NASW Foundation Knee-Wittman Achievement Awards

Ceremony and Reception
Remarks of
Carl G. Leukefeld
2003 Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Hyatt Regency - Capitol Hill
Washington, DC
August 1, 2003

What an honor it is to receive the Knee-Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of health and mental health social workers. This is an honor which is not specific to me, but to those social workers and others with whom I have worked. Perhaps, I am too young for a lifetime award. It may not be personally appropriate, but is sure feels good. Special thanks needs to be given to those who worked to make the award possible. Bernice Harper, for her compassion and help with my mother's passing. Golda Edinburg, for her catching energy. Mark Battle, who taught me to love social work in spite of social work. Betsy Vourlekis, who taught us spoon hanging. And Phyllis Nash and Dean Emery Wilson, for their special thoughtfulness and support.

We are here to recognize the leadership of Ruth Knee and Milt Wittman, two outstanding social work leaders in health and mental health, who were mentors to many of us. This award recognizes their leadership and specifically their values, ethics, and approaches, which have been a mainstay and constant inspiration for social workers in health and mental health social work practice.

I would like to emphasize three areas of constant inspiration from Ruth and Milt. 

The first is a Passion for Human Dignity and Self Determination, which is exemplified by Social Workers.  Many of us balance our professional ethics with our work environment. One example stands out for me as being particularly important, for symbolic reasons. When an administration called for the elimination of "social" in all personnel titles and jobs, it became evident that this presented Doctors of Social Work with a dilemma, because our degrees were symbolically taken away. As Chief Health Services Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service at that time, I knew I could be targeted as an example. I also knew the importance of social work and what it represents for the profession and for me. After talking with Ruth, the decision was easy. She asked if I was a Regular Corps Officer? Had my record been good? And did I adhere to values of the profession? The answer was an easy "yes," so I kept using my degree and possibly "looked forward" to questions about it.

The second area is a firm and never wavering commitment to The National Association of Social Workers as a Professional Shelter - Not Just a Guild.  This became evident and important to me personally when I watched and participated with Ruth as a social work commissioner in the Joint Commission on Interprofessional Affairs (JCIA). JCIA was developed for the four core mental health professions- Psychiatry, Psychology, Mental Health Nursing, and Social Work- to discuss guild issues related to areas like licensure, certification, credentials, and prescribing. The JCIA had testified before Congress and disagreed violently on many of these guild issues. Largely, the disagreement involved the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association. During our yearly meetings with executive directors, presidents, president-elects and commissioners, I was always proud of Ruth's emphasis on those we serve rather than "how much we could get from staking out our professional boundaries."

The third and final area is a focus on Advocating for Social Health Care Justice for All Americans.  I remember talking with Ruth about my (then) role as the first chair of NASW's newly formed Commission on Health and Mental Health, which represented about 60 percent of NASW members. She suggested that I contact the NASW president who appointed me, and "lay out" an action plan. Well, that action plan highlighted social health care justice as well as research parity for social work researchers. These are still priorities for us and for NASW with 41 million Americans who are now uninsured. If NASW could ever focus our energy on a single issue, I suggest that social health care justice for all Americans should be our single issue. There are other issues, but I believe we must choose one, and we must have a single-issue focus if we are to survive as a professional association, since the average age of NASW members is now 51 years.

In closing, I would like to thank NASW, on behalf of health and mental health social workers, for the award. I would like to recognize Ruth Knee and Milt Wittman for their values, ethics, and approaches, which have been an inspiration to many social workers as they paved the way for us.  I also would like to emphasize that these kinds of awards should not be given to people like me, but should recognize those of us who continue the social work values, ethics, and approaches typified by Ruth and Milt. 

Thank you