NASW Social Work Talks

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Allison Peeler, LMSW, believes social workers need to drop the outdated story of "underworked and unpaid" and to redefine the way they view themselves and their earning capabilities.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

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