NASW Social Work Talks - EP 140 - A Journey To Becoming a Social Worker and Social Justice Leader

Episode Date: March 31, 2026

In the debut episode of the Power of Social Work Podcast, and as part of Social Work Talks Careers in Social Work Series, the NASW New York Chapter sits down with German Sanchez, MA, LCSW, RDT, Board President, alongside Policy Coordinators Amanda Rodriguez (Pressly), M.S. and Gideon Mosse. German shares his journey from military service in the Army National Guard to becoming a behavioral health officer and clinical supervisor, highlighting how personal experiences shaped his path into social work. The conversation dives into the realities of earning an LCSW, navigating burnout, and finding purpose in a demanding field.   Through powerful client stories and real-world advocacy insights, this episode explores what sets social workers apart—meeting people where they are, working from a systems perspective, and driving meaningful change both in individual lives and across communities.   The team also breaks down the critical role of advocacy, the work happening behind the scenes at NASWNY, and how social workers can use their collective voice to influence policy, improve working conditions, and strengthen the profession. Whether you're a student, seasoned professional, or considering a career in social work, this episode is a compelling look at the impact and power of the field.

Hello, social workers. This is the National Association of Social Workers, New York chapter's first recording of the Power of Social Work podcast. Today, we have German Sanchez, M-A-L-C-S-W-R-D-T. He has served in the Army National Guard for over 10 years since 2012, and he's currently serving as a behavioral health officer for the New York National Guard. German Sanchez, please introduce yourself to the social workers who are listening. Well, thank you. Thank you, everybody, for having me here today. Thank you for allowing me to be the first speaker in this podcast for our state. Hopefully, I do it justice today. Thank you so much for being here. My name is Amanda Presley. I'm one of the policy coordinators here at NASW New York. And if you get involved with advocacy, you'll be interfacing a lot with myself and my colleagues. Hi, everyone. I am Gideon Massa. I'm also a policy coordinator here at NASW New York,

and we're super excited to be talking with you today, Herman. Thank you. So firstly, how long have you been a social worker, and what do you do at your current role? Yeah, so I got my master's of social work in 2019 from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Currently, I have about two jobs. So I'm the behavioral health officer for the United States Army. That's part of my continuing service for our country, helping service members and families, veterans. And then second, I'm the clinical supervisor at the HEAT program at SUNY Downstate, which is a very specific clinic that works towards helping

adolescents who are HIV positive, as well as transgender adolescents and trying to explore their gender identity. Super, super interesting and incredibly good work, obviously, as we know many social workers do so just to get into it and how you really started talk this through how it was to get your lcsw what was the educational process like what were the tests like what was the exam like etc yeah you know my career trajectory towards social work definitely started with me going to therapy when i was 22 and i was stationed in alaska and i was living in Alaska and I was just a kid fresh from Texas who just graduated and was put in probably one of the coldest places in the world and I never saw snow until the very first time in my life and in that

moment I started to realize like wow there's like a lot of feelings going on and I found a therapist who was an LCSW as well and I started working with her and like kind of like unraveling family trauma my feelings around certain things life in the army being away from home for the first time living in a whole nother state it was through that experience that really pushed me towards wanting a career in mental health and really seeing what social workers do and how they support people and really encouraging me to pursue my master's of social work when I first left active duty in 2016. Yeah, as they say, hurt people heal people. So that's amazing that you took your generational trauma and you were able to turn it into a career that helps educate others,

but also, you know, it heals a little inner part of yourself, right? When you go through that journey. Thank you for sharing more about that. You told us a little bit about what motivated you to stay in the field. But as we see social workers with increased burnout rates, the profession often is faced with low pay and high educational debt. What is something that motivates you to keep going in this field? It's going to sound dorky. It's also going to be the truth.

It's really helping people and it's really showing up for those who are marginalized in our community. I work with a kid who is 16 years old. They have more suicide attempts than they have years in this

world. And to me, being able to work with this kid we started in November since then things have turned around and this kid is in a much better space not just because of my work with them but you know they finally found a social worker that they can vibe with they can connect with and they can really start to address some of the underlying issues and i think part of the work is that i've been doing a great job with people and that motivates me to keep coming back i also get paid well and i know there's some social workers who don't get paid well they really suck and that's something that we need to address but i've been

grateful in my career since 2019 to have worked for agencies who see my worth and my value and have been able to negotiate and work with me in matching that. Absolutely. And I totally agree. I mean, it's something we fight for every day, obviously, is that social workers are obviously such an important cross to society in general. I mean, giving that help to people who needed it so wildly important. And in order to do that, we do need to pay social workers more. Obviously, that is a natural conclusion that you can come to. And you kind of already mentioned one, but just for the viewer, tell us about a story you have with one of your patients that really, I guess, just stands out to you and really shows the power of social work in general.

Obviously, you've already given one, but is there anyone where you obviously can see the clear benefits that social workers obviously bring? Do you have a story about a patient like that? Yeah. One of the things that separates us from our colleagues, either they're LCATs or LNHCs or even psychologists, is the fact that we work from a systems perspective and that we're just not addressing just the issue that's in front of us, but all the different issues that might occur with a particular person. And I always remember this patient. It's one of those patients that will always stay with me for the rest of my life it's when i worked in community mental health clinic in brooklyn i was working with an air force veteran and for the longest time he chose to never

go get care at the va because he felt like he didn't deserve it you know he deployed but he never really saw combat and so he felt like you know that wasn't really for him and i validated that i recognized it you know i respected his decision i remember one day i asked them like hey Like, why don't we just submit a 10-10 easy form so that in case you ever need care at the VA, it'll just be there for you. Yeah. Give an easy alternative. And so, you know, this particular veteran deals with bipolar disorder. He hears voices.

And so from time to time, you'll have a manic episode where he'll start to act a little strange for people in the community might not like that. And so he reached out to me two years ago. we stopped working and the last time i worked with him was in october 2022 i heard from him he sent me an email and a voicemail in october 2024 or 25 somewhere around there and he said thank you for making me sign the form to get connected to the va health care he experienced a manic phase where he was he ended up hospitalized at one of the city hospitals he wasn't getting the care that we needed there and he asked to be transferred to the VA and he filled out that form where we met together that first time he never went back and used it but when he needed

it that VA was there to provide the care that he needed and since then his life has been turning around he now has supportive housing with the VA housing voucher he doesn't hear voices anymore to say find the right medication regimen for him wow and that is what social work is that is our superpower, but where we meet people where they're at. We're not just treating whatever the presenting issue is, but we're trying to work at it from a systems perspective and get them connected to the resources that they need. Even if they never end up meeting them, that's fine. It'll just be there for when they need it. And it's so important as a mental health provider and a social worker to understand that not everyone has that trust in the system and that not everyone is actively

seeking help until they realize the resources that are right under their fingertips or until they're pushed to a point where they know that they need it. But it's great to offer that no pressure approach just so people don't feel like, okay, I'm going to run away from the system or I want to run away from this person, especially when you're in that type of mindset. So that's great on how you approach that situation. Yeah. And if I can just say this, I think that's where we are different from all the other healthy professions. They'll just treat what the issue is. Obviously, this person's bipolar disorder, but it's deeper than that. And that's what makes us unique, because we see things from a systems perspective, and we work on addressing all the

psychosocial issues that are happening, and making sure that people get the care that they need, that they get access to get the care that they need. And that's something that I always try to instill in the social work interns that I see, that I work with, and that I teach, and making sure that they address the issues from a systems perspective so that people can get access to the care what they need. Yeah. And it's great to have a trauma-centered approach where you understand the environmental factors that could lead to somebody to be in the state where they're at or to make the decisions that they do. So thank you for sharing a little bit more about just what makes the social work perspective different and why their interventions are so much more

impactful in people's lives because they truly meet for where they're at. So thank you for highlighting a great moment like that. What makes social work a professional career and degree path, especially for emerging students that are just coming into this field? What do you make social work professional, in your words? Our NSW degrees, depending on the school that you go to, can either offer a very clinical approach or a very macro approach or a very community approach. And that's what I like about that.

Depending on the program that you want and what you want to accomplish, you can set up your degree to help you in that direction. And with that degree, you can do a lot of different careers from community mental health, to working in a hospital, to having their own private practice, to doing policy work, to doing research, to doing case management, to doing supportive housing. There's really not a lot. You can work at the VA. You can be a behavioral health officer in the United States Army. You can work for the federal government. There's a lot you can do with your MSW degree. And that's why it's one of the best degrees out there. We're not just pigeonholed to

just doing therapy. We can do a lot of different things. And that's why that degree is the preference when it comes to a lot of employers. Once again, not to try to devalue some of the other degrees, they're also important, but we're taught to address things from a lot of different perspectives. We're just not just doing therapy. That makes perfect sense. And yeah, I understand that people do have a misconception about social work in general, where they're like, oh, social work is therapy and that's it, right? But as I've worked at NASW for so long now, I've learned that the number of people, especially in those fields like policy that you're talking about, it is a overarching degree that helps on so many facets and factors that we just

really need to keep in mind, I guess, is it would be my argument is, but you can't just imagine, you can't put social workers in the box of therapy. What impact have you made as NASW new york board president and in advocacy through other facets and also just speak a bit more about what nasw is doing right now what you're doing with nasw right now etc yeah so here at nasw we're doing a lot of constant doing a lot of work that sometimes i always get this question what is nasw doing because they don't actually see the work that we're doing that's behind the scenes of everybody else's career and right now we're getting ready for capital action day where we're going to be supporting a couple of bills in Albany. We are preparing for our state conference

in May. We're preparing for Social Work Month. So there's always something going on, something for any social worker or social work colleague that is passionate about social work to go and participate in. So there's always something to do. I think what I like about my time here at the NASW and as the president of the chapter is definitely helping bring back our conference in person. The last one we did was more of a remote format. Now we're getting back to person. We're building those relationships again. I hope that we can see a lot of people come out to the conference this year in May at Hunter University. Please come out. Please come support. We understand it's a big state and some people are coming from Syracuse. We're out past dairy. Don't worry. Next

year, we plan to have it somewhere in the north of the state and always move it between the city and other parts of the state so that we try to be as equitable for everybody all over the state. And we're working on getting more sponsors for that. So please come out and support, register. That's the only way we can grow our chapter and make the chapter work for us.

Great, and I think you highlighted something that really showcases what we do with our advocacy on just people wondering what we're doing and how they can get involved. The first thing you mentioned, we have our Capital Action Day on February 10th in Albany, which we hope that social workers will make a great impact and really have their voices heard to the legislature and also to the

governor. But you really highlighted that members need to get involved in NASW New York's work a lot more closely just to make sure that they're involved in the process, but also that real social workers that are on the ground have their voices elevated because, you know, Gideon and I, we are the staff here at NASW. We do a lot of this policy work, but we're not on the ground. And we don't have a lot of these human touch experiences that a lot of social workers like yourself have today. And so we need social workers to be involved in this work. The motto that we say at NASW is no decision about you without you. We are member led. And so we want social workers to get involved in our advocacy committees like AGR, the Advocacy and Government

Relations Committee and do things like testify to the legislature and go out to events to connect with the legislature and make a more personal connection with their own public officials and elected officials just to really show how on a personal level every member at NASW can make a difference and all work together to get to the same goal that we're all trying to do, which is advance the social work profession and show the power of the social work profession. Yeah, right now in our state chapter, we have close to 10,000 members. I know for a fact that there are more than 10,000 social workers in the state. A little bit more than 61,000. Exactly. If you think all 61,000 of us were members of NSW came out and participated in either Capital Action Day or whatever event

that's going on, then that right there is political and voting power. But we cannot do it with just only 10,000. And we cannot do it when there's only 100 of us. Absolutely agree. I mean, that is basically the biggest part of Amanda and my job is to make sure that people go out and get active, right? We're trying our best to make it incredibly clear to the people who might watch this, come out and advocate. I mean, you see what the nurses are able to do in New York City alone. And if we can spur something like that on the social work front, And I mean, the amount of change that occurs, it would be incredible, I feel. So obviously, if we can rally those 60,000, that is what we try to do the most here at NASW.

That's obviously the case. Yeah. And let me add this to that. It's something that I do a lot in couples therapy. What you put into the relationship is what you get out of it. And if you put nothing into the relationship, then you cannot be surprised when nothing's given back. And how I mean that in the work that we do at NSW, as a social worker, if you don't participate in NSW or help out or do anything with the chapter, you cannot be surprised if the chapter that you're in, either if it's this state or any other state, is not as active. Because we really need to participate in order to move legislative priorities, in order to fight for student loan forgiveness, for fair pay, for safety, for social workers out in the community.

Like, we need you to come help and participate. We just cannot do it alone. Yeah, come out. Come out, advocate. We need voices. That's the whole thing. We need voices. So I guess to move on, what would you say empowers you the most when it comes to the social work field?

And on top of that, what empowers you the most when you see these recent challenges that are coming up when it comes to the social work career, the social work field in general? What is keeping you in it and keeping you swinging, I guess? Yeah, it's really important to highlight that as social workers, we're always fighting for a better future for our clients, for ourselves, for our country. and that we always and have always been there where any time something important has changed in this country from the 1920s and the settlement house movement with jenny adams through the passing of the new deal as we prepared for world war ii and during the great depression era to the civil rights act to vietnam to as recently as aids advocacy in the 90s through the passing of marriage equality. Social workers have always been at the front line and fighting for people

and fighting for their rights, not just for their own rights, but for the rights of everybody, regardless of whatever political party, regardless of who they voted for, regardless if they're right or left or their center. We're fighting for everybody at the end of the day. Thank you. And we know that it's enshrined in the NASW Code of Ethics for social workers to become politically engaged. And it is a duty, not only just for social workers, for anybody to understand what's happening in their communities and in their sphere of influence in general, to be able to make the most impact if there is any injustice that they interface with. Just at NASW, to share a little bit more about the New York chapter, to highlight back to how

we need the most involvement as possible, to look at our political action through Candidate Election Committee or the PACE Committee. We recently unified our NASW New York State and New York City committees. And so now we represent the entire city and all of upstate. And, you know, we have a great dedicated group of our committee, yet we're missing representation in certain areas of the state where we don't necessarily understand what's going on in certain areas when it comes to elections. And the goal of the committee is to advance social work through the power of elections. whether that be a candidate that represents social work values, or that could be a social worker running for office themselves, which we hope to encourage more social workers to run for office.

So that just really shows how we need members in all facets of the state and in all geographical areas, regardless of if it's in the city, wherever you're shooting this today, or if it's in Ossego County, where people are graduating with 28 people in their graduating class, kind of like how I grew up. There's no provider, social work provider for an hour drive in that area. So I think keeping the entire state engaged is a challenging thing to do. And so having active members like you just showing your voice and being courageous enough to be vulnerable and share your story, I think it paves the way for more people to do that. And so what advice would you give to social workers coming into the field that are interested in advocacy, what advice would you give to any

social worker that is new to this? What's important to always keep in mind is the work that we're doing and how it's all connected from a systems theory perspective. What happens in the ground goes up, either through your local government, your state government, your federal government, and whatever they do at those different levels comes right back down. And so even if you are working with a client who's not being impacted by any of the current policies, don't say when. It's only a matter of time. When a direct act or policy starts to affect the clients right across from you. And part of that is fighting for their rights, fighting for who they are, and showing up for them. We shouldn't have to wait until they come for you personally at your door. We should

be showing up for everybody. I think that's a great closing statement to our podcast today. So we want to leave you with some action tools to best guide your advocacy journey before we leave today. Obviously, we have leadership positions open at NASW New York. We've recently elected a new board president who will take into office next year, Patricia Gray from Hunter University. Jermon Sanchez. He's diligently served for the last three years now. So he's definitely put his dues in. It is a lot of work to do at NASW New York, but we know that it's incredibly rewarding. And not only is it personally rewarding, but you see the results in the people that you touch and also that the policy change that you're able to create. And so if we can give you some leaving tips before we go today. We encourage you to one, join NASW New York. We hope for you to be a part of this journey and a part of this movement and to get in touch with us personally. We encourage

that. We have two advocacy committees at NASW. We have the Advocacy and Government Relations Committee or AGR, where you can actually decide our legislative agenda for the chapter. AGR is the one who votes on everything that we pursue in a legislative year. And so if you're interested and what we're advocating for and why you should definitely be a part of the AGR committee that meets monthly. And secondly, we have our political action through candidate election committee, where we're looking for all social workers to give us political candidates that represent social work values that are running in the next upcoming election and also any social workers running for office. We want to be aware of that so that we can support their campaign

and advance social work in every way possible throughout the state. So we encourage you to join. If you can reach out to info.naswnewyork at socialworkers.org, we'll get you connected. Kermang, do you have any leaving notes before we end today? We talked a lot today on why we need to get involved.

I always say this, and I want to hear from members and non-members alike always, and I welcome that. If there's an issue or an idea that needs to be addressed, by all means please get involved let us know there's a lot of different issues that we need to address we need to address supervision for lcsw's we need to address the exam we need to address safety we need to address a lot of different issues that are affecting the social work community and then maybe there's some that we don't know because it hasn't been brought up to our attention and so please let us know this chapter this profession is your home come to us

and tell us what's going on so that we can best advocate for you at the end of the day. Yeah. We're trying to get stuff done. So let's get stuff done. Tell us your issues and we're going to do our best to help, right?

Right. With that, thank you so much, Pramod. That was an absolute pleasure. Again, last time, I'm Gideon Massa, Policy Coordinator at NASW. Yeah, and we hope that you'll tune in to the next Power of Social Work episode. We're hoping to keep this series continuing

and so this won't be the last time you'll hear from us and hope to be in touch. Thank you so much. Thank you.