National Association of Social Workers

From the Director

Public Image: Going for the Gold

By Elizabeth J. Clark, Ph.D., ACSW, MPH

I've never been a great sports fan. I don't have a favorite team, and I rarely watch sporting events on television. Recently, though, I did become intrigued by both the Tour de France and the Olympics. As I watched remarkable athletes perform remarkable feats, I kept wondering what set them apart. What motivates them to be champions? What makes them outstanding in their respective fields?

Many of us followed Lance Armstrong as he won his sixth Tour de France. His achievements are all the more extraordinary because he had to battle back from testicular cancer. There was a period during his illness when he was not expected to survive. Watching Armstrong bicycle up the Pyrenees as though the Alps were a country road made me wonder how anyone could have such focus, such determination and perseverance.

Likewise, during the gymnastic finals of the Olympics, I watched two American gymnasts, Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson, overcome seemingly insurmountable errors in performance. It wasn't simply that they went on to win gold medals. It was more significant than that. These young athletes were able to rise above setbacks, to stay focused on the next event, to see the possibility of succeeding the next time. This was the defining difference.

While there isn't an Olympics for social work, some analogies hold. Social work requires hard work, practice, great determination and perseverance. Even more important, it demands the ability to focus on the future, to move beyond setbacks, to believe that next time or the time after that, the client or the family or the community will succeed.

This singular capacity — to believe in future change for the better — is the defining difference for social workers. It allows them to practice in prisons, in drug rehabilitation centers, in domestic violence shelters, in child protective services and in clinics for the chronically mentally ill. It prevents the school social worker from giving up on the difficult child, and it encourages the social worker in Appalachia whose clients face unrelenting poverty. Social workers choose to work in health care settings despite the prevalence of incurable diseases such as Alzheimer's or AIDS, and social workers in elected positions continue to fight for better social policies.

Unlike the Olympics, social workers aren't competing against one another. Instead, social workers challenge apathy, ignorance, injustice and inequity. There are no trophies or gold medals for social workers, but there should be.

Lance Armstrong knew that by telling his story about overcoming cancer to compete again in world-class cycling, he could help countless other cancer survivors and their families embrace hope and seek help during their illness. Like Lance, social work stories can galvanize action and increase awareness about the critical issues our profession advocates.

The national Social Work Public Education Campaign NASW plans to launch in 2005 is an important step to help the public, policymakers, employers and the media better understand the breadth and depth of what social workers do — and the millions of lives we touch every day. Social workers are skilled advocates for the clients and families they serve. But they often forget to let others know how social work services lead to tangible, positive outcomes for our communities. Often, they don't even identify themselves as social workers.

Moving the profession forward is based on our individual and collective efforts. We could wait for someone else to tell our story — and hope for the best — or we can tell our own story in a way that inspires and educates.

We're "going for the gold" in 2005, and we need the support of all social workers to make the Social Work Public Education Campaign a reality. I hope you will choose to be a player, not a spectator.

To comment to Elizabeth J. Clark: NewsColumn@naswdc.org

For Social Work Public Education Campaign information: www.naswfoundation.org/imageCampaign/default.asp

From October 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 made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.