Dr. Carol Tosone Addresses Legacy of The "Troubles" Among Northern Ireland's Social Workers

During NYU's Spring Break, Professor Carol Tosone was in Belfast, Northern Ireland, partnering with Queen's University School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work Senior Lecturer Joe Duffy to conduct interviews with social workers who lived and practiced in Northern Ireland during the "Troubles."

Dr. Tosone is a co-investigator with Dr. Duffy on an international research project he is leading called "Voices of Social Work through the Conflict in Northern Ireland." The study will culminate in a book by the same name, which Drs. Duffy and Tosone are co-editing with Professor Jim Campbell of University College Dublin and which will be published by Routledge.

Funded by the Northern Ireland Association of Social Workers (NIASW) and the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), the study is assessing the long-term impact that the 30-year (1968-1998) period of sectarian violence had on social workers, who experienced the shared trauma. It is also exploring the educational and practice repercussions of the Troubles for successive generations of social workers in Northern Ireland.

Dr. Tosone, Director of NYU Silver’s DSW program, is a leading authority on the concept of shared trauma, which describes the clinician’s dual exposure to trauma, as both as a resident of an affected area and as a practitioner working with survivors and witnesses to collective man-made or natural disasters. She published several peer-reviewed articles about the phenomenon in the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.