Fall 2024 Issue

Editor’s Note: Show Me the Money
By Kate Jackson
Social Work Today
Vol. 24 No. 4 P. 4

In the editor’s note of a recent issue, I requested reader feedback about social work salaries and promised an upcoming story on the subject, which remains a leading concern for social workers. It’s here. In the cover story of this issue, “It’s Time to Talk About Money,” Sue Coyle, MSW, addresses the current state of pay and its impact on professionals.

“While social workers don’t enter the profession for the pay,” she writes, “without better compensation, some, if not many, may leave because of the lack of it.” It’s a significant problem all on its own, but given the dire shortage of social workers, anything that contributes to an exodus from the profession should land at the top of the list of issues to be addressed. Still, as Coyle notes, there aren’t easy answers or quick fixes. She explores the factors contributing to stagnant compensation levels, the impact of pressure to engage in unpaid labor, the reduction in enrollment and retention levels in social work programs, and the overall consequences of a failure to course correct. As one source told her, “I don’t think that social work will have a future if nothing changes.”

Look, too, in this issue, for reader feedback in Letters to the Editor. Michael Walters, a social worker in Deposit, New York, points to what he perceives as a widespread lack of understanding about labor issues and calls upon social work programs to include courses on the US labor movement, workers’ rights, and more.

Other features in this issue include “Intergenerational Trauma: Breaking the Toxic Cycle,” by Taryne Knott, NSSW, LSW, which explores perspectives about trauma-informed services and the paucity of research on the subject.

Scott Janssen, MA, MSW, LCSW, in “Grief After Pregnancy Loss,” looks at the way men and women grieve differently and the often overlooked suffering of men whose partners experience a miscarriage or stillbirth.

Addressing a different aspect of loss, Brittany Nwachuku, EdD, LCSW, LISW-S, a board-certified oncology social worker, writes about “Motherless Mothering”—the challenges of giving birth after losing one’s own mother.

Finally, department pieces look at supporting field instructors, somatic play therapy in the treatment of childhood trauma, artificial intelligence in social work, the latest Title IX updates, and digital support for individuals struggling with substance use.

— Kate Jackson
kjackson@gvpub.com