Joe Walsh was working as a professor at the Northwestern University (NU) medical school when, as part of a consultation and education program, he was invited to talk to fired executives who were struggling with the emotional consequences of being unemployed. Unsolicited, the first request from one of the jobless men was “let’s talk about suicide.”
Walsh wouldn’t exactly call it a turning point in his career, saying now it was more of a “formative” point, but the incident fixed his interests.
“It conveys to you in just one sentence, the poignancy and the power that being unemployed had on these peoples’ lives?Work and identity and self-esteem go so close together?You are what you do; we draw from our primary roles?they’re extremely important in how we view ourselves,” he said.
Walsh, a long-time and active Oak Parker, has been defined by both his work and his community ties.
He was honored by the Illinois Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) with a lifetime achievement award Sept. 18 at the first Bi-Annual Statewide Symposium Awards Dinner in Bloomington, Ill.
The NASW commended Dr. Walsh for being an “exemplary model of a professional social worker in pursuit of excellence and professional growth…He has excelled as a good steward of his talents with his profound commitment to giving back to the community through the many volunteer roles in which he has served.”
After the encounter with the newly unemployed executives, Walsh began researching the topic and ended up writing his dissertation for his PhD in social work on how to prevent mental illness.
“I encourage professionals to focus on preventing illness, rather than waiting till it happens and then curing it,” said Walsh.
His focus on work issues led to his role as a counselor after two workplace murders. After shootings by disgruntled employees, Walsh helped surviving co-workers cope with the emotional strain of the incidents, as well as helping senior management become more responsive to the issues employees were facing.
“I dealt directly with the people who were most exposed to the incident?one of them was somebody who just came in with a gun one day and shot some people on the job. Just a horrific experience for those who watched this happen,” said Walsh. “He was disgruntled with his supervisor, who wasn’t there, so he just shot the first one he could find.”
Social work is something that runs in Walsh’s family. His father had a degree in social work and six of his nine siblings all have graduate degrees in the field.
“Growing up in my family, a great deal of emphasis was placed on religious heritage and Catholic service to others,” said Walsh. “The idea of being called to a profession to serve others was prominent.”
Walsh, 61, taught social work full-time at the graduate level from 1983 to 2004 at Loyola University, serving as Dean of the School of Social Work for eight years. He currently has Emeritus status at the university and teaches a clinical seminar.
One of the first things he stresses to graduate students is how to be helpful in a crisis, which he utilized when helping with workplace murders.
“You never know in your clinical practice exactly what’s bringing people in to visit you, but more often than not, that something for them is a crisis,” said Walsh. “People of good will can go in and try to do good things, but if you don’t have the right training, then you’re at a disadvantage?It’s trying to take people with a good heart and give them the resources to help others.”
In Oak Park, during the early 1980s Walsh served as both a member and then president of the District 97 school board.
He also served on the township’s community mental health board for several years and was on the village government’s plan commission.
He has worked with immigrants in a variety of situations helping them to adjust to this country. In the late 1960s Walsh and his wife worked to help Vietnamese refugees who were forced to flee to the United States. Through the Oak Park community, they helped set up safe havens for the refugees. They shopped with them, socialized them into the American culture, and welcomed them into Ascension parish. The two biggest issues he has helped immigrants face are culture and language.
His wife Kathie Walsh fondly remembers working with those refugees.
“I was very impressed by their courage and their fortitude, and I enjoyed them as persons,” she said.
Daniel Kill, president of Family Service and Mental Health Center of Oak Park and River Forest, is a member of the NASW and put Walsh’s name in for consideration for the award. He had a long list of reasons why he believed Walsh was deserving of the honor.
“Dr. Walsh’s work has just been exemplary,” said Kill. “He’s a solid role model for social workers and administrators, and his commitment to the values of social work is extraordinary.”
Kill thought the lifetime achievement award was even more significant because the profession of social workers doesn’t give accolades frequently, which Kill attributes to humbleness.
“We don’t give out many awards in the field of social work, and to be acknowledged by your peers is an honor and is exceptional to be distinguished amongst all the other social workers in the state,” he said.
Dr. Jeanne Sokolec, an assistant professor of social work at LUC, worked with Walsh when he was dean, and thought he was deserving of one of the profession’s highest honors.
“I think it’s a wonderfully deserved honor, and it expresses the Illinois Chapter’s recognition and appreciation of the work he has done over the years,” said Sokolec. “I mean it’s like getting an Oscar.”
Dr. Mikal Rasheed, chair of the graduate social work program at Chicago State University and a former student of Walsh, spoke of his former teacher as if he is the essence of his chosen vocation.
“He’s clearly deserving of the award. I think his whole life embodies a total commitment to the profession of social work.”