Episode 35: Revolutionizing Social Work | A Reasoning Session with Causha

Links:

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/rnbm2S0ecZM
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4bqcohokteNw8IbgH7XxAL
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-critical-social-worker-a-revolutionary/id1707774608
• Podbean: https://thecritialsocialworker.podbean.com

The Host

The Host of The Critical Social Worker is Christian Ace Stettler. This is the 35th episode of this podcast. He is a professor of social work at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He met the guest at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in 2015.

The Guest

The special guest on this episode is Causha. This is Causha’s second appearance on The Critical Social Worker. Causha is black, queer, and non-binary. They are what they call a soul worker, they do not like to be called a social worker because they believe that the profession has shifted away from it original purpose.

Healing from Grief

Healing centered approach is the healing that happens after the trauma informed care. They ask, ”Are you healing, or are you distracted?” They says that healing doesn’t go up like an escalator . No matter how they feel, they need to know how to walk themselves out of it, so they can help others walk themselves out of that too. They noticed that in a lot of professions and in parenting, they help others through their problems before they help themselves. They say that it is important to hold ourselves accountable.

Right now, their is a collective grief that feels dystopian. It is similar to Covid 19. It makes everyone miserable, and they are trying to help others, but the grief and devastation stays. Who will help them? As time passes, it gets better, but it has never been addressed, so where does it go?

I have felt a grief like this for so long, it is true that it has to be addressed before it gets better.

Palestine

Stettler finds that he feel removed from what is happening in Palestine but is in Solidarity with Palestinians. Causha says that they also stands with the Palestinian people, on the side of the oppressed. They say that the conflict was brought to them in 2016. Palestine was brought to Stettler’s attention through a guest teacher, Angela Davis. She wrote a book about Palestine and it went along with the concept of solidarity with the oppressed.

I agree that it is disappointing that people are only finding out about the Palestinian plight now. I have known about the Palestinian conflict my entire life. My Aunt, her husband, and all of her children, except for one, were all killed in their family home in Gaza, from a bomb. My Uncle still lives in Gaza, and my mother does not have any way to contact him now. The way that the media has twisted what has happened in Gaza has been harrowing. It is like they lifted a curtain, and showed what they were really like. And I agree that it is definitely necessary to be aware of what is going on in the world, as social workers, I have always attempted to pay attention to any crisis going on worldwide.

This is not the only genocide or devastation that is happening globally.

Revolutionizing Social Work

They talk about how social work is largely transactional. The client pays and the social worker gives them a service. They notice that in this transaction, the humanity is left behind. It is also an incredibly busy job. They compare it to capitalism and explain why capitalism and humanity can not co-exist.

Causha talks about how Stettler facilitating a classroom from the perspective of talking circles is so important. They says that when they used to teach an MSW program at UH, that students were not used to being put on the spot, and how it is important to contribute to the next generation of social workers.

Stettler says that social workers are supposed to be the ear to confide in. He says that in a lot of the roughest cases, they still wanted someone to talk to. He also says that they haven’t been that because thy are so busy, so distracted. Causha argues that it is a two way road. What is the client doing when they go into a session? How do they book their appointments? How do they represent themselves in their session? They say that therapists guide their clients through intense and personal spiritual process. The client also has to do their work to make sure that they have got the right person to guide them. ”We are not responsible for our trauma, but we are responsible for our healing. ”

Stettler says that sometimes a social worker’s role isn’t finding the solution to the problem, but instead, it is helping the individual realising that they already have the wisdom and the knowledge to be able to find that on their own.

Causha’s Personal Journey

Causha asks themselves how they contributes to their own suffering. They conflate it to social work, why are you a social worker? Why are you here? They noticed that some people in their MSW only joined that program because they didn’t get into a different program. They feel that it is up to them to keep up their healing journey because they are also responsible for the healing journey of others. Causha has stepped away from working with clients when they feel like they are not in the right mindset.

They hate that there is nothing they can personally do. They say that they could march, they could do other things, but the pain won’t stop. The grief won’t go away. Nonetheless, they say that it is important to make space inside of them for people who also feel that way.

They say that they are holding onto grief that was passed down from their first captured ancestor. Grief that was never addressed, grief that simmered. This sounds like generational trauma. The way that it passes down is because they never addressed it, and they pass down bad habits that were born from past grief and trauma. That habit continues to pass down until someone notices it, and addresses it.

Embracing Different Perspectives

A significant part of the episode was about how listening to many different voices is important. Stettler mentions that even when we watch the news, we are listening to the news that we agree with what they believe in. We are all busy, we are all distracted. Causha’s provide a new perspective on the importance of inclusive and empathetic practices, She says, ”I think that it is important that everyone is challenging themselves.” They spend time out of their day to try to force meaningful conversations on people who have previously refused to see other opinions. She is right about how important it is. If they never see outside of themselves, and only listen to like minded opinion, it will be like an echo chamber, where they only listen to others bounce their own opinion back at them.