Organization with 1,200 members partners with college in Palos Heights
Area students studying to be social workers as well as those already in the profession will have a new resource they can draw upon at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, which recently joined forces with the 1,200-member North American Christians in Social Work organization.
NACSW recently relocated from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and brings with it quarterly continuing education training for social work faculty, conferences as well as internships. NACSW’s sister organization is the National Association of Social Workers, which has about 150,000 members.
As a new social media intern for the organization, Mariah Conway is getting a firsthand look at why Trinity wanted this organization to join its campus.
Conway has gotten to know its members and see their dedication to social work and their calling as Christians. That wouldn’t have come through from textbooks.
“I feel God really perfectly placed us for work to be done and I really feel like with this connection, I’m learning more and more about what that truly means,” Conway said. “At the core of it there is most definitely a calling to work with individuals and communities.”
Allison Tan, assistant professor of social work, was instrumental in bringing the Christian social work organization to the college. She said persuading Trinity Provost Aaron Kuecker and President Kurt Dykstra was an “easy sell.”
“Probably the thing I am most excited about is … we can tap into all the students on campus and really have the opportunity to give them this beautiful mutual relationship, a really meaningful internship and just kind of experiential learning, while at the same time NACSW benefits because internships can replace things paying consultants do,” Tan said.
Tan, who has been attending NACSW since she was a sophomore in college, was a board member from 2013 to 2019, the last two years as board president.
“It just really stuck for me and was a place that helped connect the dots for me … to understand what it meant to be both a Christian and social worker,” Tan said.
She noted the membership organization was moving from its headquarters in the basement of Rick Chamiec-Case, executive director, where it has been for 20 years. The relocation is expected to give NACSW new resources, including extra space, mail and printing services and students and faculty, but also help the latter two.
Chamiec-Case said members could have an important impact on clients.
“A member of our association who is a person of faith can be especially sensitive to the faith or spirituality of their clients, help them draw on their spiritual strengths or interests in their work together,” Chamiec-Case said.
Faith can also help individual members, he said.
“Social work is a pretty challenging profession,” Chamiec-Case said. It’s very demanding, can be very stressful, many social workers find drawing on their own strength, very empowering.”
An annual, three-day convention in November also helps social workers learn from each other and collect tips on helping clients.
“Say there’s a church that provides services for people who are homeless,” Chamiec-Case said. “There are a lot of good-hearted people in church but they don’t (always) know a lot about social services.
“One of our members could learn about best practices for helping the homeless.”
Chamiec-Case said they don’t stop with Christianity and are open to helping people of all religions.
“If someone is Muslim or Jewish, I hope my faith could be really sensitive to their religious tradition and help them understand how their religious faith can help them,” Chamiec-Case said.
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