AOSW Connections
Editorial Team
Editor-in-Chief
Amy Colver, MSSA, MA, LISW
AOSW Communications Director
Jeanice Hansen, LCSW, OSW-C
Managing Editor
Patricia Sullivan
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To submit a story or information for inclusion in a future issue of AOSW Newsletter, contact Amy Colver or Melody Griffith on the list above.
Editor’s Message
Self-care. Sometimes it isn’t a fun trip, a relaxing day at the spa, or time spent with friends. Sometimes it doesn’t look like what you want or think it should. And sometimes it means resigning from an opportunity you really wanted to work.
I remember my excitement when I saw the SWON message with the call for interest in an editor position for the Connections Newsletter. I love writing. I love social work. I love oncology. This could be a wonderful fit! I became an “editor in training” in March 2023. While this has been an amazing opportunity, a chance to learn from every contributor, see the behind the scenes of a well-thought out and organized newsletter, and to stand in awe of the team that uses their skill and passion to weave your words, interests, and expertise into a tapestry of the embodiment of oncology social work, I have decided to step down from my role as editor.
Here’s where self-care comes in. Remember when I said it isn’t always fun? This isn’t fun. Or exciting. It’s hard. Hard to admit that I wanted something to work, but then found myself overcommitted and not being able to be the teammate I’d like to have been. Through 2023 I’ve experienced the high of being an integral part of a new program’s development with the hopes of a leadership position, and the low of bitter disappointment when things worked out differently within that same program. I’ve felt motivated and excited and hopeful. And I’ve felt stuck and avoidant and disappointed. I’ve also started a new position and am paving a way for myself and social work within my institution.
Somewhere in the fabric of these highs and lows, I have realized that no amount of spa days or baked goods or even therapy can fully piece together a meaningful self-care. I realized that self-care might require giving up something good in the effort to focus on necessary things. These necessary things might be your day job, family, friends, finances, mental and physical health. For me, it’s all of these and more.
It feels wrong to cut out good opportunities and seems to go against our very nature to decide that you need to focus your energy in another direction. You might deny it or put it off, until something inside you is loud enough to sway you to make the hard decision. It might feel like a seesaw in your mind, but eventually the need to make a decision that lends itself to reality weighs more heavily than the uncomfortable comfort of indecision and the hope that one day you’ll be able to do it all.
Then once you decide to let go of a good thing you must decide if you’re going to sit with it as a failure or a success. A failure because you wanted to keep the good thing; a success because you admitted a difficult realization and decided to move forward, just in a way that doesn’t include that good thing, or does include it, just in a different way.
I’m still processing the decision to leave the Connections newsletter team, but know it was a step in the right direction for my own self-care. I will always be grateful for our previous Editor-in-Chief KrisAnn, and our current Editor-in-Chief Amy, and our Marketing Communications Director Patricia. These women give their heart and soul to the newsletter and I appreciate their mentorship and trust in me.
This is going to be an exciting year the Communications newsletter. It will look a little different, to include sections on AOSW News and themes. I am confident that the newsletter team will continue to organize the best newsletter, based on the best information that comes directly from you. The newsletter will continue to acknowledge the work of oncology social work and elevate our practices and the oncology social work profession.
I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate our Editor-in- Chief, Amy, on welcoming her baby boy to the world! She has worked tirelessly to tie up loose ends for this issue, all while preparing for baby’s arrival. Please join me in wishing her and her family well.
As we begin a new year, Amy with a new baby, and me with a focus on other things, I am hopeful for us all and am sending my thoughts to everyone who is learning, like I am, the importance of self-care in both traditional and non-traditional ways.
About the Author
Melody Griffith, MSW, LMSW, OSW-C
Outpatient Oncology Social Worker, Instructor in Social Work, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and ScienceMayo Clinic
Phoenix, Arizona
griffith.melody@mayo.edu
Melody Griffith received a master's degree in social work from Arizona State University in 2010. She completed an internship at a hospital where she was assigned to the oncology floor and later hired as a social worker. She fell in love with o...
Read Full Author Bio
Melody Griffith, MSW, LMSW, OSW-C
Outpatient Oncology Social Worker, Instructor in Social Work, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and ScienceMayo Clinic
Phoenix, Arizona
griffith.melody@mayo.edu
Melody Griffith received a master's degree in social work from Arizona State University in 2010. She completed an internship at a hospital where she was assigned to the oncology floor and later hired as a social worker. She fell in love with oncology and moved to the outpatient setting to establish longer-term relationships with patients through cancer diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Melody began her employment at Mayo Clinic in 2016. She created and facilitated several support groups including Multiple Myeloma, Caregiver, and AYA groups, has been instrumental in process and program development, education of staff, and continues to further the work of psycho-oncology care. She has a special place in her heart for young adult patients and continues to learn and grow from her interactions with them.
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