Dawn Belkin Martinez, '92SW
Assistant Professor, SSW
Areas of Specialization: Family Therapy, Liberation Health Model, Radical Social Action, Working With Latino Immigrants
What she teaches her students: "They learn how to help clients analyze their problems, and to develop action plans for lasting change. When people stop blaming themselves, it's very liberating. Things can be different. Another world is possible."
During the 80's, School of Social Work (SSW) Assistant Professor Dawn Belkin Martinez '92SW taught English as a Second Language (ESL) for Latino immigrants. What she found most interesting about the job, however, had nothing to do with grammar, and everything to do with people. There, she saw firsthand how her ESL students' personal problems were directly connected to larger systemic issues like racism, sexism, and poverty. And so she decided to pursue a career in social work.
For the past 14 years, Martinez has worked as a family therapist for Latino immigrant families at Children's Hospital in Boston. In 2005, she helped to create the Liberation Health Group, a community-based advocacy organization focused on social justice in health care and social services. Martinez adheres to the Liberation Health Model, through which clinicians help clients see that their problems are actually related to the fundamentally unfair economic and social structures under which they live.
"The American Dream says if you work hard, you get ahead. But that's a myth," says Martinez. "You can be working extremely hard, but without a livable wage, you will never get ahead."
Martinez says her approach fits well with the SSW. "What I love about the School of Social Work is its commitment to social justice and educating clinician activists." Many of her students wanted to learn more about Liberation Health and activism, so she created the "Radical Social Action" class. "At the time, I didn't think I could get more than four people to sign up, but it ended up being a full class!"
In "Radical Social Action," students move beyond traditional reform work, such as letter writing and lobbying, to effect change. Organizing strikes and boycotts are some of the methods she teaches. "So much of the dominant world messaging we get gives us a feeling of hopelessness," says Martinez. But she teaches students that they can question authority, and in so doing, create a better world. "My students learn they can be the change they want to see in the world. It's very contagious."
