we are like islands in the sea... =)

Hello! I'm wondering if you can let me know who is putting this Integral Social Work call together? With a strong interest in this area, it would be great to learn how to get on the call.
Thanks so much!
Warmly,
Heather : )

Sorry for being a little slow figuring this out -- here are a couple of questions.
It seems to me that the values embodied in the NASW Code of Ethics are green and that there is an assumption within the profession that this will make sense to students entering the field. While students are socialized to the culture and values of social work through cognitive learning and field experiences, there are no explicitly developmental processes introduced. They are just expected to be green.
Recently, there has been a conservative backlash to social work education -- for example, a George Will editorial titled, "Forcing a Social Conscience." One of his critiques seems to be of our social justice mission. The standards of our accrediting body, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) have been called into question by conservatives outside the profession.
Interestingly, at the same time that social work values seem to be green, there is an increasingly orange pressure for "evidence-based practices" based on empirical knowledge. This would be data revealed by mostly 3rd person perspectives (quantitative), though the more 2nd person qualitative approaches are accepted (but often expected to lead into more "controlled" experimental quantitative studies). What is this about? Does the social work profession have distinctive developmental lines -- green values, orange research methodologies, more integrative person-in-environment theoretical perspectives?
What would an inclusive evidence-based practice look like for social work, based on Integral Methodological Pluralism?
Also, does Integral social work mean that all social workers would be Integrally developed or would it mean that we recognize people from developmental levels possibly starting at amber might become interested in social work? The challenge is that respect for diversity and multiculturalism are more green developmental values, so if these are our values, can we educate amber social workers (they do show up in our classes sometimes)? Would Integral social work insist that social workers need to get to Integral? Would an Integral Life Practice of some sort be introduced to promote development? How is academia sold on that idea?
What would an Integral Professional Code of Ethics for social workers look like?
Is meditation a 1st-person research methodology and would this be included in an Integral perspective of evidence-based practice?
Can social work have a social justice mission and include multiple perspectives of social justice?
Would social service agencies be more functional if everyone where Integrally developed or are they most functional with staff members at all developmental stages? Would amber social service providers be the best people to match up with red gang members?
Would the profession of social work be Integral, but then we run agencies with paraprofessional social service providers at all developmental levels?
Will the professions become irrelevant in a post-disciplinary world, or will all the professions continue since there will always be people at all developmental levels? Will post-disciplinary Integrally developed people be able to be leaders among the professions? Or, being a minority with a view many cannot grasp, would they simply be rejected by the professions?
Thanks so much,
Heather : )

I'm really looking forward to hearing this conference call! On Integral News and Views (www.integralnews.com) we have been working on a number of blog entries related to the theme of working with the homeless population; the first two of these have been published this past week:

Blind Compassion by Jayne Sorrels

I-Thou: Twenty-four Hour Lament (a day in the life of a second-tier social worker) by Annie McQuade

There will be at least one more blog entry on this subject on Integral News at some point, hopefully later this month.

spiral out,
Arthur

Are these talks recorded and if so where can you go to access them?