| By
Damien T. Frierson, M.S.W, graduate assistant, Office
of University Communications |
 |
| Alumna
Rachel Bradley Williams and Professor Ruby
Gourdine, D.S.W., discuss the many layers
of the social work profession. (Marvin
T. Jones) |
|
According
to the National Association of Social Workers, there
are 640,000 professional social workers in the U.S.
in varying positions. Yet, for many people there
remains a misconception about the versatility and
depth of the profession.
“There is still this belief that social work
as a profession is limited to removing children
from abusive homes or handing out government benefits,”
says Rachel Bradley Williams (M.S.W. ’98),
a program specialist for clinical supervision in
the D.C. Public School System (DCPS). “Those
particular roles have turned into a stereotype because
that’s all people think we do. It doesn’t
represent the full spectrum of what a social worker
is.”
As the School of Social Work celebrates its 75th
anniversary this year, it continues to graduate
scholars who demonstrate how multifaceted the profession
is. The school remains committed to its mission,
including one of its earliest principles—producing
culturally competent social work practitioners,
educators and researchers.
“There are so many layers and possibilities
in social work and I think each of them informs
the other,” says Williams. “I have been
fortunate enough to have experienced just a few
of the spheres social work can move you through.
Social work’s perspective of focusing not
only on the individual but the environment in which
they live made sense to me as a person.”
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Williams says that the School of Social Work’s
emphasis on the Black perspective, and meeting the
needs of marginalized groups appealed to her. “I
wanted to be a social worker to not only provide
therapy to people who needed it but to also focus
on the barriers that confront, what the school refers
to as, oppressed populations.”
Yet,
she also acknowledges, “I really didn’t
have a strong sense of what social workers
actually did before I came to Howard.”
Under the guidance of faculty, she was exposed
to the many facets of the profession found
within both its clinical and community practices.
It is this experience that Ruby M. Gourdine,
D.S.W., professor of social work, highlights
as one of the aspects that the school focuses
on.
|
“There
are so many layers and possibilities in social work
and I think each of them informs the other.” |
“We meet a variety of students that come in
at different stages of their learning,” says
Gourdine. “We offer a curriculum that helps
our students meet those various challenges that
they’ll face as social workers.”
Serving in her current position since August 2010,
Williams guides the practice of school-based social
workers. Charged with assisting clinical social
workers throughout the DCPS system, her days are
anything but predictable.
Throughout the week, she may visit up to 12 schools,
assisting other social workers with navigating their
role as a part of a school setting. “You are
in an educational focused setting surrounded by
teachers and administrators who may see that child
from only one specific way,” she says. “Sometimes
you are that lone voice saying, ‘but no, there
are other factors.’ Making sure that they
maintain that social work perspective is what I
see as my job.”
From processing a recent crisis with a student to
navigating administrative challenges faced by the
social workers themselves, Williams sees this as
the most rewarding aspect of the profession. “I
can’t always anticipate the challenge I will
have to address during the next week or day, but
that’s the exciting part of my job and the
profession of social work itself.”
In her current position and as an adjunct instructor
at the National Catholic School of Social Service
at Catholic University, she is hoping to change
this image. “By working with professional
social workers and shaping future professionals,
I have the opportunity to have all of those things
that most people wouldn’t assume a social
worker does come together in my own career.”
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