"Social work has been referred to as a job, a career, and a profession. In some of our historic literature, it is referred to as a calling. Of all the options, I prefer profession," noted Dr. Kathryn Conroy, Assistant Dean and Director of Field Work of Columbia University School of Social Work, as she opened her keynote address for NASW’s Second Annual Student Forum, "Your Social Work Career in the 21st Century" in January.

Several hundred social work students gathered for the forum, which was co-sponsored by the Schools of Social Work of Columbia University, Fordham University, Hunter College, New York University, and Yeshiva University, and held at Fordham.

Dr. Conroy spoke on "Who We Are, What We Do, and How We Can Keep Doing It."

"Not everyone can be a graduate student in social work," she noted. "Defining yourself as a graduate student in social work [rather than a student consumer who is paying for social work education] is a powerful definition of self and the beginning of a professional identity...And then, after graduation, identify yourself as a social worker. Not as a therapist, or an administrator, or a policy analyst, or a researcher, but as a social worker. Anyone can put up a shingle that says they are a psychotherapist or an administrator, or organizer. Only social work graduates can identify themselves as social workers."

What we do

According to Dr. Conroy, what social workers do is "...make judgements and create structures of opportunity." Acknowledging that some might be uncomfortable with the term "making judgements," Dr. Conroy went on to explain that all social workers make assessments, which are judgements about an individual, organization, or a community, judgements "...about that entity’s makeup, capacity, strengths, weaknesses, needs and desires...I would suggest that if there were rules for everything, we wouldn’t need social workers. We would just need police. Social workers sort out the ambiguity. And we do that by making judgements."

Dr. Conroy illustrated the second part of the "what we do" equation, creating structures of opportunity, with a character from the Toni Morrison novel, Beloved. The character is described thus: "...‘she did not tell them to clean up their lives or to go and sin no more...She told them that the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they could not see it, they would not have it.’...Our job is to help clients, be they individuals, organizations, or communities, to see ‘it’. "

How social workers can keep doing social work was Dr. Conroy’s third message. The answers, she said, could be found in supervision and training, but, more importantly, in sustaining energy, enthusiasm and passion by "[realizing] that you care and own it," she said.

She urged social workers to identify as insurgents, to be involved in the cause of social justice. "We must be insurgents against blaming the victim in society. In doing so, we will feed our energy, spur on our enthusiasm, and sustain our passion."

The evening also included workshops on social work employment in 15 practice areas and a presentation by Madeleine Dale, Columbia’s Director of Career Development on "The Computer and Your Career Campaign."

The Chapter and the schools of social work will sponsor a related event, a Post-Masters’ Education Fair on June 10, also at the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service.