Bertha Reynolds

Bertha Capen Reynolds (December 11, 1885 – October 29, 1978) was an American social worker who was influential in the creation of strength-based practice, radical social work and critical social work, among others.

Early life and education Bertha Capen Reynolds born in Brockton, Massachusetts, on December 11, 1887, to Mary (Capen) Reynolds and Franklin Stewart Reynolds. Her father died while she was a young child, and she moved with her mother to Boston to work as a teacher.

Reynolds' great aunt, Bessie T. Capen, paid for her to attend Smith College, where she graduated in 1908 with a Bachelor of Social Work. She suffered from an unknown illness during this time. In 1912–1913, Reynolds enrolled in the Boston School for Social Workers (later known as the Simmons College School of Social Work.) At that conference, an organizing meeting of progressive social workers was convened, resulting in the founding of the Bertha Capen Reynolds Society in Chicago in October, 1985. The name of the BCRS was later changed to the Social Welfare Action Alliance.

Death Bertha C. Reynolds died at home in Stoughton on October 29, 1978.

She is buried with her parents and siblings at the Avon Cemetery in Avon, Massachusetts (formerly the town of East Stoughton).

Legacy A later biographer described her three guiding philosophies as Marxism, Christianity and Freudian/psychodynamic theories. This was not well received by many American social workers and for decades her writings were sidelined in favor of more psychoanalytic approaches.

Honors Reynolds was honored by Boston University; the Adelphi, Columbia, Fordham, Hunter, New York University, and Yeshiva schools of social work; the New York City chapter of the National Association of Social Workers; and the alumni of the Smith College School for Social Work. She was also honored by the town of Stoughton for participation in community affairs.

Works