2017 Awards

Clinical Writing & Lifetime Achievement Awards

At our biennial conference, Lifetime Achievement Awards are given to members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of psychoanalytic social work and psychoanalysis. The Professional Clinical Writing Award is given to a member who has made outstanding contributions to the field through their professional clinical publications. These awards are presented by those who are close to the recipients.

Awardees: Golnar Simpson - Marsha Wineburgh - Crayton Rowe - Jerry Brandell

Lifetime Achievement Award — Recipient: Golnar Simpson, PhD, LCSW.
Introduction by Barbara Berger, PhD, LCSW:

As psychoanalytic clinical social workers, we understand that we are the sum total of not only our DNA, but also all of our experiences life long. We are the aggregate of our bio-psycho-social beings, a concept that Golnar Simpson holds near and dear to her heart.

So let me tell you a little story about Golnar, the first story I ever heard about her early life. She told it when she was running for the President of the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work -- and it began my ongoing admiration for her. Golnar, who is Persian, was remembering returning home from school one day. She could hear music and prayers coming from different directions. She knew the occasion was related to her parents' wish to share their home with people of different religions and backgrounds -- an inclusive, accepting embrace of diversity. Golnar introduced herself as a candidate who grew up in a family who taught her the truest meaning of embracing difference -- to make welcome in your home.

Roll this camera forward. Golnar and I have worked together at the National Federation and have become good friends for several years. And then my house burned down. At that time she happened to be coming to Chicago for a meeting. She presented me with a small mirror that she brought from her family home in Persia. There is special significance to this mirror. In Persian culture, it represents an infinity of introspection and self-reflection – and one of the first items that is transferred to a new home as a good luck symbol, literally a piece of her home that would help the building of mine.

After graduation from Social Work School, Golnar began her career as the first woman in Iran's Ministry of Justice, Office of the Attorney General in charge of establishing social services program for lost and abandoned children (homeless) in Tehran. Her success with that program led to Golnar receiving the United Nation's Fellowship Grant for Graduate Social Work Studies in the U.S. The rest, as Golnar says, is history: She won the NASW “Social Work Pioneer” award for her pioneering contributions to social work practice and education, and the “Elma Kahn Wolf Award” for outstanding contributions to mental health by a woman. She was elected as a “Distinguished Practitioner” in Social Work by the National Academies of Practice and subsequently served as the Social Work Academy's Chair. She has been the President of the Greater Washington Society for Clinical Social Work, President of the Federation, Founding Dean of the Washington Institute for Clinical Social Work, and the Diversity Chairman on the Board of AAPCSW. These accomplishments among many others are the stuff of a lifetime of achievement.

But, for us, as psychoanalysts, her greatest achievement is her person, the woman she's become. The woman, who grew up in a home of acceptance and inclusion for all, has grown to be the woman who, herself, embraces and understands difference and the unique experience of others.

In the words of Anne Segall: Golnar is full of genuine intellectual vigor and curiosity and dedicates herself as fully to the life of the mind as she does to the rest of her many pursuits. Golnar has this extraordinary ability to synthesize and integrate ideas, seemingly dichotomous, in a way that opens our minds. Many years ago, Golnar said that it is not either/or, but AND as she talked about the mind and neuroscience, inner and outer worlds, culture, and the sense of self. She has led our profession, ever evolving, as she pursues knowledge and deepens understanding, inviting clinical social work to grow with her, wanting to collaborate, share and learn.

Golnar is the Persian poet, eloquent with her complex, compound sentences and deeply philosophical in mind and heart. She is a compassionate person, kind friend and empathic clinician. A meaningful life is measured by engagement with the people one touches throughout the vicissitudes in life. And in this way, Golnar has immeasurably strengthened and bettered our profession and our world, extending her reach and connection to others, heart, soul, and mind.

You, Golnar, embody the importance of a bio-psycho-social value in your actions. You, yourself, are the essence of a life well lived, an open mind and a generous heart. I am so grateful to be able to give you this award for a true Lifetime of Achievement. — March 25, 2017

Lifetime Achievement Award — Recipient: Marsha Wineburgh, DSW.
Introduction by John Chiaramonte:

Marsha Wineburgh is the quintessential clinical social work activist. Before there was clinical social work or psychiatric social work, as we used to call it, there was casework. After graduating Cornell and getting her MSW at NYU, Marsha worked at several agencies and quickly discovered that she didn't like to be treated as less than. Psychiatrists diagnosed, did the treatment plans and supervised while the caseworkers did all the grunt work. Marsha found this permanent junior role objectionable. She went on for further education, completing the adult program of Postgraduate Center for Mental Health's Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy as well as programs in teaching the analytic process, analytic supervision and organization consultation. It didn't take long for them to recognize Marsha's strengths and wisdom as a leader. She was eventually made the director of Community Services where she oversaw 9 service programs while maintaining her own private practice in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy.

At that time, neither federal nor state governments, nor insurance companies recognized clinical social workers as acceptable providers of mental health services, so, Marsha became politically active. She was elected the youngest president of the New York State Society for Clinical Social Work (NYSSCSW) (which office she held twice) and then in 1980 became the chair of the NYSSCSW's legislative committee for the next 37 years. She was later elected president of the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work (NFSCSW) at a time when the organization was lobbying Washington for inclusion in Medicare, Champus and FEHBA and worked tirelessly to win national recognition for clinical social workers as providers of mental health services via these plans. In New York State, Marsha and her committee pursued and passed a mandatory insurance law in NYS (the R law) which required insurance companies writing group plans to reimburse clinical social workers providing mental health services if they reimbursed psychiatrists and/or psychologists. This was accomplished as managed care entered the mental health arena and clinical social work became sought after panel members.

New York still did not have a scope of practice license for clinical social work. When the door opened for a licensing law, Marsha and her committee wrote and passed the most comprehensive scope of practice licensing law in the United States. It not only included in its scope of practice assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness as autonomous clinicians, but also specifically included psychoanalysis as a function of clinical social work practice. Having been a part of her committee, Marsha always kept her focus on enhancing the recognition both legally and socially of clinical social work as an integral part of traditional mental health services.

Additionally, Marsha has served as the AAPCSW president when the organization was undergoing a name change and masterly handled the various suggestions and multiple pressures creating harmony and agreement (no easy task). She founded the Advanced Clinical Education Foundation of the NYSSCSW, a continuing education organization, and is a Distinguished Practitioner of the Academy of Practice in Clinical Social Work.

In the words of Bobby Kennedy, “some people see things as they are and ask why, I dream of things that could be and ask, why not?” Marsha, thank you for asking why not? And thank you for taking our profession from its childhood to adulthood. — March 25, 2017

Clinical Writing Award — Recipient: Crayton Rowe, MSW, BCD-P.

Text Forthcoming.

The first Selma Fraiberg Award is presented by The Child & Adolescent Committee Co-Chairs Karen E. Baker and Wendy Winograd — Recipient: Jerry Brandell.
Introductory remarks by Karen (AAPCSW Past President):

Since the late 1970's when Jerry earned his MSW and later his PhD, he has practiced clinical social work with expertise, compassion, a quiet enthusiasm and excellence. His illustrious career has spanned multiple decades in which he has disseminated knowledge through his vast research, teaching, and clinical work. But it is in the area of practice with children, adolescents, and their families that we celebrate Jerry this afternoon. While I could speak to the many contributions in this practice area, there is one in particular we would like to applaud. That is the extraordinary work he does with children through storytelling.

Children are born to play and fantasy play is the repository for the work of children. By extension storytelling is an aspect of children's play that comes naturally and Jerry is a natural at engaging children in the activity of storytelling. His book "Of Mice and Metaphor" is a significant contribution not only related to the therapy process with children but he has also taken this technique on the road. From Detroit to Madrid to Zurich, Athens, Beijing, New Zeeland, and Chicago, Jerry has presented his approach to hundreds of child therapists, thereby expanding their repertoire of techniques to connect with children and their inner world.

Despite this and other contributions, Jerry does everything with the utmost of humility. He is one of the most un-assuming people I know. When I called Jerry to tell him that Wendy and I would be launching the Selma Fraiberg Award during this conference, he enthusiastically supported this initiative. Then when I told him that he was the recipient, he was quiet for a moment, then surprised, next he noted other worthy recipients before graciously accepting. Jerry has been and continues to be a trusted ally to all the children he works with as well as an inspiration to his colleagues. It is with deep respect and gratitude that we honor him this afternoon with the first Selma Fraiberg Award. — March 24, 2017

See previous 2015 AAPCSW Award Recipients »