School faculty members present, assist government leaders
by Matthew Smith
Social work comes in many forms, from a therapist working with a client on their mental health to a child welfare advocate preventing neglect and abuse.
But there’s another role social workers can play at the local, state and national levels — that of policy shaper.
At its heart, social work is a job that connects people with others. That gives social workers unique positioning when lawmakers seek to write or change policies. From mental health care and health equity to senior living and beyond, social workers play a key role when legislators need experts to help them navigate what is going on in their communities.
Part of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work’s curriculum focuses on macro social work. This sector is a broad field that focuses on changing or repairing large-scale issues that affect entire groups, communities and cultures.
Health equity
Last September, Sandra Reeves Spears and John B. Turner Distinguished Professor of Social Work Trenette Clark Goings was invited to speak to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The U.S. GAO is a nonpartisan government agency that provides evaluative, auditing and investigate services for Congress.
The organization wanted to gather expert recommendations to Congress for how to improve health disparities and health equity across the country. Goings said she was honored to speak to the group.
“I felt like it was my duty to make sure that they heard voices and stories that they may not have heard before,” Goings said. “I was hoping the stories I had to share from those in the communities I work with would be so compelling that they would want to act.”
Goings detailed how health policies had changed since COVID-19 and provided 10 recommendations for how Congress could reach greater health equity. That included both short-term and long-term interventions.
“For me it was about being as clear as possible,” she said. “It was about making recommendations that were not lofty, but were clear, practical and could actually be acted on.”
Goings said that in her experience, government leaders like to see quantitative data — hard numbers and facts — but that by tying data to personal stories, a huge impact can be made.
Some of her suggestions included centering health equity in policies and programs, increasing health equity trainings, making health care affordable, increasing the number of Black, Indigenous and other people of color as providers, and increasing mental health services for veterans.
Goings said her main goal was to connect her audience to the communities she serves.
“I was hopeful that I would present such a compelling case that a couple of my recommendations would be submitted to Congress and ask that decisions be made,” she said. “Connecting them to how health care challenges – like suddenly receiving a $2,000 bill – can affect a family, can be combated through equity practices is important. I kept asking myself, ‘How do I connect to reach both their minds and hearts?’”
Childhood mental health services
Professor Paul Lanier also had the opportunity to meet with legislative staff.
Lanier’s research into mental health services for children and youth became of interest to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. On June 12, the committee held a hearing to discuss the care of children at residential treatment facilities.
As a researcher, Lanier has spent years studying the topic.
“Members of the committee said they were putting together a report about care at youth residential treatment facilities (RTFs),” Lanier said. “During their research they ran across some of the papers that colleagues and I had written about the topic. I had the opportunity to have a series of conversations back and forth with their staff members about the research and how they were interpreting it as they were thinking about new policies and solutions to the problems faced at RTFs.”
“You want your research and evidence to be useful. That fact that I’m getting to help fill out part of this larger picture that will help others is gratifying. It’s why we do the work.”
— Professor Paul Lanier
Like Goings, Lanier was happy to share his expertise on the subject.
“Policymakers cannot be experts on every single thing,” he said. “They’re not mental health providers or social work researchers; they’re really relying on you to explain and interpret the evidence for them. That’s where social workers get to step in.”
A major component of Lanier’s job is making sure that his academic research is translational to the public.
“We went back, did our homework, and reviewed our work to make sure we understood the evidence,” Lanier said. “We have to be able to explain it in a way that makes practical sense and helps leaders understand what the data really means for people. In our case, families want to know that when they send their children to a residential treatment facility it’s helping (their child). As a parent and as a taxpayer you’re trusting that the facilities and their treatments work and are helpful.”
This month the committee released its report, “Warehouses of Neglect: How Taxpayers are Funding Systemic Abuse in Youth Residential Treatment Facilities.” The report provides recommendations to improve facility services, including raising the bar for care standards, greater legislative oversight, and prioritizing the availability and utilization of community-based services for children with behavioral health needs, among others.
“It’s validating as a social worker,” Lanier said about the opportunity to discuss his research with legislative leaders and aides. “You want your research and evidence to be useful. That fact that I’m getting to help fill out part of this larger picture that will help others is gratifying. It’s why we do the work.”
Assisted living industry
Joining Goings and Lanier, Kenan Flagler Bingham Distinguished Professor Sheryl Zimmerman and the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL@UNC) had an opportunity to make their voices heard this winter.
In January, a national spotlight shined on assisted living at a hearing led by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. Experts at the hearing shared issues the assisted living industry faces, from staffing concerns to rising costs and resident safety.
CEAL@UNC provided a statement for the Congressional Record to the committee, while also issuing recommendations for improved care and outcomes for the industry. Those recommendations included endorsing standardized reporting, expanding Medicaid coverage, and ways to provide more sufficient staffing, among others.
The center’s recommendations may go a long way in helping Congress reexamine the assisted living industry model to ensure it is meeting the needs of those it serves.
Model for students
Along with potentially helping millions through their presentations and expertise, the School faculty’s willingness to work with legislators, government agencies and staffers have an added benefit of modeling macro social work to students.
“It’s a fantasy to think you’re going to be a direct practice social worker and not be affected by the law,” Lanier said. “That’s part of your job as a social worker. This is a great opportunity for direct practice social workers to see how their perspective and expertise can be valuable at the macro level.”
Goings agreed, saying she hopes she’s providing a framework for students to model.
“We’re (showing) students and alumni the importance of doing work that informs policy and hopefully leads to policy amendments,” she said. “You can say it’s important to do this work, but actually going out and doing it is a different thing. It’s not expected of us.
“I hope that we’re showing them how it’s done to make change. I would love to see us doing more in the policy arena because I think that has the ability to make major change in our country.”
For the School, having its faculty helping legislators can only fuel its mission.
“It definitely further solidifies the value of the School as a trusted, objective source of information in new areas for our partners,” Lanier said. “As a state school, we take very seriously our commitment to serving by providing the data lawmakers need to do their jobs.”
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