (National Association of Social Workers) code of ethics, I'm now being asked to put these ethics aside if I want to continue learning about them.