Latest / Rise and Thrive with Dr. J. Nicole Podcast / Power, Policy, and the Purpose of Reclaiming the Value of Social Work

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Power, Policy, and the Purpose of Reclaiming the Value of Social Work · Rise and Thrive with Dr. J. Nicole Podcast

0:00
There are people who work within systems, and then there are the
0:03
people who are called to change them.
0:05
Today's conversation sits at that intersection.
0:24
When we talk about mental health, we often reduce it to
0:27
something personal, something private, something individual.
0:31
But what happens when healing becomes policy?
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When access, dignity, and care are shaped not just in therapy
0:39
rooms, but in legislation? What happens when a social
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worker, someone trained to see people, context and complexity,
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steps into spaces where decisions impact entire
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communities? That is the conversation we're
0:52
having today. This is not about policy, this
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is about power, this is about purpose, and it's about
0:59
reclaiming the value of a profession that has been
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essential, whether it was recognized or not.
1:06
Welcome to Rise and Thrive with Doctor J Nicole, where we rise
1:09
in faith and thrive in purpose. Let's get into it.
1:13
Today's guest is a Councilwoman A2 time HBCU graduate, a Howard
1:19
alumnus of the Howard University School of Social Work, and my
1:23
fellow social worker who is operating at the highest level
1:27
of influence while still holding on to the lens that taught her
1:32
how to truly see people. Let's welcome Councilwoman
1:35
Sharika McCarthy. Thank you.
1:38
Thank you so much. It's an honor to be here.
1:42
Thank you for joining us today. And before we get into policy,
1:47
legislation and systems and all of that, I want to start with a
1:50
part of you that existed before all of this, right?
1:53
While titles matter, the foundation, though, that's what
1:57
sustains you. And when the weight of those
2:01
titles show up, right? So you need that foundation.
2:05
So what drew you to social work? And how does that lens still
2:08
shape how you move in policy spaces today?
2:13
So. Ironically, when I was in high
2:16
school, I did not want to go to college.
2:18
I told my parents I wanted a one way ticket to Dallas and I was
2:22
going to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
2:24
OK, that's all I, that's all I wanted, right?
2:27
And then after the summer before my senior year, I worked in a
2:33
daycare and I was in that daycare for 40 hours a week.
2:40
And I realized that I was going to have to make money some way,
2:44
and this was not it. OK, so.
2:50
I knew I wanted to kind of work with children and, and, and be a
2:54
helper because, you know, that's what a cheerleader is.
2:57
But I ended up meeting a woman who worked in the daycare and
3:04
she did all of the things and everybody loved her and
3:07
everybody went to her for everything.
3:09
And I was like, I love her. I want to be her.
3:11
And I found out she was a social worker.
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OK. And when I found out she was a
3:16
social worker, I said say less. And I went on and applied for
3:19
college, and I was going to be a social worker.
3:22
And so in undergrad I did social work.
3:26
You know, that's kind of more of a general degree.
3:28
So we learned case management, foundations of social work and
3:31
things of that sort. But I had a professor who said,
3:35
you know, you should really get your masters, and if you get
3:39
your masters, you can't go anywhere by Howard.
3:41
And so I said OK. My kind of people.
3:45
OK. And what did I do?
3:47
I went on and applied for Howard and it was there where my love
3:53
for helping continued. But while I was there I was
3:58
taking a social policy course and I wasn't doing a good job in
4:01
that course. I was struggling.
4:04
I was struggling and I had an assignment about teenage
4:10
pregnancy and I was like, I'm going to put on a performance
4:15
for my my professor so I could get an A so I could pass this
4:19
class. Because what they say, fake it
4:21
till you make it. Yeah.
4:23
I called up my uncle. He's a DJI say, hey, I need a
4:26
song about teenage pregnancy. He said that's easy.
4:29
Brenda's got a baby. When I listen to those lyrics,
4:35
my understanding of systems, my understanding of oppression, my
4:40
understanding of generational trauma, my eyes opened, OK, and
4:46
it just changed me forever. Wow.
4:51
So thinking about that like you have that eye opening moment,
4:55
how does being a trained social worker allow you to see things
4:59
differently, especially at the legislative level?
5:03
So there's something called a root cause analysis, right?
5:07
And that has been my focus for so many years.
5:10
We throw money at problems, you know, we try to legislate
5:14
morality, you know, all the things, right?
5:17
And I've always said, if we can get to the bottom of it, what is
5:23
underlying? Just like if I was doing an
5:25
intake, right, you're coming with presenting symptoms, but
5:29
what is the underlying diagnosis, right?
5:33
And so that's what the root cause analysis is.
5:35
We see that, you know, our school systems are failing, but
5:38
why? You've been given the money for
5:41
years, the biggest part of the budget, why are they still
5:44
failing, right. And so getting to that root
5:46
cause analysis, that social work lens allows me to do that.
5:50
Love that, love that. And so talk us about your,
5:55
excuse me, talk to us about your journey from knowing you were
5:59
like you're applying the Howard to becoming Councilwoman.
6:03
So for me, after the whole eye opening situation, I immediately
6:11
got involved. I ran for student Student
6:13
council. I started attending my
6:16
neighborhood meetings for the City Council of my neighborhood,
6:21
and the very first council meeting I attended, my
6:25
predecessor stood up and resigned.
6:29
It was almost like destiny. Right, you walked in at the
6:32
right moment. It was almost like destiny.
6:35
And so there was an appointment process that happened in maybe
6:42
June, June or so. I did not get the appointment,
6:48
but September there was an election.
6:51
So I did put my name in for the appointment.
6:53
I didn't get it. So there was somebody who served
6:55
for, you know, a handful of months and then I actually ran
7:01
in the the next election and I won.
7:04
So you ran and won the first time?
7:09
Absolutely. Wow, I wonder what the
7:12
percentage is. Except for that one time I ran
7:14
for student council president because I lost that election.
7:17
That was the last one. Talking about, but we're talking
7:20
about your seat, right? Like with the city, so I guess
7:25
you had some trial runs already before, but the one that
7:28
mattered, that's the one that you won the first election
7:32
cycle. That's amazing.
7:34
Congratulations on that. Tell them a little bit about
7:37
where you serve, how long you've been serving, and what some of
7:40
the main focus areas are for you.
7:43
So I am currently a council member in the city of C
7:46
Pleasant, Maryland. C Pleasant sits on the northeast
7:49
corner of Washington, DC, but it is in Prince George's County,
7:54
Maryland. So we bordered the District
7:55
line, but we are in Maryland. And that's important, right?
7:59
Because French George County has been known to be the most
8:02
affluent African American county in the country.
8:06
Now the second most affluent as some of our residents have
8:10
migrated S But while we are seen as a suburb, we're so close to
8:16
the District line that we have a very city feel, if you will.
8:21
And so there I try to champion legislation that looks at the
8:24
whole person. I try to make sure that you know
8:30
everything from fees and services, make sure they are
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accessible to all people. You know, when it comes to
8:38
taxes, making sure that rates are representative of the income
8:42
that folks receive. You know, I fight at the county
8:48
level for a certain type of establishments.
8:51
While we don't currently have control over what establishments
8:54
come in and out of our our city, I do go and advocate at the
8:58
county level for those things. And then at the state level as
9:02
well. We just were able to advocate
9:06
for our police officers to pay into a retirement system.
9:11
They have my whole time in office not had retirement.
9:14
There's an officer that's been in been an officer for 19 years
9:18
with no type of retirement. And so we were able to
9:22
successfully advocate for that at the state level.
9:26
So really, things that make a difference in people's everyday
9:29
life. And those are critically
9:32
important. And let's talk about what mental
9:35
health legislation are you currently working on or are you
9:39
most, most passionate about right now?
9:42
So. One thing I found was because my
9:45
city is a little smaller and we don't have our own like
9:49
Department of Social Services, we don't have our own behavioral
9:53
health services and things like that.
9:55
I had to be creative there at one point, which crime is down
10:00
now, but at one point crime was a big issue.
10:03
There were a lot of quality of life crimes happening in my
10:06
community, and so I would champion a lot of legislation to
10:12
help those quality of life issues.
10:16
For instance, whether it's emergency relief programs where
10:20
if people got behind on their bills, we can help them out.
10:25
This is still pending, but there was some relief to business
10:29
owners as a tax incentive if they provided 30% or more of
10:34
healthy food options or health and Wellness services.
10:38
Right, That has got past, but I'm still working on that.
10:41
We also developed our very first of its kind in our city social
10:45
work internship program, where a social worker actually would
10:49
come into the city. They would create a resource
10:52
directory. They would do research on the
10:53
needs of the community and report back to us so that we can
10:57
have that lens and it not just come from myself but come from
11:00
someone else as well. And we love data, right?
11:05
And it's nothing like data to be able.
11:07
To drive decisions. Yes.
11:10
So on the state level, are there some other legislations that
11:18
you're you're you're focusing on?
11:21
There is a legislation that I recently attended a hearing for,
11:29
and I forget the bill number right now, but there's a bill
11:31
that was proposed essentially to allow insurance companies or to
11:38
axe insurance companies to reimburse placement sites for
11:43
social work students, psychology students and things like that.
11:46
Now, the idea originally was for these interns to be paid, but
11:52
you know, once he gets in there and people start throwing
11:53
amendments and stuff like that, it kind of gets watered down.
11:55
And so we're still in the fight to get the interns paid, but as
12:01
of right now, we're fighting to make sure that across the board,
12:05
a lot more people can bill for services provided by.
12:11
Interns, and I think that's the beauty of legislation, right?
12:15
Like there are people obviously right now who would benefit, but
12:18
you're setting up the next, next, Next up right, the next
12:22
generation, the next cohort so that they can have a better
12:26
quality of life as well and go out into the world and do good
12:29
right today. Honestly, I don't know if it's
12:33
necessarily a gap, but more so a barrier.
12:37
And, and I'll tell you why, because there is a gap, but it's
12:41
not specific to mental health. The barrier right now are the
12:44
systems, right. The systems are not set up to
12:48
serve the people, right? The systems are set up to
12:51
protect the government, to protect the, the, the large
12:56
corporations. So like the insurance companies
12:59
for sure. There's no reason.
13:00
I was just at a hearing and they were debating whether or not
13:04
physical therapy should be considered a primary care issue,
13:08
Right? Like, it's a specialty.
13:10
It's a specialty, if you will. And it's like these, this is
13:14
preventive care. You know, after you have an
13:17
accident, if you go and do physical therapy, it prevents
13:20
you from having long term damage, right?
13:22
It prevents you from long term being handicapped or what have
13:26
you, right? And so that and occupational
13:29
therapy and things of the sort, right?
13:30
Those are preventative care, but it's treated like a luxury.
13:37
Yeah, yeah. And so in terms of mental
13:40
health, I think that there's such a stigma.
13:43
Insurance companies don't want to cover certain things.
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There are people currently right now who are misdiagnosed because
13:51
it's easier to get the insurance company to pay for services for
13:57
another diagnosis versus the actual diagnosis.
14:00
I remember when I was at Howard, I wrote a paper called The DSM
14:05
Game, and essentially what I talked about in the paper was
14:10
when a baby is born, it has a set amount of time before the
14:13
baby has to have a name. But presumably the baby still
14:17
has a head, arms, legs, it's breathing.
14:21
It is still a baby, whether you name it Keisha or Marcus, right?
14:25
Like it's still a baby. And it's the same with people
14:29
come in with presenting symptoms of a diagnosis, whether I'm
14:34
giving them borderline personality disorder or I'm
14:37
giving them bipolar disorder, right?
14:41
They're they have symptoms that need to be treated.
14:45
And so, you know, for me, I want to cut the games, cut the games,
14:49
serve the people. Because you're absolutely right.
14:54
That's what it is, right? Like they have symptoms, let's
14:57
treat them. We see that they have it where,
14:59
you know, Yep, you're right, because we could easily keep on
15:05
going. So for some folks who maybe
15:08
don't understand, talk about how policy decisions directly impact
15:13
whether someone what you're kind of getting at that, but just
15:15
more in detail, right, like how that can impact how somebody can
15:19
access care, stay in care and receive quality care.
15:23
So oftentimes when people think of government, they always think
15:27
that it doesn't affect them, right?
15:29
On my level of government, at the local level, the most local
15:32
level of government, City Council, we know that that
15:36
affects the people, right? Your trash being picked up, your
15:39
roads being done, your police officers, right?
15:42
What businesses and stuff are. And you say that that affects
15:45
you. We know that, right?
15:46
But when it comes to state and federal, sometimes we get lost
15:50
on how it affects us. Our state and federal government
15:56
have the ability to tell us what care we can and cannot receive,
15:59
right? Yeah.
16:00
What insurance companies can and cannot charge us?
16:02
What utility companies can and cannot charge us, Right.
16:07
The government has control of that.
16:09
And even if they don't have control, they're able to come
16:14
back and say, hey, we don't like that.
16:16
We don't like what you're doing. Stop it, right?
16:19
And so everything you do, the government effects you.
16:24
It's just how close it affects you.
16:27
Sometimes you're affected. It's kind of like when you throw
16:30
a rock in a pond, right? That first hit is real deep.
16:34
It's real deep. So some people it will
16:36
automatically affect them and then it's other folks that it
16:40
won't affect you until down the line.
16:42
Yeah, that ripple out that. Ripple out.
16:46
Like for instance, everything that's going on with ICE right
16:49
now, the people who are in the country undocumented right now,
16:51
they're that first ripple, right It, they are being deported.
16:55
But those people who are in their family, those children in
16:58
their family who are our babies now in years to come, their
17:03
trust of the government, right? Their ability to function when
17:07
they see police, right? That trauma that is being
17:11
imposed on them will continue to ripple for generations.
17:15
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a discount at checkout. Now let's get back to you.
17:49
Today's episode. See, that's the social work lens
17:53
right there. The unintended consequences,
17:56
Absolutely. That's the Howard University
17:59
education for you right there. Howard personally a social
18:01
worker. Yes, indeed.
18:04
So thinking of through that lens, you know that that the
18:10
magical question. So if you can, like if you went
18:14
to sleep and you like woke up and things were different and
18:18
the when you think of policy and mental health, what would it
18:22
look like and why? So I'm not even going to think
18:28
mythologically, right? Like, you know, I'm not going to
18:32
do that. I'm going to think if I went to
18:34
bed today and maybe I was in charge tomorrow, but it was the
18:37
same set of whatever, right, I would put more, I would put more
18:41
social workers in places. There's no reason why somebody
18:45
no shade with the high school diploma that has never went to
18:50
medical school, has never treated a patient is determining
18:53
whether or not a doctor is right in their decision to treat a
18:59
patient right. There's somebody that's not
19:01
qualified ADI hire, if you will not qualified to tell a doctor
19:09
what they can and cannot bill for.
19:12
Oh, they don't need they don't need that service.
19:15
Well, how do you know? So I put more social workers in
19:17
places where there needs to be a better analysis of decision
19:23
making, right? And so that would look like in
19:26
the legislative affairs at the State House, right?
19:29
I will put social workers there. Insurance companies will be
19:32
required to have social workers on staff right before any
19:35
policies come about. Social workers.
19:38
It's kind of what some of the the DEI departments were doing,
19:46
right? They were looking from
19:49
specifically like race and gender and all of that.
19:52
But I would think as a social worker, we look at all oppressed
19:56
or underrepresented communities, right?
19:59
And so I would put social workers in places, I'm not just
20:02
saying school and hospitals. I mean, everywhere.
20:05
They even need to meet some of these churches.
20:07
OK. Yeah, absolutely.
20:11
I love that. Like, that was so good.
20:15
I'm just going to let that sink in.
20:17
That was so good. So let's transition a little bit
20:21
right now. This next part, this of the
20:26
conversation, is going to hit a little bit different for those
20:28
of us who live this work. And while we're talking about
20:33
systems, we also have to talk about the people who are trained
20:35
to hold these systems together, right?
20:38
So there has been discussion around declassifying social work
20:43
as a professional degree. What does that actually mean and
20:49
how do you understand this issue?
20:52
So it depends on who you're talking to, right?
20:55
The folks who wrote the legislation will tell you, oh,
20:58
it doesn't mean anything, right? Some people will simplify it to
21:11
being strictly about funding, right?
21:15
But honestly, I believe one, that social work is a
21:21
profession. It is a professional profession,
21:24
if you will. Social workers are writing court
21:27
reports that determines people's futures, right?
21:29
Social workers are reintegrating people into society.
21:33
Social workers are processing grief.
21:34
They are picking people up at their lowest of their lowest,
21:37
right? And So what does that look like
21:42
when you declassify a entire profession?
21:46
We lose funding, our loans are not forgiven.
21:52
Eligibility for grants. So the current social workers
21:55
can't have their loans forgiven. Usual social social workers
22:00
can't receive loans. Current programs that are in
22:04
place that have been placed for years may not receive grant
22:08
dollars anymore. OK, so it looks like a bunch of
22:12
things, but what it really does and what it really says is these
22:15
social workers don't know what they're talking about.
22:19
They don't know what they're talking about.
22:22
It makes it harder for the average person or the average
22:27
American who wasn't born into money, you know, who doesn't
22:30
have a trust fund? It makes it harder for them to
22:33
pull themselves up from poverty. Education has always been the
22:37
great equalizer, and the specific professions that are
22:42
listed to be declassified, a lot of them are helping professions.
22:47
They are professions that will pick those folks up at their
22:50
lowest and bring them back to where they need to.
22:53
Be restore them to a previous level of functioning or higher,
22:57
yeah. Because that doctor is going to
23:00
come in and diagnose you. But that nurse, that nurse is
23:04
going to sit there and nurture you.
23:06
That nurse is going to water you until you grow right?
23:10
And so until you're ready to be discharged.
23:12
And so like, you know, same with that social worker.
23:16
That social worker can take a child from a single parent
23:19
household, a drug addicted parent and help them to become
23:25
valedictorian. So again, while yes, some people
23:29
want to talk about money, I genuinely think it is about
23:33
devaluing the profession so that people don't listen to us, so
23:39
people don't listen to us. Yeah.
23:42
So why do you think that conversation is happening right
23:44
now? Let's see the people without
23:49
morals have the presidency, the House, the Senate.
23:56
This is prime time to do it. So while they're saying nothing
23:59
is getting done, the Democrats, the Democrats, literally, they
24:03
control everything right now. Funding is a big thing, right?
24:08
Funding is a huge thing. But also research.
24:16
You know, say more about that research that's so important
24:19
social. Workers who do, who do research.
24:21
And I'm not talking about quantitative research, I'm
24:23
talking about qualitative research, storytelling research,
24:26
right? Research that actually gives you
24:29
perspective. Research is not just checking
24:32
boxes, right? It's a whole manifests a
24:37
transcript of people's thoughts and feelings, right?
24:41
And so that's attacking that. If we want to say there's
24:46
certain things in history never happened, you know what?
24:50
What other way to muffle those things than to stop the vehicle
24:54
that's telling the story? That's good, Sharika, and it's
25:00
not just good because my, my research from my dissertation
25:03
was qualitative. It focused on the experiences of
25:07
African American women who have served in political offices that
25:11
are or were social workers, right?
25:13
And it told a very different story.
25:16
But it's not one, it's, it's right in front of us as well as
25:21
it was an opportunity for you all to speak up for social work
25:25
and about the influence of social work education on the
25:32
work that is being done by so many people in positions like
25:36
that that you sit in and all levels.
25:40
It's critically important. So here's what I spoke earlier
25:44
about gaps, right? There are some gaps that that
25:48
are currently happening across the profession and, and across
25:52
the arena of, of social work that main my main issue and I
26:00
guess we'll get into this when we talk about the other segment,
26:03
but you know, if not us, then who?
26:07
Correct. If not social workers, then who?
26:11
So yeah, that your. Needs will be the needs.
26:16
The needs will. Be the needs.
26:18
Yep, the needs will be the needs is what it goes back to with
26:21
what you were saying about the specific diagnosis.
26:24
Just because you devalue a position or a profession, it
26:28
doesn't change what the needs of the American people are.
26:32
Or change the diagnosis because they took a lot of stuff out of
26:35
the DSM for the statin. The five that didn't change the
26:40
people from having them symptoms.
26:42
It does not, it does not change the quality of life, how they're
26:46
showing up in their communities and all of the subsequent
26:49
ripples. It's, it's giving like a onset
26:53
of chaos, really and truly. So what do you think needs to
26:58
happen in order to protect and elevate the value of social
27:02
work? Well, just that we need to go
27:07
back to our social work values. We need to look at those NASW
27:13
ethical responsibilities and the values of the profession, right?
27:17
Where we're talking about service.
27:18
Are we really talking about service?
27:19
Let's really talk about integrity, right?
27:22
Like let's really talk about dignity and worth of a person.
27:25
Like that's real. Like, let's live by that.
27:28
Yeah. So if you had to speak directly
27:32
to a social worker right now who might be discouraged by what
27:36
they see happening, or even a student, right, like a master's
27:39
student at BSW, student, wherever they are in the social
27:42
work education pipeline, what do they need to remember about the
27:47
value of this profession and the work that they're doing or are
27:51
about to do? I would say, like Doctor King
28:00
said, that the measure of a social worker, and I'm
28:06
paraphrasing the measure of a social worker, right, is not
28:09
when the times are good, it's when the times are rough.
28:12
It's the ability for you to dig deep in your tool chest and see,
28:17
oh, I need to bring the strengths based perspective
28:19
here. I need to do a little CBC here,
28:22
right? I need to do a family systems
28:24
analysis here, right? Go back to your roots and your
28:28
tools. The tools are the tools for
28:29
reason research has been done and while we know a lot of that
28:32
research was rooted in and euro citric viewpoints, a lot of that
28:40
stuff does still work, right? And so my, my thing would be,
28:45
remember, it's not about how your good days go, it's about
28:49
how your bad days go and about the tools that you continue to
28:52
use. What I.
28:55
Appreciate about your work is that it didn't and it hasn't
28:59
just stopped that policy and influence.
29:02
It not only happens in systems, it sometimes requires us to
29:07
build something of our own. Tell us about the social work
29:11
plug, what it is and what gaps does it fill?
29:17
I thought you never asked. So the Social Work Policy plug
29:25
is an LLC that I have created and it sits at the intersection
29:31
of social work values, political literacy, professional
29:34
accountability, right. The National Association of
29:37
Social Workers has a code of ethics and 6.04 is under the
29:44
ethical responsibility to broader society, but it
29:46
specifically says to social and political action.
29:50
Right. Social workers are called under
29:55
that ethical principle and responsibility to be involved.
29:59
They are called to advocate for better systems.
30:03
They are called to advocate for better qualities of lives, but
30:09
in political ways. And so I created the Social
30:12
Policy plug and two and, and it's, it's threefold, actually.
30:17
There's a social work aspect, a policy aspect and a plug aspect.
30:21
And so the social work aspect, I'll still do trainings and I'll
30:25
still do seminars, I'll do tool kits, right?
30:28
The policy part will be advocacy, political literacy,
30:31
right? And things of that sort.
30:34
And then a plug will be like strategic planning, strategic
30:38
partnerships, right? Connecting people.
30:40
Sometimes we're just not talking to the right people, right?
30:44
And so the social work policy plug main focus is to demystify
30:51
government and legislation and to make sure that folks can
30:54
understand it at the most basic level.
30:56
But there are some underlying goals of the social work policy
31:01
plug, and that is to get more social workers to run for
31:03
political office. Love it, need us?
31:07
So talk to us a little bit more about what inspired you to
31:09
create this at this stage in your career.
31:13
So, you know, I am at a very pivotal moment in my career.
31:18
I've been elected. October would be 10 years that
31:22
I've been unelected. All that much time has gone by.
31:26
Yeah, yeah. I've been at, I've been at my
31:29
9:00 to 5:00 for nine years. And I'm kind of sick of getting
31:36
in trouble for telling them that their policies are not working.
31:40
And so and so I want to take what in any classroom in America
31:47
would be looked at as the disruptive kid.
31:50
And I want to take that and make it something powerful.
31:53
And so I'm taking everything that I've learned from politics,
31:56
everything that I've learned from direct practice, social
31:59
work, everything I learned in school, and I'm putting it
32:02
together in one place to make things better.
32:06
For folks. I really want folks, there's a
32:09
big election coming up. The the primary election is
32:15
coming up in the state of Maryland.
32:17
So folks will vote for the governor.
32:18
They'll vote their state Delia, state senators, their County
32:22
Council members, their County Executive, their register of
32:25
wheels, I mean school board, you name it, Central committee,
32:28
they'll be voting for all these positions.
32:30
Some people don't even know what a register of wheels is, but
32:34
it's elected position or sheriff or what they do.
32:38
So educating people in these offices, because remember we
32:41
talked about those ripples that sheriff may not.
32:44
That sheriff may never affect you unless you have any
32:48
eviction, that sheriff may never affect you.
32:53
You may never come in contact with the sheriff department, The
32:57
register of wills. It might not be until your mom,
33:01
your grandma, your uncle passes before the register of wills
33:04
means anything to you. But it's important to educate
33:09
ourselves now so that when we are in those situations, which
33:12
is why I love social work so much, we know in therapy we give
33:15
our clients the tools so that when they are in those crisis
33:19
situations, they know how to handle it.
33:21
So right now, we're giving you the tools and the knowledge
33:24
about these different elected positions so that when you are
33:28
in need of something, you know who to go to, you know what to
33:31
ask for, right? And so we're empowering you now,
33:35
you know, at your baseline so that when you are in those
33:38
crises, you know exactly who and what.
33:42
Love vest, all right, beautiful people.
33:44
If this episode has already blessed you in any sort of way.
33:48
We ask that you like subscribe. Follow, share, and leave
33:52
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34:06
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34:35
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
34:38
So how would you say that your platform supports social workers
34:43
in ways that traditional systems haven't done?
34:46
I think the main thing is really when I talk about professional
34:49
accountability, I really want social workers to understand we
34:53
have an ethical responsibility to social and political action.
34:57
I am not making this up. Our responsibility to our
35:00
clients may be #1 in the code of ethics, but number six, is
35:05
broader society OK? And we have a responsibility to
35:10
engage in political systems, to make a difference, to speak up.
35:17
But why? Why just speak up when we could
35:19
be actually making the legislation?
35:21
Why just speak up when we could be those change agents?
35:27
All right. So when I listen to everything
35:29
that you've shared, from policy advocacy to business, I hear one
35:34
consistent threat responsibility.
35:38
And when you think about your work across policy, advocacy,
35:42
and now business, what does reclaiming the value of social
35:47
work truly mean to you? So look, for me, it's plain and
35:53
simple. The value of social work is
35:56
understanding that we are all different, but we all deserve
36:00
love and care and respect. I mean, that's what's at the
36:03
core, right? Respecting who we are, our
36:06
differences, but also knowing that, you know, we are somebody,
36:12
right? And that who we are should not
36:16
be dictated by what we produce. It should not be dictated by who
36:23
our parents are, right? Our our own just being right.
36:29
Is, is, is important enough? And so I am hoping that people
36:36
can see the value of social work past CPS, right?
36:40
And past even therapy, because, you know, therapy is the sexy
36:44
part of social work. But I, I want folks to see, see
36:48
past CPS and social work. I want folks to see politicians.
36:54
Social workers can be politicians.
36:59
Absolutely. See you got me over here
37:02
inspired because I've not outside of publishing my
37:06
dissertation, I haven't really used my data and you're making
37:10
me feel like is this might be the time to use it.
37:14
And we can probably talk more offline about that and how we
37:18
can use it given what's happening right now.
37:23
See you didn't, you didn't activated me right the the
37:26
obligation. A little something about
37:29
secondary data, OK, just throwing that out there.
37:33
A little something about secondary data, if you will.
37:36
So OK, I hear you. I hear.
37:41
You So what impact do you hope that your work has done and will
37:50
do for future social workers as well As for the profession as a
37:54
whole? So there's a quote that I used
37:58
to use during my first term. Now I want everybody to know
38:02
when I first got elected, I was 25 years old, and then I got
38:06
sworn in. I turned 26, guys.
38:10
My quote was I put the lit in politics.
38:14
OK, I put the lit in politics. And let me tell you why I really
38:20
want to make politics cool. I want folks to know that it's
38:24
OK to be a politician. They're not all liars,
38:27
manipulators, you know, stealing money.
38:31
That's not, I know much, many more social, social workers who
38:35
are elected and also people of other professions who are
38:39
elected. They're not doing those things
38:42
right. And so I'm hoping that my
38:45
litmus, if you will, will draw people to the profession of both
38:50
social work and politics. I'm hoping that people will see
38:53
me and say, wow, you know, look at where she came from.
38:57
Look at where she is. And ultimately that most more
39:02
social workers will run for a political office because that's
39:05
just. Where we are, it's needed, and
39:08
we have a very unique perspective that can do so much
39:15
good for this country. And see, you got me thinking
39:17
about a specific course I took with Doctor Hussein, Displaced
39:22
populations. And this was one of the times
39:25
where I'm trying to remember the context, but they were splitting
39:29
children from their families. Was it with Mexico?
39:34
I can't remember what country it was, but they were separating
39:38
the children from the families and there was no plan for
39:40
reunification. Obviously, in our discussion in
39:43
the classroom, we immediately knew what the issue was, but no
39:47
one thought of that. And so that's one of those
39:49
things that speaks to why we're needed when these decisions are
39:52
being made, especially around every sphere of life, because
39:57
social workers are there, we're at the hospitals, we're in the
39:59
schools, every every system we are there.
40:02
And. But we're not we don't have the
40:05
seats at the table. And so this is making me think
40:08
about if they don't give you a seat at the table, you bring
40:11
your own chair. And we've gone as far as
40:13
sometime is you bring your own table.
40:16
Now people are building on that, right?
40:17
Like we know, create your own table, but we also have to
40:21
understand, and I know you do change happens from within an
40:25
organization. It's resistance doesn't only
40:28
happen outside of the system. Sometimes it has to happen from
40:32
within. And so with that in mind, what
40:35
do you hope is different about the profession and your your
40:41
city, your country, you know, the state of Maryland because
40:46
you were in these rooms. Really hope, honestly, one that
40:52
people see social work in a different light.
40:54
Every room that I walk in, I tell people I'm a social worker.
40:59
I don't care what I'm doing. Oh, that's not germane to this
41:03
topic. Yes, it is.
41:04
Because I need you to know that I see people, right?
41:07
And so I'm hoping that the people I encounter recognize
41:12
that social work is not just a profession, but it's a way of
41:14
life. I am hoping that I leave
41:16
everywhere I go in a better place than what I founded in.
41:21
I'm hoping that I inspire others to do the same.
41:25
I am hoping that the next time that legislator reads a bill,
41:30
they consider the unintended consequences right, that impact
41:35
that they didn't realize or think about the last time.
41:38
And so that is my hope. And you know, if God is willing,
41:46
the social work policy plug will infiltrate every system in the
41:52
state of Maryland and, and, and we will make a.
41:56
Difference. Love that, love that.
41:59
And so, as we come to a close, if you could leave our audience
42:03
with one powerful truth to help them to rise and thrive, what
42:08
would it be? Be authentic.
42:13
Do not shrink yourself or anyone.
42:16
There's a strength in every personality trait, every
42:20
pattern, every behavior. There is strength and so do not
42:24
shrink yourself but also be mindful of your impact on
42:29
others. But be be authentic and be true
42:34
to yourself. Love that.
42:37
That is some sage advice right there.
42:39
Well, thank you again, Councilwoman McCarthy, for
42:43
joining us today on Rise and Thrive.
42:46
If people want to stay in touch with you, they want to find out
42:49
more about the social work policy plug How?
42:52
How do they do that? So if they want to find out more
42:55
about the social work policy plug, they can e-mail me
42:58
sharika@socialworkpolicyplug.com. They could also follow me on
43:03
Instagram at Social Work Policy Plug or on TikTok at Southwest
43:09
Policy Plug. And that's how you reach.
43:12
Me. All right.
43:13
I love it. Well, thank you so much for
43:15
being here with us today. And I always pray that episodes
43:20
land on the ears I need to hear and the eyes I need to see.
43:24
And this is really and truly one of those messages.
43:27
So there are moments in life where you realize your training
43:30
was never meant to confine you. It was meant to prepare you.
43:33
And for many of you watching or listening, you've been operating
43:36
in a space where your value has been minimized, overlooked, or
43:40
misunderstood. But today's conversation is a
43:44
reminder your work matters, your voice carries weight, and your
43:49
impact is not limited to where you started.
43:53
And if this conversation spoke to you, if it challenged you, if
43:57
it affirmed you, or if it stressed your perspective.
44:00
This is your invitation to stay connected.
44:03
Make sure that you are subscribed to Rise and Thrive by
44:06
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44:10
Join the community. Share this episode with someone
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44:16
leader, or someone who knows that you are called to do more,
44:20
this is a space where you can have those conversations.
44:24
Until next time, I'm Doctor J Nicole and this is Rise and
44:29
Thrive.