Alumni News

BOOK PUBLICATION
How Can Social Workers Help Address Endometriosis in Health Care?

In your own words, what is endometriosis?

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory disease where endometriotic lesions, similar to the tissue that lines the uterus, exist outside the uterus, impacting many systems in the body. 

Where endometriosis exists, the immune system tries to eradicate it, but instead of eradicating it, it causes inflammation, adhesions, organ dysfunction, and pain. Endometriosis patients can experience pelvic pain, chronic fatigue, infertility, pregnancy loss, among other symptoms like gastrointestinal distress and urinary issues. It also impacts mental health—those with endometriosis are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, medical trauma, and other mental health challenges.

The hope in writing this book was to help patients experience less harm as they navigate the healthcare system. The book helps patients access the information needed to attain an earlier diagnosis, understand potential comorbidities they may be experiencing, understand the impacts on mental health and social-emotional well-being, and support seeking trauma-informed care. 

The book is also for those who support endometriosis patients. Whether a family member or a healthcare provider, this book helps provide insight and understanding into the disease, including its profound and devastating impact. Part of trauma-informed care is being open to what you don’t know, collaborating, and listening to the patient. 

Why did you want to be a social worker, and how did you make that decision?

In high school, at the Ursuline School, I was exposed to community service, classes on social justice and death and dying, and also participated in peer ministry, mentoring younger students.  Those formative years really cultivated my passion for community advocacy work as well as an introduction to social work. 

The school was unique in that it had social workers who provided individual and group counseling to address students’ emotional and social needs. I saw the difference mental health support made and was like, Wow, this is all incredible. I found myself really interested in listening to people’s stories and wanted more tools and resources to support those in crisis.

I am the first person in my family to go to college. At the time, Fordham was one of the few universities offering a Bachelor’s in Social Work program, which let you skip a year of graduate school [by majoring in social work]. That seemed amazing to me, that I could cut off a whole year of graduate school and start graduate courses as a junior. 

What was your perception of social work going in, and how has that perception changed throughout your career?

I have to say, social work was truly what I hoped it would be. Once I started taking social work classes as a junior, I felt at home academically. 

Through the BASW program, I had the opportunity to double major in religious studies, focusing on peace and justice. Courses such as Liberation Theology and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X further informed my worldview and profoundly shaped my view of social work. 

And then, in my senior year, I had my first internship—I worked at an all-male residential treatment facility for substance abusers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. That’s when the work became more real. I grew in empathy and knowledge about the support that social workers can provide during difficult times.

My final year taught me about the different opportunities social workers have to support individuals, groups, and systems, and I think that foundation really set me up for the work I would eventually do.

When you decided to major in social work at the undergraduate level, or go on to pursue your MSW, did you know that you wanted to work in the endometriosis space specifically?

Absolutely not. At that time, I didn’t even know what endometriosis was, even though I had been experiencing symptoms for years. Even though I knew I definitely wanted to be a social worker, what I’m so grateful for about the field is the grace and growth it offers. You can have many different careers as a social worker across many different settings, and I love that flexibility. 

I started working in the endometriosis, infertility, and chronic illness communities after experiencing these conditions myself and realizing that social work was very much needed in these spaces. When I first started working in these communities, there wasn’t a lot of discussion about the impact these conditions have on mental health and how the systemic obstacles that patients face cause more medical trauma. But I am so happy to see that starting to change. 

Was that the motivating factor driving the publication of your book?

Absolutely. For the last 15 years, I’ve really tried to think about how social workers can uplift the endometriosis, infertility, chronic illness, and pregnancy loss communities, through not only private practice, but through advocacy work as well. 

When we see all the factors impacting a person’s mental health and physical well-being, as social workers, we are encouraged to think about the systemic obstacles and challenges that are causing patients more harm.

This book covers all of that. I wanted to create a resource for not only patients, but for other mental health providers so that they may have a general understanding of the disease. I was running into a lot of patients who would say, “How can my therapist better understand what I am going through?” 

What are some of the biggest obstacles you were seeing patients face in this space?

One out of ten people assigned female at birth has endometriosis. And yet, there’s a 7-10 year delay in diagnosis, which leads to a lot of physical and emotional harm for those suffering.

Obviously, there’s a healthcare crisis right now, with so many folks lacking access to the care they need. For endometriosis patients, the majority of providers aren’t even aware of endometriosis, or even know to refer out to multidisciplinary experts. For a long time, patient advocates have tried to work with medical organizations to update standards of care, to make multidisciplinary care more accessible, and to have conversations about how racism and discrimination are impacting care, so that patients are spared more medical trauma.

What is the most important thing for an MSW student to know if they want to enter this space?

There’s a lot of need for social workers in the endometriosis, infertility, and chronic illness community. Connect with mentors who can provide encouragement, support, and resources to learn more about medical trauma, trauma-informed care, and working within the healthcare system.

What do you think is the most important characteristic for a social work clinician to have?

Empathy, empathy, empathy. And I think empathy is all-encompassing because it means knowing what you don’t know and being open to learning.