In today's surreal, dangerous period we are all experiencing overwhelming overload. Many believe they are depressed, often taking unnecessary meds, when they are actually burned out. For the new edition of Burnout and Self-Care I researched the differences between burnout and depression. To bottom line, in most cases, depression is experienced like a punch in the belly (and elsewhere), while burnout is experienced as "I cannot carry or deal with one more thing." (There can be a combination.) In addressing burnout, most professional settings concentrate only on work overload. I was grateful that Philly's Legal Intelligencer published my explanation of the interaction of burnout arenas. (It is possible to download the article free of charge by following prompts.)

As many know, the road to selling a book today has changed dramatically. I am very appreciative to a new internet friend who created a short video describing my research that I will post shortly. Many of you know the past uphill road to bringing ed 2 of Burnout and Self-Care to life. I am exceedingly grateful to NASW Press for supporting my academic research that upholds the cost of Societal Burnout, as well as the impact of dysfunctional leadership and moral distress. After intense fact checking, the book is finally available. Ed 2 offers the clearest descriptions and explanations I know how to put into words. I will be so pleased if you decide to order by calling 1-800-227-3590.

Finally, several of you know that I have been heavily criticized for my review of the extremely popular, well reviewed new Netflix series, Maid. If you google the reviews of Maid, just above Rotten Tomatoes, you can visit my capsule comment explantion. I stand by my review in the New Social Worker (and am grateful to Linda Grobman for publishing it)!: Altho skillfully written and extremely well acted, the characters in Maid are not representative of women and children whose lives are threatened every hour of every day by domestic violence.

Thanks so very much for taking the time to read this.

With deep caring, To be continued! SaraKay .

Philadelphia Inquirer, January 1, 2021. With warm, hopeful new year wishes.

Dear friends and colleagues,

I write to share this upsetting, sad, unsettling correspondence from one abused in foster care, and our subsequent conversation, still in process. The comment was made on my personal face book page. I believe that many of the tragedies in foster care and elsewhere have happened when non-social workers and non-health care professionals are hired to do work they are not prepared for or trained for. And that the press, in covering tragic situations, refers to those working with our most vulnerable populations social workers (or caseworkers – who usually are thought of as social workers, which they are not. I welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Many thanks, SaraKay

- Kim Sherwood: I was in the foster homes and severely abused. It was amazing how some foster parents could trick the social workers. First they were forewarned of the visit so after week in and week out of spending 5 or 6 hrs in a corner afraid to ask for water, getting the belt for no apparent reason, sitting on the floor (my back to the tv)forced to rub their feet. I could go on and on with much worse.......But 2 days before social workers visit....I was aloud to sit outside. I was given ice cream.....Then the visit...social worker to me: how are you? Me: oh I'm good I got ice cream.....little kids forget fast. Sorry I just don't want to share more now. Wheww

- SaraKay Smullens: Dear Kim, Thank you for this important sharing. I know this happens and I am horrified. I hope you will write about this and publish it. Perhaps a commentary in your local newspaper. I so life has been easier for you now, The leading cause for my book on burnout is that my colleagues and mentors said they were burnout out by the services offered by so many resources that were there to supposedly protect children. I am wondering: did those who were so easily conned by those who never should have been allowed to be foster parents workers will an actual social work degree? Or did you have no way of knowing, as they were called "social workers." Please let me know how you are, and if you are comfortable, where you live. I so hope you are well and safe, and thank you so much for reaching out to me.

- Kim Sherwood: I thank you for responding. I believe I could come up with some questions for the kids when visited, they can help a social worker see through the temporary (I'm ok) coming from a child. I'm crying now as I remember me in 1 corner my younger sister in the other. Our foster parent walked in and both my self and sister asked to use bathroom. The parent said it was a plot. She slapped my sister hard in the face knocking her down. My sis got up and grabbed a plastic picnic butter knife. She was scared to death. The parent grabbed a metal spatula and using it edgewise held my sister's hand on the counter and proceeded to bloody her tiny hand......I haven't ever shared this but now I'm 68 yrs old. These incidents happened when I was 8...I turned out to be a very intelligent and very friendly person I'm very creative and try to do a random act of kindness each day........thanks bye for now.

- SaraKay Smullens: I am so sad that this happened to you and yours sister, Kim, and I have deep respect for your persistence and resilience. Do you have any idea if those called "social worker/s" who so let you and your sister down were degreed social workers, or were they employees of an agency who were referred to as "social workers." I would like very much to know the questions you would recommend, and anything other you wish to share. If you are comfortable telling me where you live and the agency who employed those who visited your foster homes, that would be helpful. I can give you a private address to reach me, if you prefer. Above all, thank you so much for reaching out and writing.

- Kim Sherwood: I so thank you for caring and letting me share. Somehow I feel a bit relieved to tell someone. Please give me a little time. I will try to compose some things that might help you. Again I thank you. And God bless you.

Dear friends and colleagues,

WHAT IS IT LIKE OUTSIDE (explanation and apology below)
What is it like outside, dear friend
The trees, the flowers, the sun
What is it like outside to know
The children having fun
From my window now the rain pounds down
Can it wash away a curse
Or will a plague beyond our sight
Continue to get worse
What is it like outside, dear friend
I miss our talks, our time
Yet I am filled with gratitude
That your friendship has been mine

In these days when many read verse of hope and miracle, of overcoming horrid pain and loss, I know we share a common prayer -- may the living plague engulfing our world end. Several clients have lost their incomes and are ill. Several neighbors are also ill -- some extremely so. A colleague has died. A few minutes ago from my window I saw the rain pounding down, and I longed to run outside to feel it. Yet, I could not. During this time, a few words poured out of me. I share them above with apology_ -- knowing I surely am not a poet. I just want you to know..... As I write now, the sun is out once again.

Watch video here.

A darling, uplifting video. Pure joy.

Every caring wish,
To be continued,
SaraKay

Dear friends and colleagues,

Social distancing does not mean social isolation, and many of us are using Zoom to connect with others important to us. With this in mind, please be aware of a warning issued earlier this week by the University of Maryland, which has been passed on to me. There is now a new way to express hate labeled “zoombombing”: People crash Zoom meetings, expressing horrific, unsettling, ugly statements. This is possible because when we schedule zoom meetings, the default is “personal Meeting ID” -- and this ID follows us and does not change. That means that when we use it anyone who has learned this ID can drop in. For protection select “Generate Automatically,” which generates a unique ID for that specific meeting.

Be well and safe.

To be continued, SaraKay

Dear Readers,

I had a request for the following article, The Failure of Trusteeship at Penn State, which appeared on the Huffington Post web site, but is no longer available.  I am reprinting it here.

With caring wishes,

SaraKay

The Failure of Trusteeship at Penn State

The recent events at Penn State and the ongoing uncovering of sexual abuse of hopeful innocents have sickened and saddened.  If you live in Pennsylvania, as I do, the tragedies seem endless and terribly close to home --  the violated young children; college students shamed by their university; the firing of a sports legend, now suffering cancer; endless finger pointing coupled by endless confusion about failed leadership.

It was only a matter of time before the public would begin to assess the role of trustees in this horror story and to find them seriously lacking.  Most know that trustees hold fiduciary responsibility for the college or university they serve.  However, fiduciary responsibility is far more than raising money or writing checks. It involves ethics, morality and responsibility for the welfare and wellbeing of an institution and its community

According to  Charles William Golding in “Inside the Nonprofit Boardroom”:  “(A trustee holds) the very existence of the organization in trust for the people who contribute to it and for those who benefit from it.  What does “in trust” mean?  It means that you nurture, care for, and protect the entire organization.”  He further explains:  “(There is a) sense of security that comes with knowing that someone is overseeing things.  People want to feel that someone is paying attention to what is going on.  That’s the job of the board…Serving on a board is not about you.  It’s about doing all you can to help the organization carry out its mission...The ideal situation is when the trustee experiences the intensity of the cause in his or her head, heart, and stomach.”

For the past six years I have been a trustee of a small liberal arts college, admittedly a far different community than Penn State.  Still, trusteeship is trusteeship, and above all, trustees must feel free to ask questions. When this story first unfolded my reaction was immediate:  What did the trustees know about the grand-jury investigation of child-sex-abuse allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, as well as the long standing progression of events leading up to it? If they had been told about this, how were events characterized? What were trustee reactions and recommendations? If they were not told, why?

This week former provost and present university president Rodney Erickson said that although he was not present, the Penn State board was briefed by then President Graham B. Spanier.  His explanation will surely lead to more questions  about what trustees were actually told.  When asked the seriousness of the allegations characterized in the briefing, Erickson responded:  “I have no idea, because I was not there.”

Ben Novak, a former Penn State alumni (class of 1965) trustee who served from 1988 to 2000, wrote that open discussion in board meetings was nonexistent.  In his words published in a three part installment in the Centre Daily Times that he paid for himself:  “The simple truth is that it is not simply one bad apple that has brought about the humiliating situation we face.  Rather, it is the way the board of trustees has structured the whole governance of the university that has made this scandal not only possible but almost inevitable.” According to Novak, the board is controlled by the president and a few rich, connected trustees, and dissent is silenced:  “I came onto the board thinking that it was a deliberative body such as one reads about in civic books.  It is not.”   

Most are confused about the role of trustees and their relationship with the president of a college or university.  The college or university president is hired by, reports to, and as we recently saw, can be fired by the board. It is the board of trustees that sets policy of a school, with recommendations and significant input by the college president, (and hopefully) his or her staff, faculty, students and members of the community.  The president and the staff then carry out the policy on a day to day basis.  According to Golding,  “When a board becomes a true and solid sounding place for management, and when management has both the courage and the sense to listen, the positive effects can be remarkable on both sides.”

When I became a trustee the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges sent trustees throughout our country a copy of Golding’s book, which has a forward by William H. Gates, Sr. (yes, the father of the Bill Gates, who has expanded his parents’ enormous philanthropic commitments).  I cannot help but wonder if President Spanier or his board of trustees read the following: “(The board and the president) should be able to ask any questions, with neither side feeling threatened or intimidated.  It doesn’t always work that way, but it should.”  And, “The conduct of all activities by all persons representing the corporation in any way, at any time, must be right and proper.”

Author Golding also offers a prescient warning, words spoken by his father-in-law, a Greek immigrant and an American success story:   “A corporation is like a fish.  It rots from the head first.”

I had an experience today that is related to the film "45 Years." One of the reasons I value this film so much is that its genius is based on the importance of "an examined life." Every civilized society discovers this importance, but facing it in one's own life can be very disruptive and painful, and takes a great deal of courage. Without revealing plot, the film's end is both stunning and startling because it is based on a sudden awareness -- putting together truths that previously had been blinded by love and devotion. Today a good friend visited me out of the blue, and here is what she said: "As you well know, I have been the loyalist possible supporter of Donald Trump for many reasons, but finally today I was able to face what this man is doing to our country, to our allies, to our world. I finally see the danger of his selfish, grandiose, and impulsive leadership, and that the office he holds must be removed from his dangerous grasp."