Photo courtesy of Employment Practices Risk Management Association.

Social workers have a reputation for helping the poor and oppressed, but Chicago social worker Jinnie English MSW has found an unusual niche, according to this item in the Utne Reader spirituality blog.

English serves middle-class clients who grew up in poverty. Despite outward signs of success, many still deal with the psychological impact of their hardscrabble upbringing, she said. Many are also people of color, English said.

 English can relate because her family was sometimes on welfare while she was g rowing up. “I still feel the shame,” she said.