Sharing for my SW student/ new to SW followers.

Early in my SW career, I didn’t understand the appeal of private practice. I have identified as a “macro” practitioner. I wanted to address the systems and structures causing communities pain.

Here’s what I now realize:

Don’t close the door to private practice.

Private practice and self employment might be your path to political, social justice, work. It may be the path to compensation for social justice work. It may allow you to speak more openly and freely.

This may seem obvious to those who were always interested in clinical practice, but for some of us who came in discouraged by medical models and wanting to organize, clinical practice at first glance can seem like quieting that rage.

This may have always been super obvious to most of you. Idk.
But if it’s not, if you’re someone who wants to be compensated for organizing in ways that the nonprofit industrial complex won’t allow, my suggestion would be that you don’t close the door on private practice.