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EP108: EcoSocial Work

How can social workers help communities deal with environmental issues? Listen to this discussion with Rachel Forbes, MSW, and Kelly Smith, DSW, editors of the NASW Press book EcoSocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy.

Since the earliest days of social work practice, social workers have dealt with environmental issues, advocating alongside diverse populations to address disproportionate environmental impacts on systemically marginalized populations including those living in poverty, populations of color, persons with disabilities, and women. In the face of the accelerating climate crisis, social workers must proactively engage with clients and communities and respond to the growing impacts of environmental injustices.

Learn how social workers are addressing environmental issues from Rachel Forbes, MSW, Associate Professor of the Practice of Social Work and Western Colorado MSW Program Director at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and Kelly Smith, DSW, founder and the director of the Institute of Social Work and Ecological Justice, and a social work instructor at Columbia University and the Adelphi University. They are the editors of the NASW Press book EcoSocial Work: Environmental Practice and Advocacy.

Our host for this episode is NASW member Elisabeth Joy LaMotte, LICSW, founder of the DC Counseling and Psychotherapy Center and author of "Overcoming Your Parents’ Divorce." She serves on the Board of Advisors of her graduate school, the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice, the Trustees' Council of Penn Women, and the board of NASW’s Private Practice Section Committee.

Posted Nov. 13, 2023