by Linda May Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSW
Get ready to jump into 2020! Another year approaches, and it is time for our annual "wrap-up." What have we accomplished in 2019, and what can we look forward to in 2020?
As of December 22, 2019, The New Social Worker's website received 2,230,633 page views this year. What have all of these social workers been reading over the past year? Let's look at The New Social Worker's most popular articles from 2019 to get some ideas.
What I love about the following lists is that they truly represent the variety of topics we have covered over the past year. And I think they represent what is important to you, our social work readers. Let us know if you agree and what you'd like to see in the coming year.
Top 7 Articles Published in 2019 in The New Social Worker Magazine
Top articles 2019
First, let's look at the seven most popular articles (based on number of online page views) of those we published in 2019. It's a pretty awesome list. Read them for yourself, if you missed them! They are:
#1
Disenfranchised Grief: When Grief and Grievers Are Unrecognized, by Lisa S. Zoll, from our Winter 2019 issue. Grief is disenfranchised when the relationship, the loss, or the griever is not recognized.
#2
Say You're a Social Worker, by Elizabeth J. Clark, from our Spring/Summer 2019 issue. You hold a social work degree because you chose social work. Be proud of it and call yourself a social worker.
#3
Having Difficult But Necessary Conversations With Your Social Work Field Instructor, by Tawanda Hubbard, from our Winter 2019 issue. It is hard to do with our clients what we cannot do for ourselves.
#4
The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT): Helping Clients Move Beyond Trauma, by Christie Mason, from our Winter 2019 issue. This model offers a tool for assessing neurodevelopmental functioning of clients with trauma histories to select treatments to best meet their needs.
#5
A Matter of Speaking: For Social Workers, How To Give a Presentation With Confidence, Humor, and Impact, by Jennifer Luna, from our Spring/Summer 2019 issue. Regardless of your social work practice area, professional presentation skills are a must. Yet, 75% of people are afraid of public speaking.
#6
Will I Have a Social Work Legacy?, by Linda Graf, from our Spring/Summer 2019 issue. What will you be remembered for?
#7
The Intersection of Autoimmune Disease and Social Work: An Effective Partnership for Health, by Casey Hersch, from our Spring/Summer 2019 issue. There are 80 to 100 autoimmune diseases. As the prevalence of autoimmune disease rises, the number of patients who will seek the support of social workers will also increase.
Editor's Picks/Hidden Gems
I have chosen one additional article from each issue in 2019 to share with you. These are representative of some of the topics we cover on a regular basis (#MacroSW, technology in social work, and social work career development). And they are...
- Winter 2019: How Literary Fiction Helps Us Become Better Social Workers - This hidden gem was originally in the PDF/print magazine only. As an added BONUS, I have added it to our website. (Click the title above.)
- Spring/Summer 2019: How To Tame the Technology Monster We Cannot See - This article is from our Social Work Tech Notes column by Stephen Cummings. Is the technology monster sneaking into your life and draining your resources?
- Fall 2019: When You Have Ethical Concerns: Initiating NASW's Professional Review Process - This article is from our Ethics Alive! column by social work ethics expert Allan Barsky. You have concerns about a social work colleague's conduct. What are your ethical obligations? What is the best way to proceed? This, along with Part 2 coming in Winter 2020, should be required reading for social workers!
- BONUS: The Student Role Model profiles, which are published only in the PDF/print version of the magazine, are true hidden gems. In each issue, we feature an outstanding social work student to illustrate and honor the great achievements of social work students while they are still in school. This year we featured Jessica Watkins (BSW student, Tarleton State University), Ellizabeth Stafford (MSW student, University of Maryland), and Jose Canas (MSW student, Fayetteville State University). Download our 2019 issues to read about these outstanding students. Thank you to Barbara Trainin Blank, who has been writing these student profiles for many years!
Top Web-Exclusive Articles for 2019
The following are the top five web-exclusive articles (by page view) published on The New Social Worker website in 2019. If you haven't read these already, you know what to do!
- Clinical Intersections: What About Us? The Mental Health of Social Workers
- What Makes Someone a Social Worker?
- Social Work Month 2019: Thank You and Join Us for Six Core Values of Social Work, Leadership Messages
- Clinical Intersections: But What Do I Say Next? 5 Tips for Social Workers
- The Aura of Social Work
Our Very, Very, Very Top Article for 2019
Saving the very top article for last...the following article received more page views than any other article on our site this year! It was published in 2012 and keeps going strong, because it is THAT relevant to every social worker.
Also in 2019...
In 2019, we continued our Social Work Month Series and Self-Care Summer Series.
We published the twice-monthly Self-Care A-Z blog by Erlene Grise-Owens (and guests), co-editor of The A-to-Z Self-Care Handbook for Social Workers and Other Helping Professionals.
We also published a twice-monthly blog in collaboration with Walnut Psychotherapy Center titled Clinical Intersections. Thank you to Dr. Danna Bodenheimer and her staff of clinical social workers and other therapists for these 2019 contributions!
SaraKay Smullens has been writing movie reviews and commentary on some of this year's most popular movies, from a social work perspective. Her latest reviews include Joker and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
We celebrated International Self-Care Day and partnered with NASW in observance of World Mental Health Day.
Jump from 2019 to 2020
Jumping from 2019 to 2020: What Do We Have Planned?
This year will be our 27th year of publication! Our Winter issue will be out in January.
We are already planning our awesome month-long celebration of social work during March - Social Work Month 2020! We are seeking submissions of 500 words or less in two categories for our Social Work Month Series, and we also have a Social Work Selfies/Snapshots category. Please consider sending a submission.
Erlene Grise-Owens will continue to write the Self-Care A-Z blog and is always looking for social workers to write posts for it.
I am very excited that Jennifer Luna, MSSW, nationally-acclaimed social work career development expert, is joining The New Social Worker as writer of a new column, Your Social Work Career Coach. Watch for Jennifer's expert advice on your social work career!
We currently have almost 180,000 Facebook fans, 11,900+ Twitter followers, 11,000+ Instagram followers, and 28,600+ LinkedIn group members. Are you one of them? We look forward to connecting with you on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
What else is in store? Follow us and subscribe to stay up to date! I don't want you to miss any surprises we might have in store.
THANK YOU to our readers and to our writers, who share their experience and expertise with our readership! Thanks go especially to our regular writers and columnists for 2019 and 2020, Allan Barsky, Stephen Cummings, Jennifer Luna, Barbara Trainin Blank, the #MacroSW team, and Elizabeth J. Clark.
I look forward to seeing many of you around the web, on social media, and face-to-face at social work conferences in the coming year. I look forward to hearing from you and hearing about the innovative work you are doing. If you would like to share something with our readers, let me know.
Linda Grobman
Linda May Grobman, MSW, ACSW, LSWPublisher/Editor
Peace and a good year to you,
Linda