John T. Butler, S.J., Haub Vice President for the Division of Mission and Ministry at Boston College, said that social workers and Jesuit priests share the same charge: to make the world a better place for people on the margins of society.聽
鈥淭he Jesuit should show himself ready to reconcile the estranged, compassionately assist and serve those in prisons and hospitals, and perform any other work of charity, according to what will seem expedient for the glory of God and the common good,鈥 Butler said, reading from The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms on Monday, October 21 in the Yawkey Athletics Center. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what social workers do. They reconcile the estranged, they make love tangible to those on the margins, to those who suffer, to those who have no voice, to those who feel alone.鈥
Speaking at the Boston College School of Social Work鈥檚 annual Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Lecture and Distinguished Alumni Awards Celebration, Fr. Butler told dozens of students, faculty, staff, and alumni that 自慰视频SSW has an obligation to prepare social workers in training to 鈥済o into the messiness of the world鈥 to tackle global scourges such as hunger while developing policies and practices that foster the common good.聽
He said that social workers who dedicate their careers to improving the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities in need are 鈥渇ulfilling their prophetic roles and staying true鈥 to the mission of the Society of Jesus, which was founded in 1540 by St. Ignatius of Loyola.
鈥淚 think our professional schools are literally linked to the founding principles of what the Society of Jesus was about,鈥 he said, referring to 自慰视频SSW, the Law School, the Connell School of Nursing, and the Clough School of Theology and Ministry.聽
During his talk, Fr. Butler also extolled the virtues of 自慰视频鈥檚 long-held commitment to formative education鈥攁 guided process pioneered by St. Ignatius of Loyola that helps students find purpose, live fulfilling lives, and understand the world around them.
His focus on formative education dovetailed with the theme of the year for 自慰视频SSW鈥檚 Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Initiative, 鈥淐ontemplation in Formation,鈥 which is calling on students to make sense of their experiences and identify their deepest desires through self-reflection, off-campus retreats, and collaboration with communities to solve complex social problems.聽
Fr. Butler described self-reflection as an essential feature of 鈥渨hat it means to be human鈥 and said that it鈥檚 a crucial component of a three-step strategy for social workers looking to serve others鈥攁 strategy that he laid out in his speech.聽
First, he urged social workers to pay close attention to the world around them, 鈥渢o take time out to notice things.鈥 Then, he advised social workers to reflect on how they feel as a result of what they have seen and consider why that might be.
鈥淲hy did I get excited when I saw a tree? Why did I feel hopeful when I heard some music? And you start to go into yourself and you start to reflect on where that came from,鈥 he said. 鈥淲hat in your history can you connect to beauty or pain or suffering? Or where did you feel marginalized? Or where were you pushed away? Or where were you hurt? Or where did you celebrate love? Or where did you feel accepted?鈥
Finally, Fr. Butler recommended social workers act out of love to remedy the problems that they鈥檝e witnessed鈥攑roblems that they may have faced in their own lives.
鈥淚 dare say for many of you, that鈥檚 why you鈥檙e social workers,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou were attentive to something and it either resonated in your life or it was so disjunctive to your life that you said 鈥榯his isn鈥檛 right.鈥 And then you were compelled to do something about it鈥攖o reconcile the estranged, to heal the hurting, to bring about some peace.鈥
There were questions. One audience member, a scientist who works in the pharmaceutical industry, asked Fr. Butler how corporations can create support systems for employees that provide the same level of guidance that universities such as 自慰视频 offer students.聽
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 more and more things happening in the world today. We鈥檙e not good with health care. We鈥檙e very bad with mental health care,鈥 Fr. Butler said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 more and more assistance programs that companies are implementing to try to deal with that.鈥
Then he turned to the role that social workers can play in helping clients develop strong social networks that they can rely on in times of hardship no matter where they are in life. 鈥淲hat good social workers do is start to help the client or the patient develop support networks that stay with them throughout life that they can pull on,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e have the ability, if we help people, to start to do the networking and the structures that come with us.鈥
Taiga Guterres, M.S.W./M.A.鈥22, who moderated the Q&A, asked Fr. Butler to reflect on the idea that educators, social workers, and others who help people for a living are on a never-ending journey to support people in need. Will there ever be a time when their work is finished, he wanted to know, when they have arrived at that elusive, final destination of true peace, justice, and equality?
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any arrival. I don鈥檛 think if you鈥檙e a real scholar, I don鈥檛 think if you're a real lover of humanity, I don鈥檛 think if you鈥檙e a real helper, you ever feel 鈥業鈥檓 there,鈥欌 Fr. Butler said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always more to learn, there鈥檚 always more to explore. There鈥檚 always more to do. You鈥檙e never really going to arrive because there鈥檚 always going to be something new and there鈥檚 going to be a different horizon, and there鈥檚 going to be a new person you meet that鈥檚 going to need you.鈥
After the Q&A, 自慰视频SSW honored two alumni for their impressive contributions to the field of social work. The School celebrates two graduates at the event every year, bestowing one award upon an alum who earned an M.S.W. or Ph.D. 10 or more years ago and another award upon an alum who earned an advanced degree between five and 10 years ago.
Sheilah M. Gauch, B.A. 鈥96, M.S.W. 鈥01, received the Distinguished Alumni Award.
In her acceptance speech, Gauch recalled how her two children were diagnosed with 鈥攃onditions that involve brain inflammation and have been linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and other behavioral changes.聽
She then described how she鈥檚 used her knowledge of PANS/PANDAS to shape her professional agenda, including her work as the principal and clinical director of Dearborn Academy, a therapeutic day school in Newton, Massachusetts.
But Gauch first took attendees back to 2009, to a family trip to Disney World, when her oldest son, then 7, experienced an acute onset of panic, irrational fears, and separation anxiety. He started trying to jump out of moving cars, she said, and required nine weeks of inpatient hospitalization that year. At the same time, her 5-year-old also experienced an acute onset of OCD, separation anxiety, rage, and aggression.聽
鈥榃hen my children became sick, I resolved myself to have them heal. I used every tool I knew as a professional, but they weren鈥檛 getting better,鈥 Gauch recalled. 鈥淲e had a full Department of Mental Health team. We had the police arriving at least once a week. As our youngest was progressively becoming more acute, suicidal, and aggressive, we feared we might lose him to suicide. We were hiding knives, praying every day we would wake up and he would still be with us.鈥
While her children were in the throes of illness, Gauch met another mom who brought up the possibility that they may have PANS/PANDAS. Gauch had never heard of PANS/PANDAS, but she was desperate, she said, and took her kids to the doctor, who diagnosed both of them with the conditions and put them on a regimen of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories. The medications worked.
鈥淚 watched my son be pulled off a cliff of suicidality, the likes of which I have never seen in my entire career as a social worker,鈥 Gauch recalled. 鈥淗is OCD abated, his aggression calmed. For the first time in six years, I felt we had hope that my children might heal. And if my children had been missed, how many children have been missed? With that hope, I decided maybe I could actually leave my house and see if there were other caregivers like me.鈥
Over the past several years, Gauch has become a leading advocate in the fight against PANS/PANDAS. She鈥檚 championed the passage of legislation that requires healthcare providers to cover the treatment of sick children in Massachusetts with PANS/PANDAS; established a permanent Department of Public Health advisory council for PANS/PANDAS; and聽 co-founded the National Alliance of PANS/PANDAS Action, which is pushing the National Institutes of Health to generate more research for the conditions.
At Dearborn Academy, Gauch is part of a team that, she said, consistently does what鈥檚 best for students and caregivers. 鈥淯sing what I was learning from my own experience, we created robust programming for our caregivers,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e took out stigmatizing language from our school, and we replaced it with person-first language. You will not hear the words 鈥榙isrespectful,鈥 鈥榣azy,鈥 鈥榩rovocative,鈥 鈥榦ppositional,鈥 鈥榤anipulative,鈥 or 鈥榙efiant.鈥 And then we went one step further. We developed our diagnostic consult model. We brought in a psychiatric nurse practitioner. And we began to offer deep dives for students who seem treatment resistant.鈥
What Gauch and her colleagues have found has stunned everyone involved. Students who have attempted to end their lives, who have spent prolonged periods of time hospitalized, who have had medical conditions that have been missed such as PANS/PANDAS, Lyme disease, and acute thyroiditis鈥攖hey have all begun to heal. They have made friends, set goals for themselves, and enrolled in college.聽
Her own youngest child, she said, who couldn鈥檛 read in eighth grade, received an academic scholarship to Massachusetts Maritime Academy and is thriving as a starter on the football team. Her oldest child is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is considering medical school.聽
鈥淎s a social worker, when I learned about PANS/PANDAS, I turned and ran toward the science,鈥 Gauch said. 鈥淭he science can revolutionize mental health as we know it, but we have to be open to learning new things. This isn鈥檛 either medical or mental health. This is both.鈥
She urged social workers to investigate the link between suicide and inflammation, pointing to the thousands of articles on the topic in the 自慰视频 Libraries, and she underscored the urgency to address the connection by noting that suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 10 to 14 and 20 to 24.聽
鈥淲e are just the group to demand change and lead the way, build bridges among providers, caregivers, and clients, and revolutionize how we talk about and care for those with mental health needs,鈥 she said.
Rebecca Camargo, M.S.W.鈥15, received the Distinguished Recent Alumni Award.
She鈥檚 dedicated her professional life to reducing homelessness nationwide. One year after graduating from the M.S.W. program, she was hired as the first director of resident services for the Newton, Massachusetts, Housing Authority. Her accomplishments at the city鈥檚 largest provider of affordable housing included developing mental health services for low-income residents, creating an annual survey to collect feedback from tenants, and increasing the amount of yearly grant funding to the Resident Services Department from $12,500 to nearly $300,000.
For the past two years, she鈥檚 worked as a consultant for Focus Strategies, a firm that provides communities throughout the United States with strategic, data-informed solutions to reduce homelessness.
鈥淎ny success that I have as an individual is the product of the strength and nourishment of so many others that have come before me and who make up my community,鈥 said Camargo, who thanked her family in attendance for inspiring her to achieve greatness.聽
Roc铆o Calvo, professor and founding director of 自慰视频SSW鈥檚 Latinx Leadership Initiative, recalled meeting Camargo in one of her classes in 2013. Calvo said that she was particularly impressed by a presentation Camargo made on volunteerism and persuaded her to become part of a then burgeoning cohort-based program that prepares students to work with Latinx communities to create sustainable solutions to complex problems.
鈥淚 put one of my smooth moves, and I said, 鈥楻ebecca Camargo, I want to profile you. Are you Latina? Do you speak Spanish?鈥 Calvo recalled, drawing laughter from the audience. 鈥淎nd she鈥檚 like, 鈥榃hat?鈥 And I said, 鈥榊ou are in the LLI.鈥澛
Calvo acknowledged Camargo for helping to shape the success of the award-winning program, which marked its 10-year anniversary with a daylong symposium in March, and described her as 鈥渢he catalyst for what the LLI is today.鈥
鈥淵ou showed me the way. I鈥檝e been learning since then. I admire what you do,鈥 Calvo said in her introduction of Camargo. 鈥淎nd I just want to not only congratulate you, but to thank you for showing me where to go.鈥
Camargo, for her part, said that she is not doing enough on her own to improve the health and well-being of people on the margins of society. But she acknowledged the 自慰视频SSW alumni community, of which she is now a member, for its collective efforts to address some of the world鈥檚 most pressing social problems.聽
鈥淚, Rebecca Camargo, am not solely doing enough to tip the scales and to correct the systemic failures that let down our communities every day. But this community, this network of promising and passionate alumni social workers, might be doing enough,鈥 she said. 鈥淥n my most hopeful days, I think we as a community of alumni are making change collectively鈥攃hange that is real, that can be felt and seen and measured, and that is moving the needle toward justice. So for that, I鈥檓 so proud to be part of this collective.鈥