Blog 4: Social Workers View of Macro Practice

Here are my three interviews with social workers about macro practice and leadership.

My first interview was with my field professor Linda Gabruk. She stated that she felt macro work is time devoted to policy creation/advocacy, systems strategy, community coalitions and/or community-wide programming.  She also said that for the most part she sees macro work as work across agencies vs. internal. Linda said that a lot of her time is spent on macro work, about 50% of her work week is dedicated to macro practice although she said if we include working internally in her agency systems it is about 90%. Some things that Linda participates in that involve macro work include participating in coalitions, grant writing (that includes an impact on the community), collaborating with other organizations to provide services and developing systems to serve community residents. Important macro practice skills according to Linda include collaboration skills, writing skills, communication skills and the ability to articulate a vision.

My second interview was with another professor of mine, Judith Willison. She believes that macro work is social work practice with larger systems, where change efforts target the environment and systems including the community, policy, organizations, laws, institutional and organizational practices, etc. She also stated that she feels it includes policy level work, social advocacy, community organizing, social action, etc. Currently her work that includes macro work is about 30%. The number one thing that Judith does for macro work is teaching it at BSU. Some of the things that she participates in with macro social work are developing relationships with and bringing together multiple agencies in Boston to intervene and provide services related to violence prevention with high risk young people. She has worked doing research focused on structural correlates to violence such as poverty, institutional racism, gender disadvantage, etc. And lastly she has worked advocating for changes in laws related to parole standards, criminal record information polices, and advocacy for changes in policies related to services for people getting out of prison. Judith believes that the following leadership skills are important when working in macro practice. Engaging multiple entities effectively, forming alliances with multiple entities, communicating meaningful reasons for change, communicating clear messages about goals for change, visionary planning, eliciting the strengths and skills of others who are part of the macro practice change efforts, delegation of tasks, community outreach, motivating people and systems to change, perseverance and courage in facing adversity.

My third interview was with my supervisor from my internship, Erin Coombs. Erin defined macro practice as advocating for individuals as a whole and working with an entire community. It is not just advocating for one individual. She also said that she believes it is working with many agencies to work on change within a community. Currently Erin works with macro practice about 20%      of her work week. She is currently involved in a school wide behavior program that has been implemented at the school she works in to help change behaviors that are causing many suspensions and office referrals. Not only is she working with one individual or student to change their behavior but the program is directed towards all students within the Brockton School System. Leadership skills are very important with this program. Erin said that in order for it to be successful it is important for team members to be communicative, dedicated, positive, consistent, and patient because change will not happen overnight and she also thought that a sense of humor is important. A lot of things that she deals with can be stressful and she said that it is nice at meetings to have some laughter and humor to brighten up some of the situations.

I found it very interesting to interview three different social workers of all different occupations. With this assignment I realized that some social workers work more with macro practice than others. I actually really did not even think that my internship was considered macro practice but when Erin said the system wide behavior program I agreed. I also think that empowerment is a large part of the behavior change system. At the school we empower students to be respectful and responsible by giving them a paw when they act on these expectations. The paws are positive because the end of the week whichever class has the most gets to get extra recess as an incentive. Just like Hardina said that empowerment is focusing on the authority, control and confidence. The students receiving this paw puts them in control of their actions and if they will be able to participate in extra gym by the end of the week. Macro practice is great because instead of helping one individual achieve something you are helping an entire community be successful.

Bibliography

Hardina, D. (2003). Linkink Citizen Participation to Empowerment Practice: A Historical Overview. Journal of Community Practice , 11-38.