The Social Work Podcast

Episode 78: Today's episode is about Social Work Ethics. I spoke with Allan Barsky, author of the Oxford University Press book, Ethics and Values in Social Work. We spoke about Allan's relational 6-stage model of ethical decision making, discussed dual relationships, did a role play, and analyzed the role play. We ended our conversation with Allan providing some resources for social workers who wa...

Episode 77: Despite the fact that social workers are on the front lines and behind the scenes in nearly every facet of life, we're mostly invisible in the entertainment and news media. And when we do show up in the news, it is rarely good. In order to get an idea of what social workers could do to make a difference, I decided to go to the source - a journalist. In today's episode of the Social Wor...

Episode 76: In today's interview, Allan and I talked about what it means for a social worker to be "court ready," especially for social workers whose jobs do not typically involve going to court. We talked about the difference between forensic social workers and social workers who have to appear in court. Allan talked about the difference between client confidentiality and client privilege, betwee...

Episode 75: In today's Social Work Podcast, I spoke with Micki Washburn, LPC-S, and Danielle Parrish, Ph. D. about the proposed changes to DSM-5, including cross-cutting dimensional assessment, changes in the organization, and changes in diagnoses such as ADHD, Asperger's, Autism, Depression, Substance Use, and personality disorders. We talked about some of the intended consequences such as greate...

Episode 74: Today's Social Work Podcast explores the issue of, "how do we know if our client wants to die by suicide?" Uncovering suicidal ideation and intent is one of the most challenging things that clinicians are expected to do. And if you can't do that, then you can't really do a thorough suicide assessment. And, as we all know, doing a thorough suicide assessment is one of the basic expectat...

Episode 73: Today's Social Work Podcast looks at the issue of non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI. According to the International Society for the Study of Self-Injury, NSSI is the intentional destruction of body tissue without suicidal intent and for purposes not socially sanctioned. I spoke with Jennifer Muehlenkamp, Ph. D., associate professor at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, and one o...

Episode 72: In today's Social Work Podcast, episode 72, Psychodynamic therapy with vulnerable and oppressed populations, I speak with social work professor and author, Joan Berzoff. Dr. Berzoff addressed this issue in great detail in her 2012 edited text, Falling Through the Cracks: Psychodynamic Practice with Vulnerable and Oppressed Populations, published by Columbia University Press. In today's...

Great news! Thanks to all of you who voted, the Social Work Podcast has won the 2012 NASW Media Award for best website. This is a huge honor and it would not have happened without your votes. If you convinced your friends, family members, classmates, colleagues and co-workers to vote, please extend my thanks to them. I am very honored. Thank you! Please head over to SocialWorkersSpeak.org to read...

Episode 71: In today's Social Work Podcast, episode 71, Religious Child Maltreatment, I speak with award-winning journalist and author, Janet Heimlich about her book: Breaking Their Will: Shedding Light on Religious Child Maltreatment published in 2011 by Prometheus Books. I was really interested in talking with Janet because her book focuses on something that is rarely discussed in social work -...

Episode 70: Today’s episode of the Social Work Podcast is about loneliness. According to my guest, Thomas Joiner, the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Florida State University, loneliness might be at the heart of one of the most perplexing contemporary public health paradoxes. That paradox is, despite the fact that men are by all indicators the most powerful and privileged...

Episode 69: Today's Social Work Podcast, Cultural Considerations in Military Social Work, is the second in a two-part series with Anthony Hassan on Military Social Work. In Part I, Anthony and I spoke about The Training and Education of Military Social Workers. Any discussion of culture and culturally relevant practice begins with the idea that we are all cultural beings. We see the world differen...

Episode 68: Today's Social Work Podcast, The Training and Education of Military Social Workers, is the first of a two-part series. Part II, is a discussion of Cultural considerations in military social work. I'm doing this two part series because whether you agree or disagree with America n's involvement in what has now become the longest continuous combat engagement in its 235 year history, "Ther...

Episode 67: Today's episode of the Social Work Podcast is an interview with Maureen Blaha, the Executive Director of the National Runaway Switchboard (http://www.nrscrisisline.org/). So, if you're a social worker and you work in outpatient or inpatient or residential or you're in a school-based setting and you have a client who says I'm out of here. I am running away from home or maybe they don't...

Episode 66: Today's Social Work Podcast is about helping families adjust to a gay or lesbian child. According to the website, comingoutcominghome.com, "The discovery that a child is gay or lesbian can send shockwaves throughout a family. A mother will question how she's raised her son; a father will worry that his daughter will experience discrimination. From the child's perspective, gay and lesbi...

Episode 65: [Corrected audio file] Today's episode of the Social Work Podcast looks at Evidence Based Practice. I wanted to do an episode on Evidence-Based Practice because it has been the subject of a lot of debate in Social Work. One of the controversies is over how to define evidence based practice. So, how do you define it? March 2, 2011 I created a poll on the Social Work Podcast website and...

Update: Next week I'm posting an episode on Evidence-Based Practice. The interview is really nice and I think you'll really like it. With all episodes I do an intro where I introduce my guest, talk about why this topic is relevant to social workers, and then talk about what is covered in the interview. And so that's all well-and-good. Except that I've struggled with this intro because everyone see...

Episode 64: Today's Social Work Podcast is a "behind the scenes" look at the Social Work Podcast. Danielle Parrish, social work faculty at the University of Houston, interviews the founder and host, Jonathan Singer, about how the Social Work Podcast started, how he selects his topics and the people that he interviews and how after the interview the podcast is actually produced and then finally how...

Happy New Year to all of the listeners of the Social Work Podcast. There are 100,000 of you from 178 countries. You make up an amazing community. Thanks so much for listening and making the Social Work Podcast one of the professions most visible resources.

Episode 63: Today's Social Work Podcast is a broad overview of current policies and practices associated with adoption in the United States. According to the Evan B. Donaldson Institute, 6 in 10 Americans have had experience with adoption, meaning you, or a family member or close friend was adopted, adopted a child, or put a child up for adoption. Although most Americans have experience with adopt...

Episode 62: Risk for suicide among gay youth has caught a lot of attention in the American media as of late. There have been a number of youth who have been bullied because they have been gay or perceived to be gay and who have consequently died by suicide. Dan Savage and friends and colleagues and supporters have put together an amazing project called "It Gets Better" (http://www.itgetsbetterproj...

Episode 61: We've all heard the Serenity prayer. Even if you don't know what it is called, you'll recognize it by the first few words... "God grant me the serenity..." The serenity prayer is synonymous with Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-step programs. Hundreds of millions of people have used the serenity prayer to fight and beat addiction. And it is only three lines and 25 words. Most episodes of th...

Episode 60: Today's Social Work Podcast is on social skills training with children and adolescents. My guest, Craig Winston LeCroy defines social skills as "a complex set of skills that facilitate the successful interactions between peers, parents, teachers, and other adults" (LeCroy, 2009, 653). Social skills include everything from dress and behavior codes, to rules about what, when, and how to...

Episode 59: Today's Social Work Podcast is on incorporating religion and spirituality into social work practice with African Americans. Or at least that's the official title. The unofficial title is, "If my client brings God into the conversation, what should I do?" I spoke with Nancy Boyd-Franklin, best-selling author, multicultural researcher, family therapist and clinical trainer, and recipient...

Episode 58: Let's be honest. You didn't become a social worker because you wanted to travel the world. Even if you're someone who has the travel bug - You're a social worker. You're not making a whole lot of money? How are you going to finance it? Today's Social Work Podcast is about how social workers can work abroad. So, if you're interested in learning more about working abroad means, if you're...

Episode 57: Today's Social Work Podcast is on community-based prevention services for children and adolescents. I spoke with Dr. Richard Catalano, who along with David Hawkins, developed Communities That Care, a prevention-planning system that promotes the positive development of children and youth and prevents problem behaviors, including substance use, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school drop-ou...