Social Work, 1999-Present

Field Seminar Instructor (part-time), Department of Social Work, California State University Long Beach, 2008-09 Academic year (position eliminated autumn 2009 in CSU budget cuts).

Family Consultant, Orange Caregiver Resource Center (now the Caregiver Resource Center), 2003-07. 

Master of Social Work, Older Adults and Families Concentration, California State University Long Beach (GPA 4.0 / 4.0), 2002.  Thesis title:  Who’s Doing What to Whom?  Emics and Etics for Social Workers.

Professional Memberships

Member, Consulting Editorial Board,  Journal of Progressive Human Services

Member and Veterans for Peace Liaison, California Chapter National Association of Social Workers Social Action Social Justice Council

Associate Member and Secretary, Orange County California Chapter Veterans for Peace

Selected Writing and Presentations Related to Social Work Practice

2012    Social Work in the Great Recession.  Guest edited special section with editor contribution, “The  Decimation of America’s Middle Class and Its Meaning for Social Work,” Journal of Progressive Human Services, 23:1.

2011“Addressing the Puzzle of Race.”  Journal of Social Work Education. 47 (1):91-108 (Winter).

2010   Confronting the Hidden Wounds of War Part I:  The Toll Among Our Veterans And Its Causes.  Part II:  What We Can Do [available as pdf on the same link].  NASW California News, 37 (3):4 (November /December) Reprinted in The Maryland Social Worker, Summer and Fall Editions, 2010.

2009Rethinking AARP as an ‘Advocate,’ NASW California News, 35 (6): 14 (March).  Expanded version, Is AARP Really an Advocate? NASW California Social Action / Social Justice Council web page,  Posted February 10.

2008“Caregiving Research Moves Forward.”  Review of  Family Caregivers on the Job:  Moving beyond ADLs and IADLs.  Carole Levine, Editor. United Hospital Fund of New York, 2004.  Care Management Journals 9 (1): 99-100.

2007“Social Workers and Unions:  A Short Annotated Bibliography.”  Prepared for the Social Action / Social Justice Council, California NASW web page.  Posted September 25.

2007“What’s Really Ailing Our Veterans?  Where We Can Start Looking.” NASW California Social Action / Social Justice Council web page.  This is an expanded version of an editorial with the same title in NASW California News, 33 (4): 1, 20 (January).   Posted November 19.

2006“Topics in Caregiver Evaluation in the United States and Japan:  Practice Activity at the Orange Caregiver Resource Center” (日米の介護評価をめぐる課題：オレンジ介護援助センターにおける実践活動).  Presentation in Japanese.   Osaka University Human Sciences Research Section Symposium (July 17).

2005“Helping the Client Who Is LPE [Less than Proficient in English].”  Panel presentation, Annual Enrichment Meetings, California Resource Centers/ Family Caregiver Alliance, Sacramento, CA (January 11).

2004“Don’t Get Lost in Translation:  Using an Interpreter Effectively.”  Long Beach Unit, National Association of Social Workers (April 29).

More on the Vet Connection

Nursing Assistant and Surgical Technician, 1969-71, Veterans Administration Hospital Palo Alto, California.  Alternate Service for the Draft.

Sam Coleman Interviews Sam Coleman about Social Work

Sam:  Why did you become a social worker?  That looks surprising.

Sam:  By late 1999 I had finished my book on Japanese biomedical science. I was ready to reinvent myself because the study of Japanese science and technology here in the US had shriveled along with interest in Japan, and I was committed to staying put in Southern California for my family.  I was attracted to the idea of becoming a therapist--perhaps for a niche population like Japanese nationals.  In my own past I had been helped by an MSW therapist, too, and this would be my tribute to her.  I began course work then at CSU Long Beach.

S:  This landed you a job after graduation too, I see.

S:  Yes, my first job after I got my MSW was with the Orange Caregiver Resource Center—a really fine group of people, and there were LCSWs on board who could supervise me for licensure.  The position gave me direct practice experience in working with caregivers of loved ones with debilitating illnesses.  More specifically, I conducted psychosocial assessments and re-assessments, and I provided ongoing consultation, education, referral,  and care planning.  I could put my knowledge of Japanese and applied linguistics to work there, too; I translated assessment tools and educational information into Japanese, and a few of my clients were LPE (limited proficiency in English) Japanese who preferred speaking with me in their first language.  It was particularly gratifying to help them.

S:  But you left in 2007, after about four and a half years.  Why?

S:  I had proudly contributed to the agency’s mission in that job, and in early ’07 received the St. Joseph Health System’s Values in Action Award for Social Justice.  But by then I had topped out for everything to learn in that role.  My younger son was entering a critical period in his high school education, too, and with more flexibility I could provide support for him as well.  Perhaps most of all, though, I felt an old itch I wanted to scratch again:  research, writing, and teaching, but this time in the service of social work and all that it tries to be.  I felt I could sharpen my writing skills to that end … and OK, I do love the sound of my own voice, so teaching has still held that special attraction as well.

S:  You aren’t going to emulate that social worker therapist who helped you?

S:  I think she’d understand.

S:  What do you like most about social work?

S:  The great majority of social workers are genuinely caring people who want to help others, and they’re willing to self-correct and grow to make themselves more effective.  What fine qualities!  In the bigger picture, though, I’m struck by the untapped potential of social work.  Here’s a field that could dynamically link the personal (or “micro”) to the social and political-economic (or “macro”—which too often means “all that other stuff”).  Social workers could be so much more than glorified eligibility workers on the one hand, or second-tier psychotherapy practitioners on the other.  The field is at a critical stage in its efforts to redefine itself, and the current economic crisis intensifies that need for rebirth and redirection.  I’d love to be in on the process, particularly regarding a revitalized role for education and research.

S:  How? 

S:  I could go in any one of several directions, depending on the opportunities.  My research and writing skills could contribute to academic or think tank projects.  I could apply my teaching skills either in social work courses or in academic departments that teach students preparing for careers in the helping professions.  By the way, I see no stigma at all in teaching “service courses.”  I could even dust off some of my development skills from my North Carolina State U Japan Center days.

S:  What are you finding most rewarding in your current activities?

S: In recent years I’ve been cultivating skill in writing editorial essays and short factual articles for both social workers and laypeople, with solid citations of fact.  My favorite so far concerns combat veterans’ psychological health issues.  Stylewise, my most sophisticated offering is an editorial from a social justice perspective against bringing back an active draft system.

sam.coleman5@verizon.net