Susan Conklin named Social Worker of the Year by MASW

By Linda CarmanPrint Story | Email Story
Susan Conklin, psychotherapist, teacher and television interviewer, has been named Social Worker of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of Social Workers. A resident of Williamstown, Conklin has lived in North Berkshire since 1975, shortly after receiving her Master of Social Work degree from Hunter College in her native New York City. And after the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Conklin commuted to the city to provide counseling to the survivors through the Salvation Army. “My hometown had been hurt, and I needed to help,” Conklin said in a recent interview. A tall blonde with a friendly, direct manner and apparently boundless vitality, she spoke to a reporter in her hillside office, nestled beneath a sturdy oak tree, this past weekend. “It’s comforting, here in the woods,” said Conklin, who conducts a private practice in therapy, usually teaches, and is host of The Susan Conklin Show on WilliNet. “When I was a teenager, from age 13 to 18, I worked at the local newspaper, the Greenpoint Weekly Star, writing features, profiles, obituaries and editorials,” she said. “After the first year, they gave me a column, Teen Pointers by Susan,” she said. “So if I fast forward, I read an ad in The Advocate that said WilliNet is looking for people to do television shows, and I said, ‘Y’know, I could do that.’” “Williamstown is a microcosm of such a concentrated wealth of energy that I’m awestruck,” she said. “If I interview someone, I’m highlighting their efforts and energies, and introducing everybody in the community to their neighbors. I find it very stimulating. “Tonight’s show is on windpower, and I’m interviewing Nancy Nylen,” she said. “So I’m able to bring forward more knowledge on important topics. I just love interviews. It’s a pleasure.” The Susan Conklin Show is by Your Energy Productions, and includes the proclamation “and remember, whatever you do with your energy, you make a difference.” Starting in the spring of 1998, she has produced 177 shows on courage, creativity, commitment and compassion. Conklin grew up working class in Brooklyn, N.Y., where her father was a laborer and her mother a homemaker, and she was the first of her family to attend college. She graduated from City College of New York in 1972, having progressed from journalism through political science to sociology and social work. As Conklin sees it, her fields of concentration let her focus on the problems, then on ways to address them. “Individual therapy aims to help a person get free,” she said. “Education can produce change and empowerment. And community service, well, I feel I have responsibility to help participate in the health of the community.” “The more I learned, the more I felt responsible to do something,” she said. When disaster struck New York, Conklin contacted Hunter College, which put her in touch with the Salvation Army. Her clients, she said, were supportive and cooperated in shifting their schedules so she could commute to New York to give therapy to people traumatized by their experiences and losses through the Sept. 11 relief efforts at Pier 94, Family Assistance Center. She spent two days a week in the city, and expresses gratitude to Amtrak, for donating her tickets, and to the Williams Club, for donating her room to stay overnight. Conklin’s statewide honor is not her first. She was named Social Worker of the Year in 1999 for the NASW Berkshire County chapter. She is the third Berkshire County social worker to be honored at the state level. Josephine Janssen of Pittsfield received the state organization’s award in 2001, and Anna Pollock of Lanesboro received its lifetime achievement award in 1987. Conklin will receive her award in a ceremony March 11 in Newton. Conklin is one of the 10,200 social workers in Massachusetts who can add the initials LICSW, meaning licensed clinical social worker, after their names. Of the 19,800 social workers licensed at all four levels in Massachusetts, 8,000 are MASW members. Conklin agreed that the award presented a good opportunity to talk about social work, and about the funding crisis in social services due to state and federal funding cuts. “Social workers are not charity givers,” she said. “We are present to the sufferings of others, in all kinds of suffering. “By nature, social work doesn’t self-promote,” she said. But she is dismayed by what she sees as the damage certain to follow on the heels of cutbacks. “There’s all this talk about tax refunds, when there are cuts in funding. At the same time, we’re about to spend a phenomenal amount of money to go to war. “Our country supports destruction way more than it supports life,” she said. “When we cut funding to children, education and social services, we’re destroying our culture,” she said, listing the damaging effects in inadequate nutrition, education, and foster care. “The funding cuts cut our society’s competence,” she said. “The profession of social work aims to hold the consciousness and memory of how we neglect our citizens regardless of age,” she said. “Our greatest challenge?” she asked, “It feels like being on a rack. “We know people who are cut off from services, whose lives are affected immediately by lack of food, lack of heat. Speaking out is the other part of it.” “We can ask on behalf of somebody who can’t ask for themselves. That’s why I chose this profession,” she said. “It has meaning. It makes a positive difference, and it’s time for it to get better visibility.” “This is a time when government, both state and federal, need to be collecting more, not less in taxes, and need to actually extend more services,” she said. And rather wistfully, she added, that “if every individual would identify themselves as part of society . . . society is all our job. We have to get out there and make it happen.” Conklin is decidedly out there. She is on the local Berkshire Regional Council for MASW, which meets to discuss issues, often with legislators. She is an adjunct professor at the Springfield College School of Social Work, and, although she is taking a break from teaching this semester, she has taught for many years, many of those at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and, under its previous name, North Adams State College. She is on the board for Chrysalis Community, a residence in Pownal, Vt., for people with AIDS, and is on the allied health staff at North Adams Regional Hospital, and on the board of WilliNet. Conklin is also intensely interested in therapeutic touch, is secretary for the Theosophical Society Berkshire County study group, is active in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Bennington, Vt., and, “for my own regeneration,” is a docent at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. “I give tours to kids,” she said. “It’s non-clinical, and it serves the soul to help them unlock and enter the painting.” Her husband Jack, a retired MCLA education professor who is now principal of a school in New Jersey, where he commutes, spending weekends at their Hawthorne Street home. They have a 13-year-old daughter, Michelle, an 8th grader at Mount Greylock Regional High School, and Genevieve, 19, at Ithaca College. Conklin has two stepdaughters, Suzanne, who teaches English and, she is delighted to note, Danielle, who is studying for her MSW at Simmons College.
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Friday Front Porch Feature: A Charming House Like New

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

The home prior to renovations.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Are you looking for a newly renovated home with great space? Then this might be the perfect fit for you!

Our Friday Front Porch is a weekly feature spotlighting attractive homes for sale in Berkshire County. This week, we are showcasing 100 Autumn Drive.

This three-bedroom, two-bathroom split level was built in 1965 and is 1,396 square feet on 0.32 acres.

The house was completely renovated recently. It includes a one-car garage, and comes with appliances including a dishwasher and stove/oven, and other major appliances.

The house is listed for $359,500.

We spoke with owners Michael Zeppieri and Chris Andrews, who did the renovations. Zeppieri is an agent with Alton and Westall Real Estate Agency.

What was your first impression when you walked into the home?

Zeppieri: I purchased this home to do a full renovation flip and saw tremendous potential in this mid-century split level home that had not been updated since it was built in the 1960s, in a great North Adams neighborhood.

 

Andrews: The house was a much different house when we first purchased it in 2022 (photo attached is from about 2010.)  The interior was painted all in dark colors and we brightened it up with neutral colors. The transformation makes you feel like you are in a totally different house.  

 

 

What were the recent renovations, any standout design features?

 

Zeppieri: The house has had a complete reconfiguration including new kitchen with high-end appliances, ceramic tiled baths, hardwood floors, new windows and roof ... just to name a few.  All a buyer has to do is move in and enjoy.

 

Andrews: Yes, we renovated the entire house.  New windows, new roof, all new custom black gutter system, new blacktop driveway, hardwood floors were installed through out the house. New kitchen and bathrooms as well as painting the exterior and interior of the house.  New paver patio in the back yard.

 

What kind of buyer would this home be ideal for?

 

Zeppieri: The buyer for this home could be a first-time homebuyer or a retiree ... the location is close to attractions in North Adams ... and the property is located in Autumn Heights, which is a very small residential development with several long-term owners.

 

Andrews: This home is truly ideal for a variety of buyers. Whether a first-time homebuyer, a small family or even someone looking to downsize from a larger home.

 

 

What do you think makes this property stand out in the current market?

 

Zeppieri: The location, price and move-in condition of this home make it a true market leader in the North Adams Market.

 

Andrews: This house is completely renovated and in a desirable location of North Adams. The natural light in the home really makes the interior pop. And with all the upgrades the home stays quite cool in the summer months.

Do you know any unique stories about the home or its history?

Zeppieri: This home was built for the Gould family in 1969 and they lived there till 2010. It was always a family home during that time in which the Goulds had two children ... and Virgina Gould managed Mohawk Forest Apartments and was a very active resident of North Adams.

 

Andrews: Built in about 1965.

 

What do the current owners love about this home?

 

Zeppieri: As the current owner it was a fun project to transform this home and get it ready for its next adventure with a new family to enjoy for many years.

 

Andrews: No one has lived in the house since we purchased the home. The new owners would be the first to live in the house since the renovations have been completed.

 

 

What would you say to a buyer trying to imagine their life in this space?

 

Andrews: I would suggest seeing the house either on a sunny day or at twilight to really get a vision of how special the home feels.  

 

You can find out more about this house on its listing here.

*Front Porch Feature brings you an exclusive to some of the houses listed on our real estate page every week. Here we take a bit of a deeper dive into a certain house for sale and ask questions so you don't have to.

 

 

 

 

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