Social workers as super-heroes | Anna Scheyett | TEDxColumbiaSC

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.
Dr. Scheyett describes the ways that social workers serve their communities.

Anna serves as dean of the College of Social Work at USC. Her research examines community integration of vulnerable populations, especially those with serious mental illnesses, those with HIV, and those involved in the criminal justice system.

I have a theme song, come on!

I love this song!

And I love this song
because everybody needs a hero.

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

we need a super hero!

Somebody who is not scared
to jump into the chaos

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

So I've got good news for you today.

Because all around the world,

cleverly disguised
as mild mannered individuals,

we have thousands of super heroes,

over 600,000 of them in the US alone.

We just call them social workers.

(Applause) (Cheers)

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

that might not have been
the first thing that popped

into your head was social worker.

Maybe what popped into your head

was something a little more like this

(Laughter)

peering suspiciously
at your parenting skills.

(Laughter)

Or, if not, maybe like this:

Peace and love and singing Kum By YaH.

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

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

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

(Laughter)

Social worker as super hero.

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

Social workers are not just
nice people with good hearts,

Social workers are educated professionals

who go through
accredited university programs

that are grounded
in a rigorous research base.

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

The two biggest things?

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

The mission of social work
is to promote and support

individual and community well-being,

and to fight social injustice.

Social workers do that because we learn

how to see and understand
the invisible inner connections

between people, and their families,
and their neighborhood,

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

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

problems happen.

So we learn evidence-based interventions

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

And with that, we can make
powerful change happen.

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

is because, just like with a super hero,

everyone is going to need
a social worker at some point

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

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

Who helps your new parents
find a specialist?

Or figure out how to pay
those huge hospital bills?

Or find a car seat for a teeny tiny baby?

Hospital social workers.

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

and maybe you're being bullied,

or you're thinking about dropping out.

Who designs and implements
the anti-bullying

and the drop out prevention
programs in schools?

School social workers.

Later on, as you get older, maybe you face

one of those grown-up problems, a divorce,

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

maybe you even start drinking too much.

Who do you turn to
for counseling and therapy?

Licensed, clinical social workers.

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

are provided by social workers?

It's nearly 70%.

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

your 86 year old dad
has Parkinson's disease,

but is insistent
that he can live independently.

Who helps you figure out
if he really is safe?

Or, who helps you find in-home health?

Or navigate those really difficult
conversations about wills,

and power-of-attorney, and DNR?

Geriatric social workers.

Then there's the bigger picture.

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

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

Those are social work managers,
organizers, and advocates.

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

The final thing that I like to think about

when I think about
social workers as super heroes

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

that had this saying on it,

and at first I thought it was cute:

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

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

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

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

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

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

who was a social worker
who lived on the coast

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

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

named... I'll call him Bob.

Bob struggled with a severe mental illness

and isolated himself in his apartment

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

So Martha sends the student
to do an assessment,

the student comes back.

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

And the student says,

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

But she had a plan.

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

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

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

And she convinced them
to let Bob volunteer.

Then she convinced Bob to try it:

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

Well he did.

And he listened to the radio

better than anybody
had ever listened to the radio.

They loved him!
They hired him part-time.

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

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

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

Would you meet me at the local diner?"

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

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

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

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

Bob hollers back all the news.

(Laughter)

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

so every local in the diner knows

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

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

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

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

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

My final thought for you today is this:

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

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

I promise you,
they will be a super hero.

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

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

Thank you very much.

(Applause)