Dr. Barbara Head’s passion for education and our specialty of hospice and palliative care has helped to support, nurture, and strengthen so many social workers, nurses, physicians, chaplains, students, and other health professionals. We are all very grateful for her service. Barbara is currently receiving hospice care. Please join us in acknowledging the impact she has had on the lives of so many through your donation to honor her as a Florence Wald Champion. 

Barbara has been a lifelong champion for hospice and palliative care. Prior to entering academics, she worked at a large hospice program in Louisville, Kentucky, as a home care nurse, quality-improvement director, and staff/community education director. She has served as both a board member and president of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA) and the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC) and as a member of the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) Board of Directors. 

It’s hard to find the words and we are struggling with what to say. But how can we not say anything, not acknowledge the shootings, the grief, the tremendous loss, and suffering. 

In continuing our commitment to speak up against injustice, racism, and acts of violence committed against people of color, SWHPN is issuing this statement to acknowledge the grief, loss, and heaviness in the world right now. SWHPN condemns the recent racist attacks in Buffalo, NY, where 10 people were murdered by a white supremacist; the murders of Taiwanese-Americans in a church in Laguna Woods, California; the massacre of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde; the killings at a medical facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These are just the acts within communities that made national headlines in the past few weeks. Yet gun violence remains a public health crisis that disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities. As of June 7, 2022, there have been 8,415 gun deaths and 247 mass shootings this year in the United States (1). 

On April 1, 2022, the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) welcomed new leaders from its current Board members as Executive Officers of the organization. 

Anne Kelemen, LICSW, APHSW-C is the organization's new Chair, having served the past year as Vice-Chair. Danielle Jonas, MSW, LCSW is the organization’s new Vice-Chair, Caitlin Scanlon, MSW, LCSW is the new Secretary, and Tanisha Bowman, MSW, LSW, APHSW-C, CGP, NEDA Proficient is the new Treasurer. Stacy S. Remke, MSW, LICSW, APHSW-C will transition from Chair to Immediate Past Chair. Terms will run through March 31, 2023. 

Next up in our new series looking at the activities of the various SWHPN committees is the Student Committee. We started this committee in late spring 2020, as a way to provide additional support focused on our SWHPN student members, especially during the pandemic. The committee is comprised of Board members and SWHPN members, some of whom teach BSW- and MSW-level students, as well as several people who are either getting their PhDs or have recently completed this process. The committee is chaired by Dr. Stephanie Wladkowski, PhD, LMSW, ACHP-SW, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Eastern Michigan University.

In this past year, the committee has created and led six webinars, from tips for making the most of your field placement and finding a job, to learning more about the benefits of pursuing an MSW, DSW, and/or PhD, to learning how to lead a team meeting effectively. Collectively, these sessions reached hundreds of social work students, educating them about the field of hospice and palliative care, a specialization that few colleges and universities offer.

Beginning this week, SWHPN will begin posting weekly updates from our committees, to highlight the important work each is doing to help advance the organization’s mission. This series is being launched by our Strategic Engagement committee, and the following was written by Jennifer Hirsch, LMSW and PhD candidate.

To help address complex trauma resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, five leading organizations are collaborating to offer free innovative resources for frontline providers on grief education. The Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation (HPNF), the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN), the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC), and the Oncology Nursing Society (ONS) have received a grant from the American Nurses Foundation (ANF) to produce Dealing with GRIEF: A Series of 5 Short, Powerful Videos.

Caring for the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs of patients and their families is a demanding vocation in typical times, and this initiative aims to provide timely and practical information during an unprecedented time. Research has also shown that a significant number of frontline providers, at all levels, exhibit secondary traumatic stress, bereavement, compassion fatigue, and burnout.

SWHPN held elections for its Board of Directors in March 2021 and is excited to announce the addition of seven new members. Read the full press release here.

Lori Eckel, LCSW, APHSW-C is the lead palliative care social worker and the senior ethics consultant at Legacy Health.  She received her MSW from Portland State University School of Social Work, completed advanced clinical training in palliative care from Smith School of Social Work, and completed the Zelda Foster Palliative Care Leadership Fellowship at NYU School of Social Work. Lori currently serves as an adviser and mentor for participants in both the Smith and NYU’s Zelda Foster programs. Her palliative care clinical social work has been focused in critical care and oncology and she has worked in both inpatient and outpatient settings. She serves on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Social Work in End of Life and Palliative Care.  In her ethics role, she oversees the ethics consultation service, co-leads review and development of ethically relevant institutional policies, and supports the continuing ethics education activities at Legacy Health. Lori appreciates opportunities to contribute to the well-being of health professionals, teaching students, and mentoring others in the field of palliative care. She has presented locally and nationally on topics related to advance care planning, moral distress, and ethical dimensions of end-of-life care.

In continuing with our work to speak up and challenge social injustice, SWHPN is issuing this statement condemning the hateful attacks against Asians, Asian-Americans, and Pacific Islanders. We have seen a rise in verbal and physical violence in cities across the United States because of anti-Asian racism following the COVID-19 pandemic (Ruiz, Horowitz, Tamir, 2020; Jeung, Yellow Horse, Popovic, Lin, 2021). In the murders of Korean-Americans on March 16th in Atlanta, we saw the twin biases of sexism and racism that Asian women, in particular, have been victims of in our societal structure of white patriarchy. Affirming our social work values, we explicitly reject all forms of racism, xenophobia, and nativism, and stand with our Asian-American victims of violence and hate. By doing so, we also acknowledge that the struggles of Asian-Americans are inextricably linked with other BIPOC communities in a common endeavor for the humanity of this country. We uphold the inherent dignity and worth of each person and challenge others to join us in working against anti-Asian violence.

We recognize that our statement must be followed with action. Understanding our positionality and respecting the vanguard role of the Asian-American community, we want to use this opportunity to highlight the work being done by our Asian American Social Workers, and advocacy groups like Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Stop AAPI Hate (@stopAAPIHate on Twitter). The Atlanta branch of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice released a very powerful statement earlier today that we encourage you to read, and amplify and donate if possible. The Chicago branch is holding a series of bystander intervention trainings during April that SWHPN staff will be participating in, and we encourage you to sign up (also available here, through ihollaback.org).

The Cambia Health Foundation has opened its 2021 Sojourns® Scholar Leadership Program Call for Applications and encourages palliative care professionals from across the country, including all disciplines and practice settings to apply.

The Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program is designed to identify, cultivate and advance the next generation of palliative care leaders. As part of the leadership program, each Sojourns Scholar receives $180,000 in funding ($90,000/year over a two-year period) to conduct an innovative and impactful clinical, policy, educational, health equity or systems change project in the field of palliative care. Scholars also participate with other scholars in a collaborative learning community while receiving individual mentorship to design and implement a development plan that supports their growth as national palliative care leaders.

SWHPN is thrilled to announce that three social workers have been announced as part of the seventh cohort of the Cambia Health Foundation’s Sojourns® Scholar Leadership Program. 

Cara L. Wallace, PhD, LMSW, APHSW-C of Saint Louis University; Rachel Rusch, LCSW, MSW, MA of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles; and SWHPN Board Member Stephanie P. Wladkowski, PhD, LMSW, APHSW-C of Eastern Michigan University were each carefully chosen through a rigorous selection process from a highly competitive pool. SWHPN is proud of their commitment to improving the experience of people facing serious illness and their caregivers. 

Watching the events from yesterday unfold, and then reading many responses on social media and in major news and journalistic outlets, we at SWHPN feel the need to reflect and respond. As an organization, we obviously strongly condemn the insurrectionist riot that occurred at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. and at statehouses around the country.

While social justice and self-determination are pillars of social work, what happened yesterday was an attempt by a group of nearly all-white people to compel their desired election result over the expressed wishes of millions of Americans who voted differently. Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are guaranteed rights, but breaking windows and doors to enter Congress for the sole purpose to cause havoc and delay a procedural process to certify the President is not.

On Monday, October 12, the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners changed the section of its code of conduct that establishes when a social worker may or may not deny services, to remove previous language specifying that discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity constitutes a violation of the code of conduct for Social Workers in Texas. The removal of these specifications puts the Texas code of conduct in contrast with existing social work principles, ethical guidelines for practice, and federal anti-discrimination mandates by allowing for discrimination based on disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. 

The Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) is horrified and dismayed by these changes, and condemns them in the strongest terms possible. This action explicitly violates the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics Section 4.02:

SWHPN held elections for new members of the Board of Directors in July 2020 and is excited to announce the addition of six new members to the SWHPN Board. Members of the Board of Directors are elected to two-year terms.

Liz Anderson, Ph.D, joined Western Carolina University in 2016 as Assistant Professor of Social Work. Dr. Anderson is a 2018 recipient of the Sojourns Scholar Leadership Program Grant, one of the first of two social workers to receive the award nationwide, for her research and leadership in family engagement in palliative care for rural persons with kidney disease.  She has worked as a hospice and palliative care social worker and was the former Social Services Director for Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition.  Dr. Anderson was the Field Director and an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Mars Hill University as well as former Women’s Studies Coordinator. She collaborates with George Washington University and Coalition for Supportive Care of Kidney Patients in research and clinical practice on advance care planning, motivational interviewing, and supportive care for with persons diagnosed with kidney disease. In addition, Dr. Anderson's other research area includes campus sexual assault. She integrates her practice and research experience in the classroom, teaching Integrated Health, Social Work Practice: Individual Interventions, Research Methods, and Human Behavior in the Social Environment.

Danielle Jonas, MSW, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in psychotherapy with children, adolescents and families. Danielle earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and in history from Indiana University. She continued her education by earning a master’s degree in social work from Indiana University with a concentration in pediatrics. She went on to complete an interdisciplinary pediatric palliative care social work fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital/Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Harvard School of Medicine. She is currently at PhD candidate at NYU Silver School of Social Work.

Last month, more than 125 SWHPN members, social work professionals, and students joined together for our virtual June Summit, “Cultural Competency in Hospice and Palliative Care.” Held on Juneteenth and during Pride month, we wanted to use the day as an opportunity to go beyond didactic presentations to showcase meaningful, actionable steps social workers could take to address racism, explicit and implicit bias, intersectionality, and more. During the post-Summit “networking happy hour,” attendees stayed online for an extra hour and a half to continue the discussion. It’s clear there is a hunger for more information about how to dismantle inequitable systems that harm Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC), whether they are patients, families, or social workers.

Post-Summit, what is SWHPN doing to address the changes that are needed?

Today, the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) joins religious communities throughout the United States, as well as the U.S. Conference on Mayors, in support of a nationwide Day of Mourning and Lament. On this day, we recognize and mark the collective suffering faced by individuals and families throughout the country as we passed the 100,000 deaths due to COVID-19.

We recognize that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, Asian-Americans, and other people of color. From the higher death rates among communities of color, to the pandemic-related job losses and lack of healthcare access and insurance, to the increasing rates of the disease among the incarcerated, we are seeing the ongoing impacts of COVID expose the lasting effects of racism in our country. The suffering felt by African-Americans and people of color cannot be minimized.

Further, COVID-19 is having a lasting impact on how we grieve these losses. Towards that end, we are proposing the creation of a National Grief Strategy. We are advocating for the development of a comprehensive plan to support and expand grief services and resources throughout the country. We want to proactively identify and address the health and mental health effects of grief due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so that we may begin the process of collective healing.

We encourage you to join us today in recognizing a Day of Mourning and Lament. Read our Call for a National Grief Strategy, and then add your name to support it. Then please share with others.

For questions and comments, please email us at [email protected].

The words "essential" and "non-essential" may become two of the most repeated words of 2020. We hear them in press conferences, read them in work e-mails, and see them on chyrons posted across the bottoms of our TV screens. For many of us in the Hospice and Palliative Care Social Work (HAPC-SW) field, these words have also been applied to our jobs in ways that, as many of us have discussed at our nightly support calls, have provoked conflicting feelings of both guilt and relief (when labeled non-essential) or fear and pride (when labeled essential).

Over the past month, our weeknight Social Work Open Discussions have been attended by social workers and psychosocial professionals from over thirty states and four countries! Thanks to all who participate and make these meetings the dynamic discussions they are during this critical time.

We are updating our schedule over the coming weeks to consolidate these meetings, as well as provide some discussion around specific topics. As always, these remain informal gatherings and safe places for clinicians and colleagues to share feelings and fears in an effort to find renewal, support, and social connection.

Beginning Tuesday, May 5th, please join us on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 pm EST. You can register to participate here. Come as little or as often you need.

See the updated schedule:

• Thursday, April 30th: Topic: Grief and Trauma with special guest April Naturale. Looking to the future, there will likely be some level of grief and trauma for our colleagues and a large portion of the world that exists for a long time. What are we going to do about that as a field and as individuals?

• Tuesday, May 5th: Open Discussion
• Thursday, May 7th: Topic: New Normal. What does the "new normal" for hospice and palliative social work look like, and what can we do to ensure that our field is equipped to support patients, families, and colleagues? What are you hoping for, what are you worried about?

• Tuesday, May 12th: Open Discussion
• Thursday, May 14th: Topic: Transitions. How has your role changed since COVID-19? If you're working from home or have changed locations, what support do you need? How are you adapting? What things will remain post-COVID? 

You can find our most updated list of events and Social Work Open Discussion topics on the SWHPN Events Calendar.

Though our field is facing unprecedented challenges, we are pleased to announce several exciting leadership changes taking place the Social Work Hospice and Palliative Care Network (SWHPN) to lead our members through these uncertain times.

SWHPN appointed Jessica Strong as permanent Executive Director, after serving in the role of interim Executive Director for the past year. This appointment followed an organizational search and board voting process. In addition to leading the outstanding team of professionals who have implemented SWHPN’s annual General Assemblies over the past five years, Jessica led SWHPN’s most recent strategic planning process that initiated the formalization of SWHPN’s current organizational structure. The goals set in that process have helped to provide extraordinary growth of SWHPN this year and have set the course for a bright future. One of her first initiatives was successfully securing a two-year grant from the Cambia Health Foundation to provide educational webinars to support the professional development needs of hospice and palliative care social workers. We are grateful to the Cambia Health Foundation for their continued support which will support these new initiatives.