Amid Shock and Grief, a Critical Role for Social Work

In the week following the attack on the World Trade Center, City officials temporarily sealed off the NYC Chapter Office, located only seven blocks from the site of the disaster. Despite feelings that varied from fear to confusion to despair, Chapter staff and leadership came together in office space provided by NYU and held meetings in classrooms at Hunter and Fordham.

In these meetings, it became clear that one consequence of the attack on September 11 is an increased need for social work services. The Chapter's phones and email were flooded with calls from hundreds of social workers wanting to find out how to volunteer their services for the families of the victims of the World Trade Center. The staff, students, and Chapter leaders struggled to quickly make connections between these groups.

The Chapter set up a series of free weekly training sessions designed to provide a framework for social workers addressing issues of grief and loss.

The previously planned October issue of Currents was put aside and this special issue on disaster and trauma was produced quickly.

The Chapter website naswnyc.org became an important mechanism for providing updates on how to help during the disaster and also serves as a clearinghouse with lists of resources and information. There was a desire to bring the social work profession together as a collective group as we learn to cope with what, heretofore, was the unthinkable. To that end, a meeting of the membership was planned for October 9. These are some of the initial steps taken by the NYC Chapter in immediate response to the disaster. The challenges that lie ahead are formidable. Long term approaches to this attack need to be implemented. To find out how you can get involved, to volunteer, or to learn more about the Chapter's disaster response efforts, please log on to our web site: naswnyc.org