From April 2002 NASW NEWS
Copyright Š2002, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

Profession Honors Federal Colleagues

Social work pioneer Ruth Knee

The event was like a "Who's Who" of social work.

By John V. O'Neill, MSW, NEWS Staff

More than 130 social workers assembled at Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill Hyatt Hotel March 8 to celebrate the achievements and power of their profession and to honor their colleagues in federal service.

NASW's Social Work Month Gala, sponsored by the NASW Foundation and the Social Work Pioneers, was like a "Who's Who" of social work, with representatives from NASW, the Council on Social Work Education, the Department of Veterans Affairs, many other federal agencies, various branches of the armed services, the Social Work Pioneers, the Salvation Army, universities, hospitals and other professional organizations.

NASW's Elizabeth Clark makes presentation to SAMHSA's Charles Curie

NASW's Elizabeth Clark makes presentation to SAMHSA's Charles Curie.

Remarks by NASW President Terry Mizrahi and Elizabeth J. Clark, NASW's executive director and president of the Foundation's board, preceded a rousing address by Charles Curie, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the highest-ranked social worker in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which brought the audience to its feet.

Some of the 130 who attended the celebration

Some of the 130 who attended the celebration.

"My name is Charles Curie, and I'm a social worker," Curie began to warm applause. "Far too many social workers—maybe even some of us in the room tonight—for one reason or another have denied their title as a social worker."

SAMHSA chief Charles Curie

"Too many of us, for too many years, have called ourselves therapists or analysts or clinicians—anything except the social workers that we are," Curie said. "We've done ourselves a disservice; we've done our profession a disservice. We've done the pioneers who came before us a disservice; we've done the people we serve a disservice. As the Walt Kelly cartoon character Pogo used to say, 'We have met the enemy and he is us.' It's time for a change."

"It doesn't matter whether we're federal workers or community workers," he said. "It doesn't matter if we're members of the U.S. Public Health Service or members of a nursing home or school staff working with your older neighbors or youth. We are all in service for America. Our work makes the nation strong—one individual, one family and one community at a time."

Social workers in community, social welfare and health care programs, in schools and hospitals, in the corrections system, in government and public health, have touched and bettered the lives of millions of Americans, said Curie. "How could we not be proud of who we are and what we do?"

Curie traced the history of the contributions of social workers in the big-city tenements of a century ago, during "the great divide between hope and helplessness during the Depression," and the creation of the federal safety-net programs like Social Security.

"Social work today remains the strong thread binding the fabric of our communities, the underpinnings of our social safety net that spans health, welfare, education, justice, employment and human empowerment," said Curie. "Social workers have been and continue to be the people who comprise what President Bush has called the 'armies of compassion.'"

The social work model looks for solutions for people's problems in the context of their environments—family school, work, community—rather than through the "individual approach" routinely found in psychiatry and psychology, said Curie. "We work very hard to help people keep their places in their communities, in their families, in their homes and jobs, as we help them solve their problems."

This system-of-care approach has changed the way the mental health care system can work for children with serious emotional disturbances, said Curie. "It shows how the mental health system can and should interrelate with the education system, the welfare system, the juvenile justice system and the family to meet the entire spectrum of needs facing a child with a serious emotional disturbance."

This same approach is the product of the social work tradition of community-based care and "has application to all of the people we serve," he said. "If our discipline is going to thrive, not just survive, we need to return to our roots in community care."

Curie read a message from President George W. Bush praising social workers for their work after the attacks of Sept. 11.

"Through your efforts, you demonstrate the American spirit of generosity, compassion and caring for those in need," the president wrote.

Earlier, NASW's Clark read a letter from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson lauding social workers. "As advocates for the most vulnerable in our population—the children, the elderly, the sick and the disabled—you serve those most often neglected and also most in need of help," Thompson wrote. "I applaud you as public servants and as patriots who do so much to strengthen the fabric of our society."

A letter of congratulation also came from six social workers in Congress: Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Reps. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Tex.).

This marks the 18th celebration of National Professional Social Work Month, since March was officially designated as such by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, said Mizrahi.

The theme for 2002 is "The Power of Social Work: Community Needs. Human Connections," she said.

"The NASW Foundation is delighted with the turnout and tone of the event," said Robert Arnold, NASW development director. "This was our first gala, and we look forward to it becoming an annual event."

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