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I have a theme song, come on!

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I love this song!

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And I love this song
because everybody needs a hero.

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And, in fact, at some point,
when life throws us a big challenge,

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we need a super hero!

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Somebody who is not scared
to jump into the chaos

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and fight the good fight
with us shoulder to shoulder, right?

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So I've got good news for you today.

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Because all around the world,


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cleverly disguised
as mild mannered individuals,

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we have thousands of super heroes,

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over 600,000 of them in the US alone.

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We just call them social workers.

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(Applause) (Cheers)

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Now, for some of you,
when I said super hero,

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that might not have been 
the first thing that popped

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into your head was social worker.

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Maybe what popped into your head

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was something a little more like this

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(Laughter)

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peering suspiciously
at your parenting skills.

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(Laughter)

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Or, if not, maybe like this:

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Peace and love and singing Kum By YaH.

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Well, I'm here to tell you social workers
are neither of those things.

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My goal when you leave today is
that the image you conjure

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when you hear social worker
looks a little more like this.

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(Laughter)

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Social worker as super hero.

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And I want to spend the next couple
of minutes talking to you about that.

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Social workers are not just
nice people with good hearts,

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Social workers are educated professionals


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who go through 
accredited university programs

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that are grounded 
in a rigorous research base.

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And what they learn there is part 
of what makes them a super hero.

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The two biggest things?

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They learn their mission, and they learn
how to make change happen.

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The mission of social work
is to promote and support

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individual and community well-being,

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and to fight social injustice.

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Social workers do that because we learn

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how to see and understand
the invisible inner connections

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between people, and their families,
and their neighborhood,

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and their community, and society,
and laws, and policies.

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And we know that when those connections
tangle or break at any of those levels,

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problems happen.

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So we learn evidence-based interventions

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that can help solve the problems
around those tangles and breaks.

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And with that, we can make
powerful change happen.

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A second reason I like to think
of social workers as super heroes

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is because, just like with a super hero,

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everyone is going to need
a social worker at some point

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because everybody's going to face a
big challenge in their life at some point.

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Maybe the challenge starts early,
and you're born prematurely.

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Who helps your new parents
find a specialist?

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Or figure out how to pay
those huge hospital bills?

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Or find a car seat for a teeny tiny baby?

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Hospital social workers.

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A little later on in life,
you're in school

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and maybe you're being bullied,

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or you're thinking about dropping out.

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Who designs and implements
the anti-bullying

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and the drop out prevention 
programs in schools?

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School social workers.

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Later on, as you get older, maybe you face

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one of those grown-up problems, a divorce,

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or you lose your job,
and you sink into a depression,

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maybe you even start drinking too much.

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Who do you turn to 
for counseling and therapy?

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Licensed, clinical social workers.

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Did you know that the majority
of mental health services in this country

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are provided by social workers?

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It's nearly 70%.

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And, then we have
those really tough end-of-life issues:

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your 86 year old dad 
has Parkinson's disease,

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but is insistent
that he can live independently.

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Who helps you figure out
if he really is safe?

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Or, who helps you find in-home health?

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Or navigate those really difficult 
conversations about wills,

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and power-of-attorney, and DNR?

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Geriatric social workers.

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Then there's the bigger picture.

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Who's running the non profit agency?
Who's organizing the community?

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Who's fighting to make sure the laws
and the policies are just and fair?

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Those are social work managers,
organizers, and advocates.

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So at some point, everybody's
going to need a social worker.

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The final thing that I like to think about

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when I think about 
social workers as super heroes

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came to me when my friend Carla
gave me a mug for my birthday

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that had this saying on it,

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and at first I thought it was cute:

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"I'm a social woker 
what's your super power?"

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But then I realized, that's exactly
what social workers do.

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We say, "Hi, I'm a social worker.
What's your super power?"

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Social workers believe in strengths
and we help people find their strengths

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so that they can face the challanges
that they're wrestling with.

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My favorite social worker strength story
comes from my friend, Martha,

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who was a social worker
who lived on the coast

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and every year, she would take
a social work intern.

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Well, one year she had a young woman
she assigned him to a client

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named... I'll call him Bob.

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Bob struggled with a severe mental illness

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and isolated himself in his apartment

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and all he would do all day,
obsessively, was listen to the radio.

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So Martha sends the student
to do an assessment,

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the student comes back.

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Martha says, "So, what'd you learn?"

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And the student says,

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"I learned he is really good
at listening to the radio."

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But she had a plan.

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She went to the local coast guard office
where apparently there is

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somebody who has to listen
to the short wave radio all day long

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and write down the announcements
and the news in a log.

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And she convinced them 
to let Bob volunteer.

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Then she convinced Bob to try it:

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"Really Bob, they want you
to listen to the radio!"

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Well he did.

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And he listened to the radio

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better than anybody
had ever listened to the radio.

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They loved him!
They hired him part-time.

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So then Bob said, "OK,
I have a little bit of money.

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I'm getting out of the house
a little bit, I'd like to try eating out.

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I haven't done that in years,
but I'm scared to do it alone.

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Would you meet me at the local diner?"

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So the student says yeah
and the next day she gets there,

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but she gets there early,
and she sits on the far side of the diner

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so that when Bob comes in,
she hollers across the diner,

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"Bob, what did you hear on the radio?"

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Bob hollers back all the news.

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(Laughter)

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They do this a couple times
a week, for several weeks,

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so every local in the diner knows

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that if you want to know
what's going on, you ask Bob.

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And Martha swears that by the end
it was like that scene in Cheers

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when Norm walks in, and it was like "Bob!"

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So Bob has a job, and money, 
and friends, and it all happened

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because the social worker tapped into
his super power of radio listening.

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My final thought for you today is this:

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as I've said before, everyone, 
at some point will need a social worker.

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When that happens to you, don't worry,
don't be embarrassed; go find one.

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I promise you, 
they will be a super hero.

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And better yet, they will help you
find your super power

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so that you can work through
whatever life is throwing your way.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)