We have a short lull between the excitement of Social Work Month and the start of AOSW’s Annual Conference. Let me catch you up on some of the activities that are going on behind the scenes. We want AOSW to be transparent and accessible to our members, so I will use our Strategic Plan as a framework to …
Leadership in oncology care is often a struggle between the tensions of social work values for a just society pitted against the unfairness of inequitable environments. It is one thing to claim our power as oncology social workers when we are together at an AOSW conference. It is harder to sustain that authority when we …
I hope you will find this special post-conference edition of AOSW Navigator to be an inspiring challenge as we continue the work of psychosocial care throughout the year. I enjoy seeing the pictures of our Annual Conference “homecoming” and the smiling faces of our award and scholarship recipients. I’m reminded of the depth of resources that are available on an …
I remember my very first AOSW Annual Conference in La Jolla, California, back in 1998 (I think it was ‘98) and I attended a talk on depression in patients with cancer by Susan Hedlund. I thought she was a brilliant (and beautiful) inspiration. She was also an excellent actor! She role-played a young woman with …
Meet Your Leaders: Susan Hedlund, MSW, LCSW, OSW-C, FAOSW, AOSW Past-President Read More »
One of the quotes from this year’s conference that stuck with me is from Dr. Julia Rowland’s message in her Keynote Address: “Care planning is a process, not an event.” Dr. Rowland was speaking to the transitions of care for our patients. I find her words are also applicable to the growth of AOSW as an organization. …
This is my last column as your President. I am so proud of the work our staff, board and member volunteers have accomplished together this year. There are some goals that are not as near completion as I had hoped due to shifts in priorities, changing resources or the inevitable shifts of needs. I’ve discovered …
News headlines the past calendar year have forced me to think about social justice quite often. The NASW Code of Ethics tells us that social justice is a value of our profession: Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people…activities seek to promote sensitivity …
From the President-Elect: Challenging Social Injustice Read More »
Many faces come to mind as I think about what led me to this role as your president. Like all of you, these faces are easy to call to mind, they are the reason for our work. One of these faces belongs in a support group I facilitate for women living with advanced, metastatic cancer …
One thing that has been on my mind in my nearly 30 years in oncology social work is how I have been able to develop and maintain strategies for avoiding burnout or compassion fatigue. We all know it is essential to develop strategies for self-care both in the moments of stress and while we are …
From the President-Elect: What Can We Learn From Our Patients? Read More »
It is so humbling to be writing to you as president of AOSW. What an honor to serve in this role! I am struck by the idea that my articles in 2018 focused on various aspects of leadership and now that I am leading this organization, I’m thinking primarily about service. In my search to …