Adverse Childhood Experiences and Career-Related Issues among Licensed Social Workers: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

Studies of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have found that childhood maltreatment can have a negative impact during adulthood. Little is known about ACEs among social workers and how these experiences impact their work. This paper presents qualitative data collected from a convenience sample of 1,828 licensed social workers from 13 states exploring the ways in which their ACEs, as reflected by their responses to the ACE inventory, influenced their decisions to become social workers and affected their work. Respondents indicated that their ACEs created interest in exploring their own and their clients’ family dynamics, helping others, engaging in their own therapy, understanding clients’ experiences, advocating for change, and seeking supervision, among other themes. Implications for social work education and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Adverse Childhood Experiences
• qualitative research
• social workers
• career choice
• workplace issues

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Milagros Briggs, MSW and Elizabeth Faraglia, MSW for their contributions to data analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The funding for this study was provided to Dr. Straussner by the Office for Research at the New York University Silver School of Social Work.

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey Thomas Steen

Dr. Steen is Associate Research Scientist and recent graduate at Silver School of Social Work at New York University. Using data from the Social Workers’ Self-Reported Wellness study, his dissertation examined Adverse Childhood Experiences, career success, and the role of substance misuse treatment among social workers who have had alcohol and other drug problems.  He recently participated in the Alcohol and Other Drugs Education Program, a NIAAA-funded training initiative for social work academics, sponsored by Boston University.  He has primarily worked in mental health and substance misuse services, including clinical and management positions in housing programs and health care organizations.

Shulamith Lala A. Straussner

Dr. Straussner is Retired Professor at Silver School of Social Work at New York University. She is an expert on clinical approaches to substance abuse, mass violence and trauma, and international social work. Dr. Straussner has taught across the MSW, PhD, and DSW programs, chaired both the Social Work Practice and the Human Behavior in the Social Environment curriculum areas, and founded and directed the School’s Post-Master’s Certificate program in Clinical Approaches to the Addictions. A three-time Fulbright recipient, she is the founding editor of the Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions.

Evan Senreich

Dr. Senreich has been a faculty member in the Lehman College Department of Social Work, City University of New York, since 2008. He has had research articles published regarding the experiences of LGBT clients in substance misuse treatment, the education of social work students to work with substance using clients, the attitudes of West African immigrants towards substance misuse, and the historically high rates of heroin usage among the Puerto Rican population. He has had articles published regarding a Gestalt therapy approach to social work and teaching social work students an inclusive definition of spirituality for use in practice.