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"Social Workers as Facilitators for Infusing Compassion" by School of Social Work Alum, Charlotte Zeller

The Code of Ethics directs us to "recognize the central importance of human relationships'' (NASW, p. 6, 1999). Using this premise, I suggest that there exists a greater need for compassionate interchange in the interrelationships between the various segments of our society. This need exists not only in the neighborhoods and communities of our country, but within our workplace settings, professions, and government. Such relationships can be exemplified in the daily dialogues between the retailer/customer, police officer/citizen, nurse/patient, attorney/client, health care industry/insured, and the politician/constituents. The following vignettes illustrate this point. In a nurse/patient compassionate interrelationship, the nurse can be observed taking a moment from the tense and hectic environment of the emergency room to ease the fear of the waiting patient. In the case of an attorney, this professional can take a moment to refer a frantic client without the needed legal funds to an alternative legal resource. At the macro level, the policies and laws endorsed by our political leaders should be grounded in the needs of their constituents rather than for political gain and in regard to the health care industry, a more empathetic perspective would provide greater benefits to those in need of care and services.

I would like to propose that social workers could provide the professional skills to enhance the awareness of compassion in these macro settings. As social workers, we provide services to our clients in a compassionate and empathetic manner. In our work with individuals and families we utilize these values as a tool to enhance our clients interactions at both the micro and mezzo levels. While we have been rather successful in this realm, we must now ask ourselves, has the time come when we are needed in a more global arena? I believe the time has come to integrate our compassionate care perspective into the workplace settings and the halls of our government buildings.

As a profession we have made great strides in enhancing the lives of children, youths and adults. From the establishments of the early settlement houses, we have enlarged our circle of help. We have focused our skills in enriching the lives of the most vulnerable and at risk populations of our country. We have provided services to the poor, ill, elderly, homeless and incarcerated to name a few. We have lobbied in the halls of congress to affect the policies that are enacted and we have most recently begun to negotiate with the health care industry to provide better mental health coverage for our citizens. We have also taken the rein when needed in the traumatic events that have besieged our country. We were there to meet our nation's needs during the devastating hurricanes and floods of the past years as well as the never forgotten horrific events of 9/11. We have answered our calls and gone wherever they have taken us.

It is my desire that as social workers we will now carve a greater place in our profession as consultants in society promoting the need for greater compassionate interrelationships between individuals and the business, professional and government sectors. Social workers possess the skills to assume the role of consultants at the macro level to facilitate perspectives using compassion in these work settings. This is currently being done in some areas of the insurance industry, education and government realm. In the insurance area, Health New England, Springfield, Massachusetts has a behavioral health assessment committee that includes social workers that assist in developing policies, interventions and recommendations for providers incorporating a compassionate perspective. In the area of education, medical schools have incorporated psychosocial medicine into their curriculum courses that are being instructed by social workers. At the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University in New York City, social work professors are teaching at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Dr. Charles Auerbach (MSW) has taught physicians enrolled in geriatric fellowships issues of research ethics and the protection of human subjects. Dr. Adrienne Asch (MS in Social Work) has taught bioethics in the medical school with an approach that encompasses compassionate medical decisions. Social workers in government play another significant role in infusing social work perspectives of compassion at the governmental level. As stated by Josephine Nieves, past executive director of the NASW (1996-2001), "by their nature and training, social workers have an affinity for public service, and a commitment to activism and social change. They understand the human impact of public policy ..." (NASW, 2000). Currently two U.S. senators and eight U.S. representatives represent the social work profession in the 110th Congress (NASW, 2007). While all these actions can be applauded, the need for greater involvement at the macro level continues to exist.

The social work core values propei our profession. In so stating, if we can have an impact on these large systems, we will consequently improve the lives of each member of society. The profession of social work continues to develop, expand and open new avenues of concern in areas that have been remote. We must take this road and continue to redefine who we are and what we can do.

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