NASW Foundation National Programs

NASW Social Work Pioneers^®

Vivian L. Smith

In 1966 Vivian L. Smith MSW, ACSW was awarded the NASW's Lifetime Achievement Award. She had previously received the Social Worker of the Year from the National Association of Social Workers-Metro Chapter. Her social work career spans over four decades. Before retiring she was deputy director of the Center for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. During her ten years ay CSAP, she launched initiatives to promote the benefits of substance-abuse prevention, including the National Center for the Advancement of Prevention. An outgrowth of CSAP's successful demonstration programs, the center analyzed and synthesized research findings and transformed them into practical and timely programs. Due to her creativity and persistent follow-through, a professional linkage was developed between OSAP and the National Association of Social Workers. Twenty-one deans and faculty of prestigious schools of social work met and agreed to explore the possibility of including a "prevention track" in the social work curricula at the graduate level.

Vivian L. Smith had previously worked at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital starting there in 1960 and where she worked for over twenty years. During that time she achieved accreditation status for its Area D. Community Mental Health Center at a time when St. Elizabeth’s had lost it accreditation. She began her association with the hospital as a social worker/social work supervisor and before moving to Office for Substance Abuse Prevention became the first non­medical director of a major division at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital.

She was born in Tampa, Florida, and received her schooling in Sumter, South Carolina, her B.S. degree from the Ohio State University, and her MSW from the Catholic University of America. She attended Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia, for one year followed by serving 2 1/2 years in the Women's Air Force. She has been a lecturer at the Catholic University School of Social Work, the Washington School of Psychiatry, and the Metropolitan Mental Health Skills Center. She has earned over 50 national and community based awards including three United States Presidential Rank Awards, Senior Executives Association Distinguished Rank Award, Department of Health and Human Services Volunteer Award, as well as the awards from the National Association of Social Workers.