NASW Social Work Talks - EP 130: The First Gen Madrina: Bridging Professional Growth Emotional Wellness & Financial Empowerment

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

The First Gen Madrina: Bridging Professional Growth Emotional Wellness & Financial Empowerment | With Sara Diaz, LCSW, Founder of The First Gen Madrina, LLC and Podcast Sara Diaz, LCSW, founder of The First Gen Madrina, LLC, joins us to explore the unique experiences of first-generation students and professionals. In this episode, Sara discusses the intersection of financial empowerment, mental wellness, and professional development—particularly for first-generation communities. Sara also leads The Madrina Network, https://thefirstgenmadrina.com/, an online coaching and community space specifically designed to support social workers navigating transitions or seeking purpose in their work.

This episode of Social Work Talks is sponsored by HPCC, the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center. From the National Association of Social Workers, this is Social Work Talks, and I'm your host, Elizabeth Lamott, and I am so glad to be sitting down with Sarah Diaz today. She is a licensed social worker and a certified financial social worker, and she founded First Gen Madrina, which is a consulting firm that threads the needle between emotional wellness, financial empowerment, and professional development. She also runs the Madrina Network, which is an online community for social workers who are seeking to make a professional change or looking for networking. So Sarah is going to tell us about her important

work today. Sarah Diaz, welcome to Social Work Talks. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Well, I am so glad that you could join us. Could we begin for our listeners and our viewers, tell us a bit just about how you came to the field of social work and we'll take it from there. Yeah, so my journey hasn't always been linear, but I have always had of passion for learning about psychology and learning about the mind. And when I started college, I didn't exactly know what my major would be. But freshman year of college, I experienced my first panic attack. I was a first generation college student, didn't really have a lot of support or I had the family support, but they couldn't really guide me because they hadn't

completed college themselves. And I had just lost my great aunt who was like a third grandmother for me. So that kind of culminated into, you know, me having this panic attack. Although my mom was supportive, I come from a culture being Latinx, where mental health is still very stigmatized. And although I was eventually connected to therapy, what struck me was the lack of support from our community. And I, in that moment, kind of vowed to be that support that I wish I had and kind of learn how to break the stigma and help other, especially Latinx folks who are struggling with breaking down the stigma

so they can get the support that they needed. So I started off as a psych major, realized that I didn't necessarily want to go into research. What I loved was speaking with people, helping out communities. And I had a really great mentor tell me about social work. And that's kind of how I fell in the laps of social work. I got my MSW and have been so passionate about mental health, but mostly breaking down the

stigma so that we can get the support that we need and the support that we deserve. So that's kind of all that kind of sparked my interest in becoming a social worker. And I haven't looked back ever since. Well, I share that. I haven't looked back either. It is the most rewarding field. And that's interesting. So really, the seeds of first gen Madrina began right when you started college in that

moment. Am I following that correctly? Yeah. So Madrina actually means godmother in Spanish. So what I wanted to be was kind of a godmother figure in the most humble way, or maybe older sister figure for someone else, especially college students that were struggling alone, because I started to realize the correlation between academics and mental health. And until you're 100% taking care of your mental health, you can't be 100% present in

your academics. And that's really why I called myself the first gen madrina or godmother, because I wanted to be that figure to support college students with their mental health. Was your great aunt who you lost that figure for you or were there many or what would you say on that? She definitely was. And I talk also a lot about my mom. So my mom also was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder like myself, and she knew right away how to pick out those triggers, right, or what I was going through.

And she acknowledged automatically that it was anxiety. I still didn't know 100% because I hadn't been studying it yet. So she was really kind of that godmother figure, mother figure, right, that pointed me in the direction of therapy. but my great aunt was that safe space. So she never judged, even talking about mental health, even if it wasn't understood, she was that safe space for me to go to. So I think I really built the First Gen Madrina

based off both of their support. In their honor, I mean, that is wonderful. And then what was the moment as your career progressed after graduate school that you knew you needed to take this pivot? So the pandemic, I think, brought upon a lot of us and it gave me the chance to reflect because I finally had the time to do so. So I remember, you know, the years after graduation up until the pandemic, I almost felt that I was a robot in a way or kind of living in living in a robotic sense, I didn't take time to think I was eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work,

you know, and that kind of gave me the time to reflect what is it that I'm really passionate about. And I recognize that it wasn't what I was doing anymore. I also recognize at the time that what I was interested in was considered non-traditional social work. I had a little bit of a crisis and I thought I was abandoning social work. But then because of that, it made me realize that social work is multifaceted. There's so many areas that we can be in that with our transferable skills as social workers, we can succeed. And we don't necessarily have to lead with the burnout. Sometimes we stay in places that we think we have to be in and that leads to burnout. And that kind of made me realize like, oh, I think I need to take a pivot away from

what I thought I wanted, which was more of a traditional social work role. And that's really what led me to starting the business. So then what social work skills do you most use as a consultant with First Gen Madrina? And what are some of the key messages there in your consulting? Oh, there's so much. Effective communication skills is something that we bring as social workers that some might think is obvious, but I think as social workers, we definitely need to have the ability to connect within a group and work with others is something that social workers also bring to the table. And, you know, crisis management and de-escalation, I think is a huge support and a huge skill that as social workers, we are trained to do, but I think a lot of us do

naturally. And I think that's what I bring to my consultancy is being able to kind of see the vision and bring everyone together in order to achieve a common goal. And that I think sometimes social workers undermine that we're able to do that and that we do that very well. Maybe it's a cycle because we may be inclined to do it well. So we end up in social work and we then learn to get even better at it. But we don't realize that because of the ways it may be endemic to who we are. Then I wonder, could you share an example of where, you know, you brought that skill as a consultant to a space where it was needed?

So I have done a lot of work in first generation programming and higher education. So in New Jersey, back in my home state, we have a program called the EOF program, the Educational Opportunity Fund. And I've worked a lot with them to bring more mental health programming to college students. What they had seen was that it wasn't as needed because there are counseling centers on campus. What they didn't recognize is that counseling centers are at capacity. They have wait lists. So being able to come in and educate staff members, right, and get the buy-in that these students, especially in the pandemic, needed additional mental health support, being able to communicate that effectively to show the work that we do and get them to work collectively within the group setting and to recognize that academic struggles and emotional struggles are very highly intertwined. I think along with that, what they weren't realizing were that our students, what we consider non-traditional, most of them, because they have their caretakers, they might have jobs, they maybe didn't have access to internet or there was food insecurities, right?

So they didn't realize all of the other external factors that came into play when it came to their academics and how a lot of that was unaddressed mental health challenges. or unaddressed trauma. And really being able to get that buy-in from them to be able to communicate effectively that there was a need for the students, that was like the most rewarding thing to see that aha moment. And then to see the results of how impactful it was for students, that's really the reason why I do the work that I do. It's very rewarding. It's amazing, Sarah. With first gen, it's not enough to just get into school. There's so much more that needs to happen. Building on this, what do you think is the biggest mistake that institutions make, whether it's a university or a counseling agency or any of the folks that you

may be consulting with? There are a few, but I think the biggest one is the expectations that there's the common knowledge for everything. So I didn't even know I was a first gen when I was in school. I knew my parents hadn't graduated, but I didn't know there was a term for it. I didn't know there were programs and services that were available to me. So I think it was a lot of the common knowledge of you're going to know what the bursar's office is. You're going to know where the counseling center on campus is, right? And to a certain extent, you know, there are a lot of students and maybe they can't provide direct support, but there are other ways to help students get informed. So one of the biggest things in higher ed is this concept of the hidden curriculum.

And this is something, unfortunately, that a lot of first gen struggle with. And their hidden curriculum involves basically what I just said, that part that's not as overt that students don't know about, but colleges and universities just expect them to kind of learn, but that cause extra challenges for our first gen students. I think that's the biggest struggle or the biggest pain point that they should be working on is how to inform students about what is available to them. What is a part of their tuition, right? There's a lot of free services that are available to students that they don't even know about. So I think being more open about guiding students in that sense and closing the gap with the hidden curriculum is very important.

So then is part of what you help universities or institutions learn is an orientation that spells this out more clearly from the start? Is that a piece of it? It could be. So every college and university has different needs. As we learn in school, we have to meet the client where they're at. So instead of coming in saying this is what I think you need, I like to work with the college and university. Some are in different places than others. Some are a little bit more advanced, right? Or have certain things in place that other schools don't have. So instead of kind of saying, here's what I think you need, I prefer to work with them and custom make what that support can look like for their student

population. So it can be very different. But I think also that hidden curriculum is something big within social workers as well. So not just first gens, and maybe first gen social workers feel it more. But when you leave college, and you go work in the field, or starting your career, you don't realize that there's a lot of things that they don't teach you about in school, a lot of things that we kind of have to navigate on our own. And that's the reason why I created also the Madrina Network, which you mentioned, which is the online community for social workers, because I thought, okay, I've been doing this for a decade. If I have information, if I know about that hidden curriculum

that I can give back and now offer to social workers, especially ones that are just starting out, that has become my mission as well. So it's mostly about empowering the next generation, I think is like my overall mission in the work that I do. This episode of Social Work Talks is sponsored by HPCC, the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center. Take the next step in your professional journey with the Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Worker Certified, APHSWC, credential tailored

for experienced hospice and palliative social workers. This unique certification involves a process that validates and evaluates your expertise in this specialty. While licensure assures minimal competency to practice in a field, certification indicates mastery of a defined body of knowledge. Showcase your expertise in social work. Take the first step today and learn more by visiting www.advancingexpertcare.org forward slash HPCC. so what stands out to you with the majorina network in terms of where people who find you through that community take what you're bringing to the conversation and act upon it if you have an example or a theme that you notice yes so a lot of those that are coming to me and it's it's

very sad and scary that a lot of them are students and they're, they're experiencing this very early on. A lot of it is burnout due to lack of support and lack of guidance and direction, not knowing about this hidden curriculum, right? How, how do I apply to take the licensing exam? How do I get my clinical hours, right? Things that may be on the outside looking in seem very easy, but for a lot of us it's not. So I see a lot of the students are kind of looking for that direction, looking for help with the hidden curriculum. And then the professionals are experiencing burnout because they're not being compensated fairly, because there is no support or no supervision. And maybe they're looking to explore something different. I think we have tunnel vision sometimes. And we

think that what we always thought we were going to do is the only option until you see that there are so many other options and you begin to advocate for yourself and you see that there's so many things that we can do with our social work degree. So I think that that has been like the biggest commonality that I have seen with students and professionals is that there's a lot of burnout because they don't have the support or the guidance. So you are helping people zoom back really in two spheres to zoom back and say, wait, there could be a fund at the university that will help you pay for the licensing exam or help you pay for books or all, you know, these things do exist. And I think often people don't even know to ask about it. So zoom back of this with this

problem and see what resources are there for you. And also zoom back professionally to think outside the box in terms of what else you can do with a social work degree. In addition to the really inspiring consulting work that you're doing. What are some other pivots that you've seen social workers make? Oh, social workers are everywhere. Okay. Maybe I'm biased because I am one, right? But I feel like we can be everywhere. I have a mentee of mine who is in HR and has succeeded in HR because of the transferable social work skills that she brings. And she's still getting her her license, her clinical license on the side, but has excelled being in that space because she brings the communication, the de-escalation, the crisis management. So there

is that type of pivot. I've seen a lot of social workers like myself go into higher education because there isn't enough mental health counseling support. So we're we're really everywhere. You know, I think we're usually taught therapy, school social work, hospital social work, child welfare. Those are the typical ones that we get. But when you zoom out, you see that we're in a lot of spaces. We're also needed in leadership spaces as well. We're definitely needed in leadership for sure. And I even wonder now with what's happening with AI and the kind of hard skills that AI is so good at, will the soft skills of social work become more valued, more relevant, more important? A hundred percent. I don't think we, and I say

this and I'm a very avid ChachiBT user for other things, but I don't think that we can ever be replaced, nor should we ever be replaced because there are so many skills that yes, we learn, But there are also other skills that we come, we bring naturally because a lot of us as social workers get into it for reasons, right? Because we have struggled ourselves because we want to give back to the community. So we have a lot of that that you can't, you can't get with AI. And I honestly don't trust having that support in that sense, right? I do use it for business related and admin things, but never will I use it in my direct relationships with my clients. Yes, I worked with a client who was conversing with ChatGPT on some things and it got pretty tricky.

It's scary. Yeah, it was interesting because at first this person found it helpful and then it became deeply not helpful. We've seen in the news some horror stories with AI of people communicating and AI encouraging them to do certain things. To me, that's scary. You can't regulate AI like you can our profession. So if I have a message for the community is please do not trust it when it comes to therapy. There are so many options out there to be face to face with an actual social worker or an actual mental health provider. I would not trust AI for that. So Sarah, what would you say in this moment in time with your work has been most discouraging?

My goodness, how much time do we have? It's hard. I won't say that I have not struggled in this last year. Social work to me is very political. And the work that I'm doing is being targeted, right? The programs within schools, the Department of Education is being targeted. The first generation community is being targeted. The marginalized community is being targeted. And that's the work, the bulk of the work that we do most of the time. And it is the one that I particularly do but I had a very great mentor and social worker tell me just pivot like do the same work change the wording you do what you have to do to support continue to support your community you have to know how to pivot you have to know how to pivot let's not say pivot as much let's

say being adaptable which is what us what being a social worker is all about that is a skill that we learn, right? Things are not always what they seem. So learning how to be adaptable. I think that that's the biggest skill that we're going to learn in this year as social workers, learning how to pivot, doing the work a little differently. But that doesn't mean that our work is not needed right now. It's needed now more than ever. The process, have time to grieve because I myself needed that. And then I said, you know what, I'm going to turn this into action and figure out how I can do this differently to still be able to support my community. But I won't lie and tell you that it has not been very challenging this year. Any advice for all of our listeners and

viewers with respect to what is discouraging now that you are referencing? I think it's what I said about giving yourself the time and the space to grieve, to process, to do whatever you have to do because sometimes we, yes, we do have to be adaptable, but we also need that time to rest ourselves because rest is also resistance. And that's what helps us to be able to be fully present for our community. I think as social workers, we're taught to turn off, right? And just immediately be there for our clients. But I always say that the oxygen mask theory that they tell us on the airplane is real. Sometimes we need to learn the hard way, but putting it on ourselves first is necessary. So don't forget that part of the process to be able to grieve,

to work on yourself so that you can be a hundred percent ready to support your clients or your community. What would you say of late has been most encouraging for you? What is an example of where you have felt really hopeful and encouraged? My favorite part of my work is working with college students, still seeing that light within them and seeing that they aren't letting themselves get discouraged. Also, you know, this next generation, they're light years ahead of us, right?

They are taking care of themselves. They are putting in the work. So I think I'm learning from them also. But, you know, just seeing that encouragement, seeing them light up, being so open and willing to learn and to see how they can better themselves and how they can advocate for themselves. Honestly, I think that's what keeps me going is having my sessions with my college students and seeing how motivated they are and really what they're excited for when they graduate. Yeah, I agree. I just feel so hopeful when I

around young people, college students. It's easy to let certain things in the moment get us down. And then you spend time with young people today and they are our hope and they are the future. Speaking of that, one thing I haven't asked yet with the time we have, do you in any way with this work address the pressure that first-generation college students may feel to succeed or to fulfill certain hopes and dreams

of their parents and grandparents? Does that factor into any of this? You just gave me chills because that's all that I talk about. So I have my own podcast with the same name, The First-Gen Madrina. And in the beginning of the podcast, when I started in 2022, too, I kind of coined these three P's, as I call them, that affect first gens, which are pressure, perfection, and pride. So those are the biggest things I think that intertwine. And there's a few others, but those are the ones that really are present for a first gen. And that can be a huge challenge because that can also lead to burnout. So we might feel it in the professional sense, And then we also might feel it in the personal sense as well.

And that's what I talk about on the podcast is establishing boundaries, right? What do family expectations look like? What is it like to be the first to succeed or the first to navigate things? Because first gens don't stop being first gens when they graduate college. They become the first to enter into their fields, right? The stigmatized career, like myself, the first maybe to buy a house. to move away from home. These big moments that can bring upon that pressure and perfection and pride really do have an impact on a first gen, which is why I'm always a proponent for therapy and

a proponent for getting the support that we need to be able to learn how to manage that so that it doesn't have an impact on us. It's a lot of weight to carry. It is. And I'm curious, what books out there do you think are best on this, both for first generation students and for social workers in educating ourselves? What are your favorite books? Okay, so I actually don't know of any social work ones, which could be a gap that we need to fill. Yes. I think you need to fill that gap. Yeah, I don't think that at least not that I know of that there is many. There is two amazing books that I recommend from like peers of mine that I've had the opportunity to meet. They are amazing in the in the first gen space. One is called First Gen and it's by Alejandra

Campo Verde. I can send you guys the links if you want to put it in the show notes. Yes, we will do that. There's also one called Smart Girl by Latonya Reese Miles. Both amazing educators, people in the first gen space, really there to support the community. And I would say even as social workers, if you identify as first gen, definitely amazing reads. They're the first time that I felt represented in a book. And that was very, very comforting. So I highly recommend both of them. They are amazing women, amazing women of color. And I really enjoyed both of those books. Well, Sarah, we will put those books in the show notes along with your website and your information. Sarah Diaz, thank you so much for joining Social Work Talks and for everything

that you do for the social work field. It's been really great to get to talk with you. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate your time.