Social Work: Participants from CISWH’s Beyond Defense Summit Publish Early Insights About the Challenges Facing the Profession 

Social workers are navigating growing demands amid shrinking resources, internal pressures, and a rapidly changing political and financing landscape. A recently published article in the journal, Social Work, is one of the first to emerge from the recent powerful summit, Beyond Defense: Transforming Social Work During Dangerous Times, hosted by the Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health (CISWH) at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW). The event featured attendees using participatory system dynamics to visually depict the complexities of social work practice in this current moment.  

“Reclaiming Social Work’s Value and Voice,” was co-authored by Dr. Tami Gouveia, director of CISWH at BUSSW, Betty J. Ruth, CISWH strategy consultant and BUSSW clinical professor emerita, and BUSSW Dean Barbara Jones, along with researchers, faculty, practitioners, and policymakers from across the profession. 

CISWH will continue to build upon this initial convening and the early insights shared in this editorial to advance social work’s collective understanding of these complex dynamics, identify opportunities for professional movement building, and engage in action strategies to change them. 

Read the full editorial here.