MEMBER CONNECT
MEET THE NASW-NJ UNION UNIT! by Hannah Korn-Heilner, MSW
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eginning my term as the NASW-NJ Union Unit Leader during the middle of a global pandemic seemed daunting at first! I was nervous about hosting virtual meetings where I did not know the participants, and did not know who, if anyone, would attend! One thing I underestimated was the power of relationships. Although many people are feeling Zoom-ed out after a year of pandemic, relationships are the foundation of our profession. I think many social workers have missed being able to connect with each other during the past year. One routine I’ve started is to begin our meetings with a round of introductions. At first it felt awkward! I was worried some people would not want to share or feel it was a waste of time. However, I have been surprised at how such a simple routine can build a feeling of community. Even more so, I think the introductions help people feel heard and seen. We have had new students participate, recent graduates, retired social workers, and new members attending their first NASW meeting! Each person is warmly welcomed and we congratulate those
with recent accomplishments! Being able to connect with so many new social workers has reenergized me in the midst of this pandemic and I hope it has done the same for our members. Of course, introductions are just the beginning. I also needed to find topics and presenters who were engaging and offered new information for members. So, we sent out a survey in September to find out what topics our Unit members were interested in. One of the biggest responses we received was for more information about racism and social justice. While NASW-NJ has done an incredible job providing a slew of programming addressing racism in their Race, Responsibility, and Reconciliation series, I was excited to see that members still wanted to learn more. I did some research on the Instagram accounts of Black Lives Matter groups in New Jersey. I learned they were doing really great work focused on mutual aid—a process where a community comes together to support one another. This approach seemed to align with social work values, and I thought it might be new information social workers would want to learn about. With some
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