Professor Carole Fee Ivanoff, PhD, LCSW
June 3, 2010
Welcome to you all: partners, parents, kids, relatives, friends, and of course, our dear graduates. I am Carole Fee Ivanoff, and I am your emcee today. We are gathered here today to celebrate - to acknowledge this bright, shining, and exhausted group of freshly minted social workers, and to acknowledge also all of you who supported, some years ago, their emergence from thinking social work might be an interesting field to arriving at this moment, some years later. Now papers are turned in, printers turned off, job interviews scheduled, parties and dinners and countless events planned to mark this significant transition - from struggling, sleep deprived student to professional social worker. We have set aside today to tell you how proud we are of you, to tell a few stories, to share both individual and group recognition, and to recognize the hard work that made today possible. For me, today marks an important transition as well, for I am retiring with these graduation ceremonies of today and tomorrow. So I am especially honored that you have asked me to be your faculty "emcee" as my academic career, the last 20 years of it at GSSW, comes to a formal close. When I asked my last class what they wanted me to say, they asked me to share some "practice wisdom" - after all, it has been 49 years since my first social work job. I will therefore close this program with some brief thoughts about that, and then try to make a last, graceful exit.
How to sum up the learnings of 49 years in 5 minutes? Here is a partial list of what's worked for me: some themes to ponder as you begin your professional career:
Be patient. Be kind. Let clients tell you their stories in their way. You learn more when you aren't talking. Be flexible. Things never go quite the way you think they will (in classes as well as practice). Be curious, and help your clients learn to be curious, too - about themselves, their community, those they love and that which they fear. Knowledge is power. But first, take a stance of "not knowing" - it opens up all manner of possibilities.
Don't assume you know what the client wants and needs - whether that client is a family, a scared kid, or a suffering community. As social workers, we don't take over - we partner with. Clients are always the experts about themselves - we are the catalyst, the bringer of additional energy & the new skill set, the carrier of some additional information that might be helpful, that might enlarge and enrich our clients' worlds. We are a mirror, and a vehicle for change.
Claim your power - and help clients find theirs. I once had a student say she didn't want to talk or think about power. I told her that she wouldn't be an effective social worker then, because our work is all about power - legitimate power to learn, to inform, to find new ways, to understand and so influence the systems that keep our clients from feeling and finding their own power, and using it for their own good and that of others. Empowerment is an important concept in our work - for ourselves and for those we serve.
Never ever think you fully understand or know another human being, another's culture, or another's heartaches. We - each of us - each of you - are like ALL others, SOME others, and NO other. Respect all of those diverse facets of self, of neighborhood, of cultural and ethnic identity, of sexual orientation, of age, of our temporary able-bodiedness. Care deeply about what each of those identity markers means - for them, as well as for you. How do those aspects inform their lives? And inform your work with them?
And speaking of identity markers, and "work" - do your own. We all have our "stuff." Make sure you know what yours is, so you can keep it out of your clients' way. This is precious and hard work to which we are called. It is vital to be aware of our own need for self care. Know how to get wise supervision, and use it; know when it's time for, as my clients occasionally refer to it, as a "personal tune up." Figure out how to re-create yourself so that you can return to your clients full, balanced, and centered.
Practice empathy - that quality of imagining how it would be -as if one were - the client before you. But hold on to the "AS IF" - it is important to see the client's quicksand, and it is just as important not to jump into the quicksand along side that client , lest you both sink. Rather, you are a guide, knowing which tools to use as a part of your role to strengthen your client's ability, along with some well placed support, to climb out of that quicksand and on to firmer ground.
To that end, keep your boundaries - it is a delicate balance between objectivity and sensitivity, and I urge you to maintain these qualities and carry them both with you. Be yourself and share your self - after all, it is that purposeful use of self we hope to have so diligently taught you how to use in all your helping relationships in your professional life. But always focus on what will serve the client best - remember that "help is for the helpee". So ask yourself, as you all know I have had to do often in both my social work and academic careers, "Exactly WHY AM I telling this story?"
Keep learning. In our profession you will never have it all down. Stay open to new ideas; hold onto solid old ones. Love, care, and compassion all are essential, but not enough. Skill, and even the combination of knowledge and skill alone, just make you a technician. It is why we teachers are reluctant to just "tell you what to say next." We want you to be intentional, to know why you are saying what you are saying, where you are headed, and where you and the client want to head together.
Be ethical. Do what's right, not what's easy. We have a code of ethics. We have standards and values. We expect, and trust, and insist that you uphold them. You are our colleagues now, and you represent a precious profession dedicated to making life better.
Now, to no one's surprise, I have some last homework for you, and this is both for you new social workers and the rest of you in the audience as well: Imagine yourselves as wise and well experienced 95 year olds, advising yourself as you now are. What would that person, that wise older person who is yourself, tell you? What core instructions would s/he give? What would s/he want you to accomplish? What would that older person tell you matters most of all, and what should you focus on, between now and becoming 95?
Finally, this last piece of practice wisdom may be the hardest of all to follow, perhaps,
for it takes courage and humility, and a release of some pride: Be willing to be a
beginner, always a beginner. You are a beginner with every new position, every new
client, every new neighborhood, every new challenge. Only as a beginner can you really
hear, really see, really imagine what is most needed, how you can be of the most help,
and give the best service. You can become an informed and an experienced beginner,
to be sure. But it is also true that every situation in our profession has some element
of uniqueness, and therefore requires fresh eyes, fresh minds, as well. We have tried
mightily to equip you with, and reinforce in you, both the tangible and intangible
knowledge, skills, and values to go out there and begin again. But it is your heart
and your attitudes you must bring as well. Teachers can open doors, but it is you
who must enter. May you begin, again, well. Safe journey.
