The Mental Health Social Worker

Arlington, Va. – Across the country, students are preparing to start or return to college. This is an exciting time, though for some it’s overwhelming and stressful. Depression, substance use and eating disorders are increasingly common mental health issues on college campuses. According to a recent survey, the rate of students reporting ever being diagnosed with depression has increased 56 percent in the last six years, from 10 percent in spring 2000 to 16 percent in spring 2005.

Major depression increases the likelihood of substance abuse, impairs functioning at school; and influences an individual’s subsequent development in negative ways. Depression can also co-occur with other disorders, including physical illnesses and other mental disorders, such as anxiety and eating disorders. “We are seeing more students coming to college with mental health issues,” said Jerald Kay, M.D., chair of the American Psychiatric  Association’s Corresponding Committee on Mental Health on College and University Campuses. “Tragedies like at Virginia Tech only amplify the importance of
the availability of mental health services on college campuses. It is important for college-age students to seek care so they can have a healthy mind and lead a healthy life.”

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) encourages everyone to learn more about the warnings signs of mental illnesses. For August,  www.HealthyMinds.org, the APA’s free consumer Web site,features information to help parents learn more about college mental health on topics such as:
• NEW: Suicide Prevention TV Public Service Announcement
• “Let’s Talk Facts” brochure: College Students and Alcohol Abuse
• College Students and Alcohol Abuse Statistics
• College Mental Health Fact Sheet: Depression
• Disasters: Mental Health Recommendations for Students and Colleges
• Eating Disorders: Tips for College Students

About the American Psychiatric Association:
The American Psychiatric Association is the nation’s leading medical specialty society whose more than 38,000 physician members specialize in diagnosis, treatment, prevention and research of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at www.psych.org and www.HealthyMinds.org.
“Healthy Minds. Healthy Lives.” is APA’s consumer campaign to improve understanding of mental illnesses, psychiatry, and successful treatment options, as well as to reduce stigma. Learn more about these issues and hear people’s real-life stories by visiting the campaign’s Web site at www.HealthyMinds.org.

By Elizabeth J. Clark, Ph.D., ACSW, MPH

Over the past two years, the concept of social work advocacy for social justice has been under attack. In 2005, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an article regarding a request from the National Association of Scholars asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate the Council on Social Work Education for “politicized standards” — encouraging universities to evaluate students based on “their commitment to social justice.” Several social work groups responded to this challenge.

NASW responded by emphasizing that “professional education is the vehicle through which members of a discipline become acquainted with the theoretical foundation and the knowledge base of a profession. It is also the method for socializing new entrants about a profession’s values and ethical standards. Consequently, the social work profession has not only the right, but the responsibility of assuring that new professionals understand the profession’s ethical and philosophical underpinnings.”

Our response concluded by stating, “NASW proudly embraces and supports the guiding value of social work justice in social work education and practice.”

Also in 2005, social work advocacy came under public scrutiny. Emily Brooker, a social work student at Missouri State University, with the help of the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, sued the university in federal court for religious persecution. The suit was based on an assignment related to advocacy that Ms. Brooker claimed violated her Christian beliefs. She alleged that she was given a poor grade because of her refusal to sign a letter supporting adoptions by gay couples.

Ms. Brooker was enrolled in a course being taught by social work professor Frank Kauffman. The syllabus for the course indicated that the course included the advocacy element of social work.

The university settled the lawsuit out of court, so Ms. Brooker’s allegations were never proven or discounted. According to a recent article (March 2007) by Alan Cooperman in The Washington Post, both Kauffman and Brooker “insist they were misunderstood.” Kauffman, a former assistant pastor in the Assemblies of God church, maintains that in the classroom, he has always given equal time to everyone’s views.

Why is this issue still getting media attention in 2007? Partly this is due to the fact that in April 2007, the Missouri House of Representatives passed the Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act with the goal of protecting students from “viewpoint discrimination.”

Also related to this issue, in March, Stanley Fish wrote an editorial titled “Advocacy and Teaching” for The New York Times in which he stated that “advocacy is just not what should be going on in a university.” NASW President Elvira Craig de Silva sent a letter to the editor of the Times in which she clarified that “social work requires its members to advocate for individual clients and for systemic reform that improves communities.”

As social workers, we all must stand to differ with individuals and groups such as Stanley Fish, the Alliance Defense Fund, the National Association of Scholars and the Missouri House of Representatives. We cannot allow other groups or individuals to define or limit our profession.

Advocacy is the cornerstone on which social work is built. It is so important that it is framed in three sections of our Code of Ethics. Advocacy for individuals, communities and systems is not just a suggested activity for social workers. It’s not a “do it if you have some extra time” or a “do it if the inequity and disparity are very great” activity. It is a requisite.

Most of us came to the profession of social work to make a difference, to bring about positive social change, to better society. We could have chosen other professions that focus mainly on the individual, on intrapsychic issues rather than on the person-in-the-environment. We could have chosen psychiatry, psychology, mental health counseling or psychiatric nursing. We didn’t.

We became social workers and committed our careers to working not just with, but on behalf of, others. We work towards ensuring healthy individuals, functioning communities and a better society. That’s where advocacy comes into the picture. The Social Work Dictionary defines “advocacy” as “the act of directly representing or defending others — of championing the rights of individuals or communities through direct interventions or through empowerment.”

If being a social worker means standing up for others — all others — and trying to better society, then our critics are correct. We are guilty as charged — and we are unapologetic. Without advocacy, there would be no social work profession. And without social workers, this country would be a much less hospitable and caring place.

To comment to Elizabeth J. Clark: newscolumn@naswdc.org