Enhancing Our Public Image and Caring
for Ourselves
(June/July 2003)
Despite
the enormous contribution social workers make to improve the lives of
suffering people, the general public still remains confused about who
we are and what we do.
While positive program results are attributed to psychiatrists or psychologists, administrators or even politicians, the reality is that social workers provide 60% of all mental health services in the United States as compared to 20% by psychologists, 10% by psychiatrists, and the remaining 10% being provided by nurses, clergy and other allied mental health professionals. In other words psychologists and psychiatrists are credited for our hard work and we are blamed for the mistakes of others.
Improving the relationship between Social Work and
the Media
I would like to explore the complicated relationship between Social Work
and the Media. I suspect that the relationship is no different than the
relationship between most professions and the media. There is hardly a
profession or industry that does not feel that they are misunderstood,
stereotyped or misrepresented to the wider society. Lawyers complain about
being perceived as money hungry crooks, nurses that they are dismissed
as hand maidens, occupational therapists as ceramic pot makers and librarians
as only being capable of locating books or stacking shelves...so we are
not alone when we complain that we are often bashed by the media and made
to look incompetent or that our roles are misrepresented which leads to
our low status and low pay. It is clear that bashing or blaming the media
is not the answer nor more importantly will it change the relationship
between social work and the media.
We must accept that the role of the media is to pump out news, entertainment and information in high volumes through a variety of different mediums. We must also understand that news is essentially negative. For example, hundreds of planes land at New York airports daily...that is not news...when there is a plane that overruns the landing strip at Kennedy Airport, that is news...but when there is a crash and hundreds of people are killed...that is BIG NEWS. Likewise, when a social worker successfully handles a caseload of difficult adolescents making the right decisions that saves lives that is not news...a social worker failing to intervene properly could be news but a social worker failing to intervene properly and it leads to the death of the adolescent or someone else...that is definitely BIG NEWS.
We constantly complain that the media is relentless when things go wrong and that the public's view of the profession is developed from adverse publicity, ignoring the fact that NYC has approximately 30,000 MSWs, most of whom are doing a phenomenal job. The media excels at reporting action events like the war in Afghanistan, a suicide bombing in the Middle East or the latest mob style massacre in midtown New York. Just remember each story must be reported in 1 to 3 minutes including pictures and commentary. Which makes it extremely difficult to help the public to understand concepts or complex ideas. It would be to our benefit to accept the nature of news and the way that media operates. It is indeed possible to change this depressing cycle between social work and the media by educating them. We must work at improving relationships between social work and the media to foster greater understanding about the often hidden world in which we as social workers function. This can be done by providing media with clear information about:
The difference between professional social workers and those without social work degrees who are undereducated, under trained and doing public sector work with families and children.
How professional social workers save money over the long haul through preventative measures and cutting down on recidivism rates.
We must diligently continue to write letters and make
phone calls to correct media misidentification of undereducated staff
as social workers. We must also bear in mind that positive relationships
coupled with education is the way.
Frequently, we emphasize what we do, such as domestic violence worker,
leaving out the social worker title. For example, we often identify ourselves
as:
o "psychotherapists", rather than psychiatric
social workers.
o Manager instead of a social worker who manages.
o A marriage counselor instead of a social worker who does marriage counseling.
o Or as a counselor, consultant, or teacher
Our many and varied skills often causes us to be blended into the description
for allied professions.
Focus for the year ahead
I plan to focus on re-imaging social work as one of my goals for my final year as President. Re-imaging social work begins with you. You can help by always identifying yourself by saying I am a social worker who...(You fill in the blank...we use lots of titles) You will hear more about our re-imaging campaign in the next message from the President in Currents. I hope that all of you will join us in this effort to re-image social work.
I also plan to focus on worker care. We as administrators and managers must lead by example by taking care of our own selves. We know that as we care for this city in crisis, compassion fatigue and burnout is eminent for us and our staff if we are not mindful of the need for self-care.
We must practice what we preach. According to Malcolm X, we cannot lead where you will not go, and you cannot teach what you do not know. We know and appreciate the value of down time for reflection and planning. (we sometimes forget) But, in order for us to encourage others we must take down time for ourselves. As in:
o Lunch hours
o Meditation
o Peer support
o Rest
o Sleep
o Vacation
Additionally, we must adopt as our mantra social workers are our most important resource and we must accept institutional responsibility for their care.
o Supervision
o Training
o Work environment - (it should be pleasant and comfortable). This is
possible even with limited resources
o Continuing education
Our workers are entitled to the same care that they offer to others. In
this tight economy where hefty raises may not be an option we must find
other ways of recognizing them and honoring their work.
o Advocate for better salaries
o Peer supervision
o Pat on the back.