Someone way more interesting that I once said, “what a long, strange trip this has been”, words that I feel aptly describe much of what the past two years have been like for most of us. I had hoped that by the time we introduced our e-newsletter that I would be able to report that despite two-plus years’ worth of troubling news- the death and disruption caused by the never-ending Covid pandemic, civil unrest in our backyards, across our nation and across the world, continued environmental degradation, political upheaval here and around the world we as a community of people who care for others would have many more successes to celebrate. As it is, I do believe we as clinical social workers do have much to celebrate and in my second year as President of MSCSW, I would like to highlight a few of our organization’s achievements.
We can celebrate successful recruitment efforts led by Board members Bev Caruso and Mitch Leppicello that have drawn in new Board members whom we welcome wholeheartedly: Katie Mark, owner of On The Mark Therapy who joined the Membership Committee and has quickly helped facilitate the move to an e-newsletter; Sandra Laski, owner at Laski Mental Wellness & Counseling who has joined the Education Committee and Yolande (‘Yana’) Lee who has signed on to be the Secretary. We are pleased and honored that they’ve stepped up to offer their time and energy and know they will undoubtedly enhance the Board’s activities.
We can celebrate our willingness and ability early in the pandemic to pivot the way we presented workshops and beginning in March 2020 with Susan Davis’ presentation on Telehealth, we have offered webinars covering pertinent topics to an ever-increasing membership and state-wide audience that hadn’t been able to access our educational offerings as easily. We can recognize our efforts to record webinars and make them available after the live presentations and more formally contract with our presenters to clarify the ownership of the information presented. We can celebrate our wisdom to contract with Anna Johnson as our Event Coordinator. (She’s great!)
We can celebrate our ability to maintain connections between members through our webinars, Annual Meetings, participation in the Minnesota Coalition for Licensed Social Workers and engagement with their consultant, Jenny Arneson MSW, LGSW, and use of our listserv where frequently questions are answered, requests for referrals are heard and information is shared with enthusiasm and generosity.
We can plan to celebrate in person when we host our 2022 Annual Meeting/Membership Kickoff event scheduled for Thursday, September 29th at the Nicollet Island Inn. Please watch for more information on that event in the coming months.
To close, I am pleased and honored to be part of an organization that has existed for nearly 45 years, that has organized and rallied over these years to address issues such as licensure for social workers to mental health parity today’s ongoing concerns regarding telehealth rules and reimbursement during the pandemic. MSCSW has long been an advocate for our profession, our members, and the community at large. I look forward to being part of this organization for years to come and invite you to join us on this long, (sometimes) strange trip!
