Alum’s book spotlights workplace attunement; new textbooks focus on anti-racist research, school social work practice
VCU School of Social Work alum Nidhi Tewari learned a deeply personal – and disappointing – lesson about workplace culture, used it to develop a philosophy of care and fine-tuned her message speaking in front of Fortune 500 companies.
This month, the culmination of her knowledge is being published in the book “Working Well: How to Build a Happier, Healthier Workplace Through the Science of Attunement,” (Penguin Random House) as she hopes to “scale impact” by sharing her ideas more broadly.
Tewari (M.S.W’14) is one of five people with ties to the school who have authored, edited and/or co-authored chapters for new books, including two social work education textbooks.
“ ‘Working Well’ is deeply informed by social work principles,” says Tewari, a licensed clinical social worker and therapist who has spoken at TEDWomen and TEDNext, and has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Forbes, among others.
“It delves into both the macro and micro factors that influence work culture and organizational dynamics, and it acknowledges that individual behaviors cannot be addressed without simultaneously changing the system.”
Tewari became a caregiver when her best friend was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer, then experienced the deterioration over time of support from her workplace leaders and colleagues.
“They were initially supportive and understanding, but after a couple of months, the good graces ended,” she says. “I was told to compartmentalize my grief, and when I struggled to function at my usual, high-performing level, accommodations were not offered.”
Tewari characterizes this disconnect as “misattunement, or a lack of one’s ability to be deeply aware of, responsive to and aligned with the emotional and interpersonal dynamics of colleagues, clients and the organizational environment.”
“I’d worked for a variety of organizations ranging from for-profit to nonprofit to government agencies, and they had a common thread: well-meaning leaders lacking the skills to adequately support their teams, and teams that were too exhausted to support one another,” she says.
“I knew that there had to be a better way to work.”
Tewari partnered with an industrial and organizational psychologist, Mallory McCord, Ph.D., of Old Dominion University, to study the workplace in regard to flexibility, reading cues, self-regulation and collaboration.
“We found that attunement was correlated with improved outcomes in each of the aforementioned domains,” she says. “Conversely, misattunement negatively impacted those same outcomes. It was evidence that attunement is not just good for work culture. It’s good for the bottom line.
“My hope is that readers will go on the journey of becoming more in tune with themselves before learning how to tune into others. Self-leadership precedes organizational leadership, so reflecting on the way that our unique experiences inform how we show up at work is essential.”
Tewari says her M.S.W. degree from VCU “laid the foundation for my career. I learned the clinical skills needed to become a successful trauma-focused therapist, and my coursework deepened my understanding of how trauma shapes human behavior. I practiced explaining and defending my ideas, which came in handy while writing this book, and my professors emphasized the importance of advocating for systemic change, which is a central theme in Working Well.”
“An Antiracist/Anti-oppressive Framework for Social Work Research”
Adrienne Baldwin-White, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the school, has published the textbook “An Antiracist/Anti-oppressive Framework for Social Work Research” (Cognella Publishing) with colleague Laura Ting, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland School of Social Work. The book is applicable for students studying social work at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels.
“It is important to the profession of social work and social work education to have anti-racist/anti-oppressive research,” says Baldwin-White, who decided to expand a manuscript for the Journal of Social Work Education into a book after a journal reviewer’s recommendation.
“At that moment I began to seriously consider writing a textbook,” Baldwin-White says. “An important value of social work is working for social justice. All aspects of social work must reflect that, including research. I realized during the process of teaching students in research methods that the anti-racist/anti-oppressive framework is missing. And there was no clear guidance on how to create that type of class.
“This textbook can make that process of education a little easier for instructors to ensure that students understand how to do and recognize anti-racist/anti-oppressive research. This textbook can also be good for professors who are trying to modify and change their own research strategies.”
“Emerging Trends in School Social Work Practice: Responding to Rapid Change in Educational Ecosystems”
Alum M. Annette Clayton (Ph.D.’08) is one of four editors for the textbook “Emerging Trends in School Social Work Practice: Responding to Rapid Change in Educational Ecosystems” (Oxford University Press) and co-authored two chapters.
Alum Jennifer Murphy (Ph.D.’23), assistant professor at the University of Texas-Arlington School of Social Work, and Chanda Bass, a VCU social work adjunct faculty member and social worker in Chesterfield County, also contributed co-authored chapters.
“I consider it to be a ‘must read’ for school social work practitioners, especially those who are in leadership roles as it helps them to identify and discuss how to respond to salient emerging trends and the rapid changes that are occurring in their PreK-12 educational ecosystem,” says Clayton, also a VCU social work adjunct faculty and recently retired from Virginia Wesleyan University.
“Each chapter in the book incorporates case vignettes that are based on real practice experiences and are written in a way to provide ‘food for thought’ for soon-to-be practitioners. The vignettes were selected to illustrate the application of strategies discussed in that chapter. The vignettes can also be used to facilitate discussions about germane considerations (e.g., educational equity, legal issues, social justice, ethical practice standards) associated with each of the emerging trends.
“In the final analysis, we want the reader to consider how each emerging trend is acknowledged, interpreted and/or addressed using our social work frame of reference.”
Categories Alumni, Community, Education, Faculty and staff, Research