Happy Social Work Month!
I love social work. I love how I have been able to leverage my education and training and carve out the perfect (employee) career and entrepreneurial pursuits for me.
Social work has allowed me to learn and grow while I work and earn. Social work has allowed me to do work that I love.
But this social work journey hasn’t been all rainbows and butterflies for many of us! So many of us have been silenced in the classroom and in the workplace, criticized for advocating for our health and wealth, and punished for giving voice to our clients who have been silenced.
I love social work enough to respect it, honor it, and challenge it.
There is so much opportunity and diversity in social work yet so many restrictions and limitations. I’ve said it before and I will say it again and again, we need to release the old, narrow, traditional views of what social work is and what social workers can and should do.
One month isn’t enough to celebrate all your awesomeness!
THANK YOU to all the social workers – licensed and unlicensed – who are positively impacting lives around the globe on a macro, mezzo, and micro level.
THANK YOU for showing up and giving the best you have even when you’re overworked and overwhelmed.
THANK YOU for leading the world through what I consider a 3-year pandemic while you navigated your own fear, exhaustion, grief, and uncertainty.
THANK YOU for teaching, training, supervising, supporting, encouraging, and empowering the next generation of social workers even if you were discouraged in your own journey.
THANK YOU for going above and beyond for your clients and agencies.
The 2023 National Social Work Month theme is “Social Work Breaks Barriers”. THANK YOU for breaking barriers in all the ways that you break barriers!
Now, it’s time we break barriers in our own careers and for our own benefit as professionals. Now is the time to define social work career success on your own terms and create your own lane in social work if the way you want to social work hasn’t been created yet.
- You can choose to break barriers and social work differently…just ask the financial social workers, library social workers and veterinary social workers.
- You can choose to break barriers and social work differently…check out my Social Work Month interview, “Choosing You at This Stage of Life”, with Sunya Folayan on the Mind and Manna YouTube channel.
Since we’re speaking of breaking barriers, the 3 words I would use to describe the social work profession in 2023 is possibility, potential, and purpose. What 3 words would you use to describe social work?
If you need assistance in breaking barriers in your social work leadership career, I am offering my professional support. You deserve a career that feeds your heart, and wallet. APPLY for On My Terms private leadership coaching and move beyond the societal and self-imposed social work restrictions. Refresh your confidence, career goals, momentum, and accomplishments.
Nicki Sanders, MSW, supports high-performing women of color in social work leadership in developing careers that feed their hearts, minds, and wallets. As Founder and CEO of Nicki Sanders Leadership Consulting, her mission is simple – to eliminate toxic workplaces by developing skilled, empathetic, and goal-oriented leaders who have the vision, support, and resources to create a culture where business prospers, and employees thrive individually and collectively. Nicki has an extensive background in nonprofit management leading high-functioning, multi-disciplinary teams, volunteer recruitment and retention, and social impact programming. She is an accomplished professor, coach, trainer, and group facilitator who has combined her gift for authentic relationships, Master of Social Work degree, and over 20 years of diverse work experience to create a life and career aligned with her values and purpose. Nicki is a lover of cupcakes, travel, and 80’s hip hop and R&B music.
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