Leading From Possibility

Ten Years Later

I had a hard time thinking about this topic.   It was so huge, so monstrous, so omnipresent, so incredible.  My usual responses and judgments just did not fit.  There was one memory, however, that totally stuck with me and I believe will stand out for me forever.  It had to do with one of our Board member’s response to the day.  Some background first.  The morning of September 11, 2001, was the day of the Chapter’s Annual Board of Directors retreat. 25 Board members and 4 social staff were around the conference table when the announcement of the attacks was made.

The able President and Executive Director at the time asked the group what it wanted to do about continuing with the meeting that had been planned for several months. At first the sentiment was that we should cancel the Retreat. 

Some members stood up immediately and said that they were leaving without any discussion.  The majority of participants chose to discuss, not only the attacks that had just happened, but to relate them to our lives as professional social workers, community members and family members.  Some people said they wanted to return to their offices to handle calls that would be getting from clients, employees or students.  Others felt they needed to get in touch with their family members and be with them.  Then one Board member stood up and declared that cancelling the meeting was just what the attackers wanted: to disrupt our lives (among other motives) and that if we stopped the meeting we would be doing exactly what the attackers were hoping to display—power over the enemy.  She shared with the group that during the blitz on London during World War II, all people were expected (and did) go about their normal business, whether it was in an office, an agency, a hospital or school.  The Londoners were determined not to give in to evil forces.  And she, Sophie Freud Lowenstein, who was living with her family at the time in London did exactly that.  She declared that we must continue our business.  And we did.

This was a lesson that has stuck with me to this day.  And I thank Sophie for the lesson in resilience that she graphically conveyed that morning.

Carol Trust

Leading From Possibility

On August 5^th and 6^th of this week, National NASW is holding its triennial Delegate Assembly event where over 200 elected NASW member delegated come together to address many of the policy issues that the Association is known for dealing with.  This is the second time that Delegate Assembly will be held ‘virtually’ rather than in person in Washington , D.C. has it had been held for the last 30 years or so.  The decision to go ‘virtual’ was made in light of the huge expense involved in bringing 200 delegates into Washington for a multi-day event and in light of the growing movement of governance of National Associations being held electronically.

Lots of people were disappointed that the event had changed its venue.  They missed the camaraderie and face to face deliberations that occurred when we all met in one huge ballroom and the roll call was shouted out from each State Delegation with the Presidents of all 55 chapters identifying the distinctive characteristics of that state.  The Presiding Officer of the Assembly, three years ago and again, this year, our own Mr. Gary Bailey, current President of the International Federation of Social Workers, former President of National NASW and the MA Chapter of NASW, will call the Assembly together and then start the roll call.  He will call “The Massachusetts Chapter” and our Chapter President, Dr. Betty Morningstar, will announce “From the Great State of Massachusetts, Home of Red Sox Nation, the 2011 winners of the Stanley Cup in Ice Hockey, the Boston Bruins,  and a number of ‘Firsts’ like,  the first public high school in the United States-Boston Latin, the first University-Harvard, the first Public Library” we stand ready to serve the goals of the National Association of Social Workers.”  There is a lot of hoopla, applause and sometimes some jeering from the peanut gallery.  It is lots of fun before we get down to the business of revising, creating and discussing public policy statements that affect the clients and communities that we serve.

This year one of the hot topics will be the wisdom of continuing the current structure of the Delegate Assembly.  Some think it is outdated. Some question having two bodies-the elected Board of Directors of National NASW and the elected Delegates to the Assembly- decide on policy.  You will be hearing more of this after the two day event is over, as I believe, this will be one of the hot topics between now and the next Delegate Assembly in three years.  Members of NASW will be able to give their input on the subject.  It has to do with Governance and how we as a professional association do business.  You will be encouraged to give your input. You will certainly be heard!

Carol J. Trust

Power & Corruption *Updated

This has been quite a week with news items ranging from President Obama's speech on the Middle East, to Newt Gingrich's turbulent comments on his entry into the Republican Presidential campaign, to the annoyingly prevalent news coverage of the sexual misdeeds and alleged assaults of powerful men on women.

I am going to focus on the latter issue as it comes up so often, persistently gets people's attention and from my perspective continually astounds me.  The issue of powerful men factually and/or allegedly having liaison's with or attacking women in their personal and professional lives.  What is this about?  Of course, the clinicians, the anthropologists, the historians and the mavens among us have their views. The clinicians may give it a CPT code labeling the dysfunction with a variety of diagnostic categories.  The anthropologists may say that the behavior is primal and has to do with the male of the species declaring their territoriality for survival purposes.  The historians just may say that it is part of the human historical experience.  And the mavens?  Well, their unempirical view may range from "Ladies, watch out.  Proceed with caution.  Pay attention. Be on guard" to "It all goes back to the relationship with Mommy and Daddy."

I imagine that the answer to this 'phenomenon' may contain elements of all the above.  And what do we do about this reoccurring violation?  I am interested in your ideas and your responses.  I will be watching the responses to this blog, closely, and will be sharing some of the responses next week.

My own response is incredulous whenever I hear of powerful men who in their public lives have contributed in highly meaningful and valuable ways and who then behave in harmful and often illegal ways.

Standing by for your thoughts.


I am attaching the following article written by a clinical social worker who takes a clinical look at the issue of ‘sexual misbehaviors’ vs. “sex addiction.”  I would take a harder view and call those sexual actions by men or women who are in more powerful positions than the partner they ‘connect’ with, misguided from the most benign perspective to felonious, for those that exert physical and psychological force on the victim.
Sex Addict? 

Carol J. Trust