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

Leading From Possibility

‘My Pizza was an hour late arriving, it’s cold, so they better give it to me free.’ 

I am feeling grumpy. I caught it from listening to all the conversations around me, especially those that focus on complaints people are harboring about the weather, the economy, trash in the street, j- walkers, frizzy hair (because of the humidity), hair with no curl ( those darn straight hair genes), relationships gone sour, no relationships, cars that don’t stop for pedestrians, pedestrians that  don’t wait for the walk light, bicyclists that don’t stop or wait for anything... and  on and on it goes. My list is much, much longer but, I think you get the idea.

How did we come to this state of affairs where we are so quick to voice our complaint?  The flaws in other peoples characters, the world situation in general, the cold pizza.  And wait.  What about the blue ribbon winner of workplace complaints—the   Monday morning comment, going up in the elevator to the office, “Sigh. Oh dear, Monday morning. Oh, well.  Just five more days until Friday.”  Really.  I just want to say, “Sir. Aren’t you lucky you have a job? And that you don’t need any medical devises to help you breathe? And that you are going into an air-conditioned office?”  I don’t.  But, boy do I want to.  I don’t because, in part, there may be a basis for the complaint.  In part, because I have learned to edit my responses, In part, because I should, as a good social worker, allow people their feelings, their idiosyncrasies, their views of the world.” In part, because I don’t want to start trouble, get them angry, suggest my world view is the preferred.

This is not the kind of blog you would expect the Executive Director of a Professional Association to publish.  No.  But I was feeling grumpy.  And now I feel better. I’ll be able to attend my seminar tonight with a better clearing.  As my mother, Lillian, used to say, “I got it off my chest.”  And you, my dear readers, bear witness to the nonprofessional musings of a professional social worker, whose pizza came late…… and cold.

Carol J. Trust

Leading From Possibility

This morning, I am meeting, along with my mental health colleagues from the other professional associations, with the head of the Managed Care Division of the Massachusetts Division of Insurance.  We have been continually concerned about certain practices that the managed care and insurance companies have implemented over the years that disadvantage mental health providers.

High up on the list is the practice of 'Retroactive Payback'-a particularly burdensome and unfair practice. 

There are numerous other problems that need to be addressed, as well, so we are eager to pursue this conversation with the folks at the DOI.  This is just one of the many actions that the MA Chapter takes to advocate for its members and the clients we serve.

I love these meetings for the opportunity they create to bring the issues of the profession to the parties that can do something about the problems.

Carol J. Trust

Leading From Possibility

No Old Stuff here, please.

More and more, I am hearing from people-colleagues, friends, members, neighbors, pedestrians- that the reason they didn’t hear, or didn’t remember, or messed up was that it was a sign of age, a senior moment, memory lapse, the aging process.   This has become, in my estimation, the #1 excuse on the street for folks in my age group (under 100.)  It has become an irritation, an annoyance, a complaint for me such that I wonder if there is some truth to it.  Do most of us really start losing it after 40?, 50? 60?  

I don’t forget about aging.  And that is that the MA Chapter’s Nursing Home SIG (Shared Interest Group) is just holding its very successful 33^rd annual conference.  This conference, on the topic of older people- the clients and those professionals working with the aging population is far from feeling the effects of its age.  In fact, this Annual Conference is sharp, pithy and substantive.  The organizers keep coming up with fresh ideas for working with the elderly, creative resources and novel sites for holding the conference.  I am totally taken with the Chapter’s SIG and the committee that puts the conference together.  Led by Chair, Elise Beaulieu, the group continues to mobilize, sharp speakers, exciting exhibitors and an audience of professional social workers who are unstoppable in their quest for new knowledge on the subject of treating old people. There is no ‘old stuff’ at this conference- just possibility. 

Carol J. Trust, LICSW

Leading From Possibility

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO ‘THANK YOU’ AND ‘YOU ARE WELCOME’?

For a while now, I have been noticing something that is quite peculiar.  It has to do with how people respond to compliments or being thanked for something that they did or a way they are looking.  For instance, when a colleague thanks you for your taking her place at a meeting that she was assigned to attend but could not because of a case emergency, what do you say?    Is it ‘No Problem?’ or  ‘I didn’t have anything else to do during that hour’.  And when someone compliments you on a new tie or a great pair of shoes, do you respond with, “Oh, I’ve had these for a while,” or “do you really like it?”

I want to know whatever happened with the old fashioned, “Thank you very much,” or “ You are most welcome.”  What is with this “NO PROBLEM” response?  Do you realize that there are two negatives in this phrase?  The negative is the word ‘NO’ and the second is the word “PROBLEM.  How odd of us to respond with a double dose of negatives when someone is complimenting or thanking us?  Where is our sense of civility and genteelness?   I want to bring it back, or if we never had it, start generating it.  Right now.

With this in mind, I want to thank our great NASW members for all that they do. Thank you! For choosing social work for your  profession when  you could have  chosen a more lucrative,  often less stressful career, for supporting communities in reaching the goals they have set, for putting your caring into practice rather than keeping it solely in words, for being part of NASW so that your professional organization can represent you and the clients you serve in the legislature, and other governmental and private settings that influence public policy.  Thank you for what you do and for your dues.  And thank you most of all for giving me a great job, where every day when I come up on the elevator I enter Suite 409 at 14 Beacon Street, Boston, with a big smile on my face.  Thank you.

Carol J. Trust

DCF’s Stars amid a Cloudy Sky

I just returned from a meeting of the Department of Children and Families State-Wide Advisory Council, where Commissioner Angelo McLain and his staff updated the group of advocates, providers, foster parents, birth parents, community volunteers, and professional societies the latest happenings at the Department.  A lot of time was spent on the budget and the impact of budget cuts on the critical services that the Department provides or contracts to community groups to provide.  The cuts that the Legislature is proposing are heart rending and will certainly mean that services will have to be cut and that social workers may be laid off.  We talked about prioritizing budget line items that we could directly advocate for given the across the board reductions. I marveled at the tenacity of the Commissioner and his staff to ‘soldier on’ with their commitment to continue to provide the valuable services they offer to our vulnerable families and children.

There was one very telling piece of information that was presented and that was the poor record MA holds in the number of foster home placements that Department of Children and Families (DCF) kids experience.  MA ranks 43^rd out of 51 states on placement stability. Commissioner McLain, instead of being defensive, directly conveyed that the state must do better. His staff shared with us all the actions they are taking to improve the situation and then they urged those present to add our ideas about what the Department could do.

It is this kind of genuine acknowledgement of failing grades and disappointing facts without any excuses that distinguishes Angelo McLain as a leader of integrity and inspiration.  I worked for DCF years ago and remember the impossible situations that the child welfare staff faced but I don’t recall this level of authenticity and candor displayed.  I am glad that Angelo is at the helm and we should do all we can to support him and his staff.

Carol J. Trust