Public Health Social Work Where Are the LEADERS? 2nd Annual Public Health Social Work Leadership Summit June 3-4, 2011 Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Public Health The science of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of health lifestyles, and research for disease and injury prevention. Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as neighborhoods, or as big as an entire country. (www.whatispublichealth.org)

Social Work The purpose of social work is to promote or restore a mutually beneficial interaction between individuals and society in order to improve the quality of life for everyone. This purpose is achieved through the application of professional social work values, principles and practice methods. (Dubois, Brenda and Karlo K.Miley, ((992) Social Work: An Empowering Profession, pp 5-6).

Leadership Leadership has been described as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. It’s about how leaders get extraordinary things done in organizations. It’s about the practices leaders use to turn challenging opportunities into successes.

Five Components of Leadership Moral Purpose-acting with the intention of making a positive difference in the lives of employees, customers, and society as a whole. Understanding the Change Process-it is less about a strategy and more about strategizing.

Five Components (Con’t) Relationship Building-leaders must be consummate relationship builders with diverse people and groups—especially with people different than themselves. Effective leaders constantly foster purposeful interaction and problem solving and are wary of easy consensus.

Five Components (Con’t) Knowledge Creation and Sharing-establishing knowledge sharing practices is as much a route to creating collaborative cultures as knowledge creation. This means that the organization must frame the giving and receiving of knowledge as a responsibility and must reinforce such sharing through incentives and opportunities to engage in it.

Five Components (Con’t) Coherence Making—leaders need to go about coherence making while retaining the awareness that persistent coherence is a dangerous thing. Effective leadership means guiding people through the differences and indeed enabling differences to surface. Fullan, Michael, Leading in a Culture of Change, pp.5-109.

Public Health Social Work An Epidemiological approach to identifying social problems affecting the health status and social functioning of all population groups, with an emphasis on intervention at the primary prevention level. (Public Health Social Work Standards and Competencies, May 2005)

Public Health Social Work

Challenges State Layoffs; Afraid that social work services would be the first to be eliminated; Replacing public health social workers with nurses or other disciplines; Limited social work presence at the state and federal level; and Retirements.

Where are the Leaders? YOU ARE THE LEADERS “Leadership gives you a seat at the table.” Leadership allows you to present your case and agenda to the powers that be. It allows you to operationalize your values to have a humane workforce, promote egalitarianism, treat everyone equally and prevent discrimination against women and persons of color. It enables you to be voice for the disenfranchised.” NASW President James J. Kelly,NASW News, Volume 56, Number 5, May 2011

Steps for the New Public Health Social Work Leadership---YOU Be very clear about the role of social work, especially public health social work; Assure our prevention role is not lost; Become more flexible about our service delivery systems; Get out of the clinics and become more community based; Recapture our community organization role;

Steps for the New Public Health Social Work Leadership--YOU (Con’t.) Be aware of the medical model to one more in line with social health care, and assert and demonstrate successfully our expertise; Be cost effective, accountable, efficient and shed our image of “well intended”; Learn to sell our services to other organizations and partner with schools, primary care centers, and physician practices;

Steps for the New Public Health Social Work Leadership---YOU (con’t) Learn the concept of marketing; Broaden our artillery of services; We must plan now for our long-term future, before it is planned for us; and finally, With the environment changing as it is, we must learn to create new opportunities for ourselves and examine what changes we need to make, either in our training or in our service delivery. Change and Challenge: MCH Social Workers Make the Difference, Proceedings of the Bi-Regional Conference, Regions IV-VI, June 11-14, 1995.

Develop Existing Leadership Skill Sets Public Speaking Program Development Social Policy Involvement & Development Working with Diverse constituencies NASW News, Volume 56, Number 5, May 2011

Opportunities for Public Health Social Work Leaders---YOU Affordable Care Act—A health care law that aims to improve our current health care system by increasing access to health coverage for Americans and introduce new protection for people who have insurance. This act will make available numerous grants to states.

Opportunities for Public Health Social Work Leaders---YOU (Con’t.) National Association of Social Workers (NASW); State Public Health Associations; Leadership Institutes; The Association of State and Territorial Social Workers (ASTPHSW); Other Local, State, Federal & Social Work Coalitions, Organizations, Associations, etc.

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. Territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the 120,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to assuring excellence in state-based public health practice. Vision: Healthy people thriving in a nation free of preventable illness and injury.  Mission: To transform public health within states and territories to help members dramatically improve health and wellness. 

ASTHO Affiliates ASTHO engages the expertise of a formally linked network of organizations dedicated to the concerns of state/territorial health departments. There are currently 20 affiliated organizations representing directors of divisions within state/territorial health departments. These associations function independently, yet cooperatively with ASTHO to develop and promote sound public health policy.

ASTHO Affiliates Association of Health Facility Agencies, Association of Immunization Managers, Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Association of Public Health Laboratories, Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors, Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing, Association of State and Territorial Health Liaison Officials, Association of State and Territorial Nutrition Directors, National Association of State Offices of Minority Health, National Public Health Information Coalition, Safe States Alliance Association of State and Territorial Social Workers, (ASTPHSW), Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Directors of Health Promotion and Education, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, National Association of Public Health Statistics and Information Systems, National Association of State EMS Officers, National Association of Vector-Borne Disease Control Officials, and National Coalition of STD Directors

ASSOCIATION OF STATE AND TERRITORAL PUBLIC HEALTH SOCIAL WORKERS (ASTPHSW) ASTPHSW is dedicated to optimal social functioning of individuals and families through education, communication and advocacy with the following activities: to develop and maintain a broad based membership comprised of persons from the United States and its territories; to support a forum for the exchange of ideas, information sharing and discussions of mutual concerns among social workers in public health; to promote improved social work practices affecting clients; and to advocate for public policy that improves communities and the life of families.

ASTPHSW’S VISION Healthy people thriving in a nation free of preventable illness and injury.

ASTPHSW’S MISSION Transforming public health within states and territories to help members dramatically improve health and wellness.

YOUR Involvement is NEEDED ASTPHSW needs your ideas, efforts and input on activities to accomplish the mission and make the vision happen. As members there are opportunities to work on a variety of committees, such as, Executive Committee, Membership Committee, Infrastructure Committee and others.

Membership & Annual Dues Regular $100 Regular Organizational $100 Associate $ 50 Student $ 35 Non-Profit Organizational $250 For-Profit Organizational $450

THANK YOU!! Kathy G. Burk, LCSW, CPM State WIC Director/ASTPHSW President Mississippi State Department of Health 805 South Wheatley Street, Suite 400 Ridgeland, MS 39157 (601) 991-6000 Kathy.Burk@msdh.state.ms.us