When Artificial Intelligence enters social work conversations, we often rush to warn colleagues about the potential harm it could cause—almost as if we're trying to protect the profession from an existential threat. This podcast, featuring Dr. Lauri Goldkind, Professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Social Service and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Technology in Human Services, invites us to face the reality that technology and social work must work together—leveraging strengths, reducing harm, and staying open to new possibilities. There's no going back. So, what will the future hold? Dr. Goldkind discusses this with our host, social worker Lorrie Appleton.

The NASW's Social Work Talks Podcast is embarking on a NEW occasional series on careers within the Social Work Profession! In our inaugural episode we chat with NASW Maryland Executive Director Karessa Proctor, BSW, MSW. Proctor shares her journey into macro social work and the impact of her chapter's advocacy. Under her leadership, the NASW–Maryland chapter, is one of the fastest growing for social work students and draws social workers in the micro, mezzo, macro, and international fields. We discussed why she chose macro social work and how her chapter advanced two major laws signed by Governor Wes Moore: the Social Work Licensure Compact and the Supporting Older Adults with Resources (SOAR) Act. Tune in to learn how macro social workers shape policy, strengthen communities, and expand opportunities across the profession. Tune in wherever your listen to podcasts!

Wendy Cervantes is the Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families at the Center for Law and Social Policy. In this episode, she and Mel Wilson, NASW's Senior Policy Advisor focusing on social justice issues, discuss what mass deportation would look like under a potential Trump Administration and why such policies are harmful to children and families.

Ellen Kahn is a social worker and Director of the Children, Youth and Families Program at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). We speak with her about HRC's work to serve youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.

See the show notes for resources and a transcript. If you like this episode, please leave us a review in iTunes!

Animals provide some of our most reliable, uncomplicated and valued relationships, which contributes to our health and well-being. Philip Tedeschi, LCSW, is Clinical Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Social Work. We speak with Professor Tedeschi about the benefits of animal-assisted interventions in social work.

See the show notes for resources and a transcript. If you like this episode, please leave us a review in iTunes!

Martha Gonzalez-Cortes is Senior Vice President of Community Investment at Kalamazoo Community Foundation in Michigan. She has a deep working knowledge of immigration policy issues, and a passion for finding systemic solutions to challenges faced by immigrant and refugee families.

We speak with her about immigrant children in the United States who have been separated from their families, and what can be done to put an end to this inhumane practice.

See the show notes for resources and a transcript. And if you liked this episode, please leave us a review in iTunes!

Athena Viscusi, LCSW, is a Psychosocial Care Specialist at Doctors Without Borders. She's directed mental health programs in Haiti, South Sudan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Myanmar, and Palestine. She's hired, trained and supervised local workers in refugee camps and worked with clients in cholera and Ebola treatment centers.

Prior to this, she was a community mental health provider in Washington, DC. She worked with immigrants and refugees, at a domestic violence shelter, and a homeless outreach and substance abuse treatment program. She also directed a gang intervention program that provided services to youth and their families.

Allison Peeler, LMSW, believes social workers need to drop the outdated story of "underworked and unpaid" and to redefine the way they view themselves and their earning capabilities.

See show notes page for resources.

Valerie Arendt, MSW, MPP, discusses why it's so important for social workers to negotiate their salaries. Arendt is the Executive Director of NASW's North Carolina Chapter.

See the show notes for resources, and please leave us a review on iTunes!

Suze Orman is a New York Times best-selling author and smart money expert. She hosted the award-winning "Suze Orman Show" on CNBC for 13 years. Her books include "Women & Money," "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke" and "The Courage to be Rich."

We spoke with her about balancing working in a helping profession and taking care of yourself first.

See the show notes for resources and if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review!

Social work has the highest debt-to-salary ratio of any profession. Robert Schachter, DSW, LMSW, describes how social workers in New York City advocated for pay equity in one of the highest cost-of-living cities in the country.

Dr. Schachter served for 27 years as the Executive Director of the NASW New York City chapter.

Michael Sinclair, MSW, PhD, assistant professor at Morgan State University School of Social Work, often gets questions about pay from his students. Dr. Sinclair talks to us about why the social work pay landscape looks the way it does, and what can be done to change that.

This is the first in our series of episodes about social work salaries as part of Social Work Month 2019.

See show notes for resources. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us review on iTunes!

Susan Munsey, LCSW, founded GenerateHope, which provides innovative programs for young women and teens who have survived the trauma of sex trafficking. Munsey is a trafficking survivor herself, and she's passionate about rescuing and rehabilitating women and educating people on this issue.

Please see the show notes for resources

Dr. Judith R. Smith, LCSW is author of the new book, Difficult: Mothering Challenging Adult Children Through Conflict and Change. We chat with her about her research and the impact of having a "difficult adult child" on aging mothers and explore how social workers can best support these parents in navigating both the emotional and practical challenges they face.

Sean Erreger, LCSW, MSW, is a clinical case manager for children and youth at the New York State Office of Mental Health. He believes that for social workers who work with teens, striving to understand the social media that their clients are using is part of cultural competency.

For related resources, see the show notes

Mike Langlois, MSW, LICSW, is author of "Reset: Video Games & Psychotherapy." He is a gamer-affirmative therapist whose work focuses on gaming, social media, and the impact of social networks on relationships. Langlois encourages us to change our perspective of gaming and to understand that they can be very social in nature.

See show notes for resources

Zander Keig, MSW, LCSW, is a clinical social work case manager on the U.S. Navy Medicine West Regional Transgender Care Team. He's a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and co-author of three books and several journal articles. He is also a transsexual man who transitioned in 2005.

His peers at the NASW California chapter named him Social Worker of the Year in 2018. He is chair of NASW's National Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues.

See the show notes for resources

Our guest Santo D. Marabella, MBA, DSW (a.k.a., The Practical Prof®) is an author, playwright, filmmaker, speaker and educator. He's the author of "The Lessons of Caring: Inspiration and Support for Caregivers." 

Dr. Marabella talks about the lessons he's learned while caring for his aging parents, and how the book can help people in a similar situation.

Read the show notes to learn more

Guest Catherine P. Bradshaw, MEd, PhD, is a developmental psychologist and youth violence prevention researcher. She is editor of "Handbook on Bullying Prevention: A Life Course Perspective," which offers recommendations for prevention and intervention in bullying across the lifespan.

Thanks for listening! Remember, we'd love to hear your ideas for future shows.

Visit the show notes to learn more

Children with disabilities are highly diverse in terms of their health conditions, disability severity, and social environments, yet they share many of the same needs. Many programs and services have been developed to meet these needs.

Our guest, Paula Allen-Meares, MSW, PhD, discusses a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, that identifies the characteristics of effective programs, as well as opportunities for their improvement.

Kristen Lee, Ed.D., LICSW, is a professor of Behavioral Science at Northeastern University, and is the author of "Mentalligence" and "Reset." With more than 20 years' experience as a clinician, educator, researcher and parent, she speaks about her area of expertise: preventing and treating burnout.

A new NASW social justice brief reports that Black youth make up about 14% of the total youth population, but comprise 47.3% of the youth who are transferred to adult court by juvenile court judges.

Guests Mel Wilson, NASW's social justice and human rights manager, and Jeree Thomas, policy director at the Campaign for Youth Justice, discuss this unjust practice.

They encourage social workers to get involved in action-oriented coalitions to make changes in their communities, and to hold their elected officials accountable.

Read the show notes to download the report and for more resources.

Carla Gonzalez is a clinical social worker and domestic violence survivor who leverages her professional skills and uses her platform as Miss U.S. World Elite (among other titles) as a vehicle for speaking out against domestic violence, bullying and sexual assault.

For Brenda Wade, MSW, LCSW-C, CSSW, writing is both a means of self-care both and as a way to explore the challenges that she sees in her work as a school social worker. 

Published under the pen name Hunter William, Wade's Charm Town fiction trilogy shines a spotlight on the lives of children and adults in a Baltimore school.

See the EP14 show notes for resources

Vote ER and NASW on mobilizing for the extremely important 2024 presidential and down ballot elections. It goes without saying that the upcoming election is one of the most important elections in terms of preserving America's democracy since the Civil War. Hopefully, this podcast will be able to share some important information about what is at stake for social workers, and more importantly, what is at stake for the individuals and families that you serve.

Opioid addiction has become a public health crisis in the United States. Our guest, David Stoecker, LCSW, is founder and director of Better Life in Recovery. He recommends that we look at the opioid addiction pandemic through a harm-reduction lens, rather than a punitive one. He argues that abstinence is not the only path to recovery and that we need to create healthy communities and to provide recovery support to those who need it.

See Episode 13 show notes for resources

NASW President Kathryn Conley Wehrmann, PhD, MSW, LCSW, talks about her career path and her efforts to support social workers, especially those new to the profession.

NASW Senior Practice Associate Roxana Torrico Meruvia, MSW, talks about Social Work Speaks, NASW policy statements and how members can get involved in the process.

See Episode 11 show notes for resources

In this special episode, our guests weigh in on the crisis currently brewing around immigration in the United States, specifically related to children separated from their families at our southern border.

Our guests are Melvin H. Wilson, LCSW, NASW's Manager of Social Justice & Human Rights, and Guadalupe G. Lara, LMSW, NASW Board of Directors Member-at-Large.

See Episode 10 show notes for resources

Our guests in this episode are Heidi McIntosh, Deputy Director of Programs at NASW; and Julie E. Shroyer, MSW, Senior Policy Advisor at Polsinelli, a top Washington, DC law firm.

We talk about the skills that social workers bring to the table, the importance of social workers participating in the 2018 mid-term elections; and the challenges of advocating for the disadvantage in the current political climate.

With the conference just days away, we speak again with the conference organizers to give you idea of what you can expect, whether you attend in person or virtually.

May is Foster Care Month, so we speak with Matt Anderson and Malissa Flores, two social workers from the Children's Home Society of North Carolina, who partner with public agencies to help kids move from foster care into permanent families.

See Episode 7 show notes for resources

Joan Levy Zlotnik, PhD, ACSW, discusses how public policy is an important part of social work.

See Episode 6 show notes for resources

We speak with Bob Arnold, Director of NASW Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that supports NASW's educational, research, training and charitable initiatives through a wide range of projects that serve the profession, practitioners and the public.

Visit the Foundation website to learn more

Dawn Hobdy, NASW Director of Ethics & Professional Review, discusses how the Code of Ethics changed, examples of challenges that social workers face, and how NASW is helping social workers meet the challenges they face every day.

See EP4 show notes for resources

In our latest podcast we chat with Relationship Expert, Author and Social Worker Terry Real!  An internationally recognized family therapist and best-selling author, Real is dedicated to helping couples build lasting, loving relationships. With a revolutionary approach known as Relational Life Therapy (RLT), Terry equips individuals and couples with the skills needed for deeper intimacy and authentic connections, transforming both their personal lives and their relationships with others.

Thinking about attending the 2018 NASW National Conference? Raffaele Vitelli, NASW's Director of Professional & Workforce Development, and Richard Loomis, Manager of Conference and Event Planning talk about the planning that makes this event as useful as possible for our attendees.

What are NASW's social justice initiatives right now, and how were they chosen? Mel Wilson, our Social Justice & Human Rights Manager, speaks about the issues that concern us, and that are keeping us busy in the national office and at our local chapters.

See Episode 2 show notes for resources

March is Social Work Month, and we're talking to NASW CEO Angelo McClain about the importance of Social Work Month, NASW initiatives for 2018, and experiences that led Dr. McClain to become interested in the social work profession.

NASW Director of Membership Jennifer Watt welcomes you to NASW Social Work Talks, where we seek to inform, educate and inspire on topics that social workers care about. Launching March 2018, in honor of Social Work Month. Brought to you by the National Association of Social Workers.

Dr. Dale Masi is  a pioneering social worker renowned for her work in Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). Dr. Masi, who recently edited the Fifth International EAP Compendium, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, where she taught and directed the Employee Assistance Specialization for 22 years. With 16 books and over 70 articles to her name, Dr. Masi's expertise spans EAPs, evaluation, and mental health issues. She holds a doctorate from the Catholic University of America and has received prestigious awards, including a post-doctoral research award from the American Association of University Women. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Masi has lectured in more than 45 countries and consults globally through her company, Masi Research Consultants, Inc., which serves a diverse range of clients from major corporations to government agencies. Click here for her insights on EAPs and the evolving landscape of workplace mental health.

In this NASW podcast episode of Social Work Talks we examine why it's Never Too Late to enter the field of therapy. Our host NASW member Elisabeth Joy LaMotte, LICSW chats with chef Karey Swartwout, and political organizer and journalist Dr. Brooke Stroud, now a clinical psychologist, and author Daniel Duane (who today is featured in an article in The New York Times). Today, each discusses why they left past careers to enter the profession of therapy. Listen as they discuss why they leapt, later in life, to a field inhabited by many social workers.

Dr. Michael Kaufman, MSW, PhD., author of the new book, Doing Good & Doing Well: Inspiring Helping Professionals to Become Leaders in Their Organizations, has managed countless crises that have needed quick, level-headed thinking and tough decisions delivered with empathy and heart. Board chair of Premier Education Partners he has seen other helping professionals, including social workers, do the same thing. In his book, Dr. Kaufman shares the lessons he has learned throughout his 30-year career and uses anecdotes to illustrate the pointed discussions to inspire social workers by realizing that their specific characteristics, distinct aptitudes, and mindsets as servant leaders have already prepared them to work in the C-Suite.

Mary Cosimano, LMSW, has been with the Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research since 2000 when they began research with psilocybin. She is currently a Psychedelic Session Facilitator and has served as Director of Clinical Services and as a research coordinator. She has been involved with all the psilocybin studies and has conducted over 500 study sessions including Club Drug studies with Salvia Divinorum and Dextromethorphan. Mary has trained postdoctoral fellows, faculty, clinicians, and research assistants as guides and taught individual and group meditation to breast cancer patients in a Johns Hopkins research study. She completed MAPS MDMA therapy training program. She is a teacher and mentor at California Institute to Integral Studies for their Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research (CPTR) certificate program and conducts training for therapists in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Mary is a Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration Coach and leads a Death Awareness/Death and Psychedelics Workshop. In 2003 she started a meditation group for employees in her department. She also has 15 years of experience with direct patient care as a hospice volunteer.

Jasmin Saville, RN, MPH, MSSW, is whole health and equity director for Amerigroup, a health insurance and managed health care provider that covers older adults, low income families, state and federally sponsored beneficiaries and federal employees in 26 states. Saville talks about how she combined social work and nursing, why public health care could be a good career choice for social workers, and what it is like being a woman of color in the field. 

As of April 20, 2024, recreational use of marijuana has been legalized in 24 states, three U.S. territories, and Washington, D.C. But how have marijuana reforms affected Black and Brown populations that were heavily impacted by marijuana criminal prosecutions before legalization? NASW Senior Policy Adviser Mel Wilson sits down with Maritza Perez Medina, director of the Office of Federal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance; Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice; and Marvin Tolliver, a therapist at the Radical Therapy Center, to discuss this important issue.

NASW Social Work Talks podcast episode 131 - Menopause and Mental Health with Lauren Tetenbaum LICSW, Author of the book, Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause, and Life's Next Period

Social Work Instructor Dr. Thalia Anderen, MSW, RCSW, LCSW, and Social Work Talks Podcast Host Lorrie Appleton, LCSW, dive into the concerning trend of student-initiated confrontations (SIC) in universities. With over 20 years of experience as a therapist, Anderen's research sheds light on the impact of these behaviors on both educators and the field of social work. These confrontations in universities are often exacerbated by a lack of guidance and support by institutional administration, as well as inadequate training with respect to SIC and classroom management. Discover how universities can better support professors and enlighten students regarding the impact their classroom behaviors may have on their careers.

During Social Work Month 2024, the University of Kentucky College of Social Work is celebrating with the campaign "Social Work is Everywhere." The college is seeking to raise awareness that social workers help millions of people each day and work in a variety of settings, including many people may not be aware of such as sports and financial planning. NASW CEO Dr. Anthony Estreet sits down with Dr. Jay Miller, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Social Work, to talk about the campaign and the importance of promoting the profession.

Gun violence remains a serious public health issue in the United States. About 46,000 Americans died due to gun violence in 2023, with half using guns to die by suicide. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is a partner with Brady, a campaign to end our nation's gun violence epidemic. In this episode of NASW's Social Work Talks podcast, NASW Policy Advisor Mel Wilson talks to Kelly Sampson, senior counsel and director of Racial Justice at Brady, and Colleen Creighton, senior director of End Family Fire at Brady, to get the latest news on the organization's campaign.