Tragedies Spark Worker-Safety Awareness
Many Think Client Violence 'Won't Happen Here'
Violence or threats of violence are reasonably common for social
workers during their careers.
By John V. O'Neill, MSW, News Staff
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| Illustration: John Michael
Yanson |
The deaths of a young woman, a troubled teenager and the murder
of social worker Greg Gaul on an icy day late in January brought
almost unbearable shock and grief to the Des Moines social work
community and the entire city.
It also renewed the questions of whether social workers and their
agencies are doing enough to protect those who deal with clients
who are sometimes unstable and occasionally violent or intent
on homicide and whether emphasis on safety could limit social
workers' ability to be effective with clients.
* * *
Gaul was "beloved," the kind of social worker others
aspire to be, said his business partner John Stanley. "Most
don't have the same amount of qualities Greg had in abundance
— the patience and kindness."
The former seminarian had an uncommon amount of success for his
41 years. An MSW graduate of the University of Minnesota, four
years ago he helped start Lifeworks, a successful agency that
contracts with the State of Iowa to provide in-home child welfare
and juvenile justice services.
He was a well-known and well-respected figure among the law enforcement
officials, attorneys, judges, social workers, educators and juvenile
offenders in the Des Moines area.
"Greg and I started a business together with the philosophy
that many people didn't have opportunities and need to have doors
opened for them and that the basis of therapy is to be kind and
gentle to people," said Stanley.
Gaul had a wife and six children age 10 and under, with another
child expected in the spring. Yet he found time to be active in
his church and to be a baseball coach, Cub Scout leader and black
belt in tae kwon do, involving his children in his pastimes, and
he volunteered at a prison for women.
He bought his shoes and shirts at a Salvation Army thrift store.
"He was a casual guy. That's what helped people relate to
him," said Stanley.
"But he took very seriously what he did. Everyone who came
in contact with Greg felt he gave something of himself to them."
Friends don't remember what he was wearing his last day alive.
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From April 2004 NASW News. © 2004 National
Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved. NASW News
articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of
copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies
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