FROM THE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Friends & Colleagues,

Welcome to social work month, 2023! We are thrilled to celebrate, champion and honor the hard work that you do daily.

This year’s theme for social work month is “Social Workers Break Barriers” and we know that for the social workers in our community, nothing could be more true. Over the years, we have seen you break barriers by leading critical community conversations, diving in and leading our Race and Responsibility work, and advocating to make New Jersey a more fair and just state for all. We have seen you lead the discussion about what it looks like for social workers to work alongside police. We have seen you lead in social work technology and innovation, leading the nation’s conversation about what social workers are—and where we lead. We have watched you lead in therapy offices and nonprofit organizations, striving to make families and communities stronger and more vibrant.

We have heard you rally behind critical professional issues across the state, leading in the call to eliminate the ASWB exam from our licensing requirements and demanding reparations for those impacted.

You are breaking barriers every day, in every space.

This month we hope you’ll allow us the opportunity to celebrate you. We are doing so by hosting a mix of in person and online events, offering free continuing education programming to our New Jersey members, and hosting self-care events such as reiki and a virtual cooking class. We have fun giveaways planned and will be speaking at events across the state to honor your contributions.

We hope this month you will help us capture the stories of social workers like yourself, who are breaking barriers. You can do so through the Institute of Oral History for Social Work, a free online program that will allow you to interview a colleague or friend to ensure their story of breaking boundaries will be captured for generations to come. You can learn more about the effort we launched in 2023 here

This Social Work Month, we invite you to take a pause, reflect on your contributions and celebrate one another. There is truly no greater profession than social work and no better community of change agents than the one we have built in New Jersey.

We’re proud to be your association and honor you. Thank you for all that you do.

In solidarity, Widian & Jennifer