Doin’ The Work: Frontline Stories of Social Change

Episode 65 Guest: Dawn Belkin Martinez, PhD, LICSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Dawn Belkin Martinez, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion at Boston University School of Social Work, discusses the Liberation Health Model, which she co-created as a transformative, sociopolitical approach to assessment and intervention. Rooted in radical traditions including Black feminism, Brazilian mental health movements, and Marxist theory, ...

Episode 64 Guests: Ashleigh Washington, JD & Ruth Cusick, JD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Ashleigh Washington and Ruth Cusick, co-founders of The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering (C4LL), discuss their work as movement lawyers fighting to end the school-to-prison pipeline. They explain how legal strategies must be rooted in community organizing to create lasting change, especially for Black, Brown, Indigenous, disabled, and oth...

Episode 63 Guest: Yoosun Park, MSW, PhD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Yoosun Park, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses her co-authored article on social work's role in the Americanization movement from 1880 to 1930—a national project rooted in whiteness and white supremacy. She explains how the profession helped define who was deemed American and how this process excluded Indigenous, Black, Asian, and ...

Episode 62 Guests: Beth Wagner, Claire Mancuso, Natalia Norzagaray & Parham Daghighi Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Beth Wagner, Claire Mancuso, Natalia Norzagaray, and Parham Daghighi—MSW students at the University of Texas–Austin and members of FED UP—share their work organizing for paid social work internships. As part of a growing movement, they discuss how they formed FED UP, their strategies, and the resistance they've encoun...

Episode 61 Guests: Matt Dargay, MSW & Arie Davey, LLMSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Matt Dargay and Arie Davey, co-founders of Payment 4 Placements, discuss their national campaign to secure paid internships for social work students. As former MSW students at the University of Michigan, they highlight the financial burdens of unpaid placements—including the cost of internship credits—and the inequities this system creates, espec...

Episode 60 Guests: Kohenet Shoshana A Brown, LMSW & Autumn Leonard Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Shoshana Brown and Autumn Leonard of the Black Jewish Liberation Collective and Jews for Economic & Racial Justice explore how antisemitism and racism operate as interconnected pillars of white supremacy. They discuss their organizing work to support Black Jews and disrupt systems of oppression through community building and educat...

Episode 59 Guest: Turquoise Skye Devereaux, MSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Turquoise Skye Devereaux, a Salish and Blackfeet educator, consultant, and PhD student, discusses how colonial systems continue to harm Indigenous Peoples through education and social work. She breaks down the four stages of colonization, critiques the concept of cultural competency, and highlights the importance of creating culturally safe spaces. Drawing f...

Episode 58 Guests: Jewel Patterson, MS; Edgar Ibarria; Nicole Bates, JD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Jewel Patterson, Edgar Ibarria, and Nicole Bates discuss their organizing work to end the school-to-prison pipeline in California. Representing COPE, CADRE, and C4LL, they explain how criminalization in schools—through vague policies like "willful defiance," surveillance, and policing—disproportionately harms Black and Brown students....

Episode 57 Guest: Deadric Williams, PhD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Deadric Williams, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, breaks down the relationship between racism, race, and racialization—emphasizing that racism came first, not race. He explains how racism is upheld by both ideology and structures, and how the invention of race served to justify settler colonialism and slavery. The conve...

Episode 56 Guests: Charla Yearwood, LCSW; Cassandra Walker, LCSW, CCTP; Alan Dettlaff, PhD, MSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Charla Yearwood, Cassandra Walker, and Dr. Alan Dettlaff discuss the ASWB's long-awaited release of social work licensing exam pass rates by race and age. The data reveals significant racial disparities, confirming what many have long known—that the exam is racially biased and discriminatory toward Black, Latin...

Episode 55 Guest: Maxine Davis, MSW, MBA, PhD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Maxine Davis, Assistant Professor at Rutgers School of Social Work, shares her powerful and deeply personal experience navigating anti-Black racism, sexism, and institutional betrayal in academia. She speaks candidly about the toll this took on her mental health, including a suicide attempt, and the lack of accountability within her former institution. Dr....

Episode 54 Guest: Daye Pope Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Daye Pope, Director of Civic Engagement at T.A.K.E. (Trans Advocates Knowledgeable Empowering), discusses the organization's work supporting trans women of color and resisting the wave of anti-trans legislation across the U.S. She explains how these laws—rooted in racism, classism, and cisnormativity—harm trans youth, deny essential health care, and criminalize affirming provid...

Episode 53 Guest: Jessica Isom, MD, MPH Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Jessica Isom, a board-certified community psychiatrist and clinical instructor at Yale University, shares her work advancing racial equity in medicine and mental health through clinical care, education, and consulting. She discusses how racism—not race—is the true risk factor for poor health outcomes, and how pathologizing Blackness in medical and psychiatric fr...

Episode 52 Guest: Monica Cox, PhD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Monica Cox, Distinguished Professor of Engineering at The Ohio State University, shares her experiences navigating higher education and DEI as a Black woman and unapologetic truth-teller. She discusses the harm of performative diversity, the persistence of systemic racism in academic and organizational spaces, and the cost of authenticity in these environments. Drawin...

Episode 51 Guests: Joyce McMillan; Victoria, MSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Joyce McMillan, Founder and Executive Director of JMac for Families and Parent Legislative Action Network, and Victoria, a PhD candidate at UCLA and community organizer, discuss the family policing system—commonly known as the child welfare system—and their abolitionist work. They explain how the system targets families in poverty, disproportionately harms ...

Episode 50 Guest: Jasmine Banks Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Jasmine Banks, Executive Director of UnKoch My Campus, exposes how the Koch network influences education and policy through massive financial contributions and targeted campaigns. She explains how this network promotes agendas that suppress voting rights, deny climate change, attack workers' rights, and censor discussions of systemic racism, all while threatening multiracia...

Episode 49 Guests: Kelechi Wright, LCPC, LPC; Kortney Carr, LCSW, LSCSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Kelechi Wright, a doctoral student in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas, and Kortney Carr, a Professor of Practice and doctoral student at the same institution, discuss their article The Whitewashing of Social Work History, which calls for an honest, equitable retelling of the profession's past. They highlight h...

Episode 48 Guest: Tyra Wanatee-Flores, BSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Tyra Wanatee-Flores, a descendant of the Sac and Fox Nation of the Mississippi in Iowa and an MSW student at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses her work addressing youth suicide, substance abuse, and gender-based violence in Indigenous communities. She shares how she integrates culturally grounded, community-driven approaches to mental health and socia...

Episode 47 Guest: Armen Henderson, MD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Armen Henderson, Director of Health Programs at Dream Defenders and Founder of Dade County Street Response, shares his work bringing medical care directly to poor and working-class communities in Miami. He discusses how social determinants of health are deeply rooted in racism, classism, and systemic inequity—highlighting examples such as climate injustice, lack o...