What is Social Work?

According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), “ Social work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to this goal. The profession of social work is based on the values of service, social and economic justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, and integrity and competence in practice. With these values as defining principles, the purposes of social work are:

• To enhance human well-being and alleviate poverty, oppression, and other forms of social injustice. 
• To enhance the social functioning and interactions of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities by involving them in accomplishing goals, developing resources, and preventing and alleviating distress. 
• To formulate and implement social policies, service, and programs that meet basic human needs and support the development of human capacities. 
• To pursue policies, services, and resources through advocacy and social or political actions that promote social and economic justice. 
• To develop and use research, knowledge, and skills that advance social work practice. 
• To develop and apply practice in the context of diverse cultures.

What are the requirements for becoming a social worker?

If you are thinking about a career in social work, you want to work with people and you want a career that makes a difference. There are certain personal attributes that a social worker must have. First, a social worker must like working with people. As a social worker, you will be involved with people from all walks of life. These people, who come from diverse backgrounds, can have ideas, values and expectations very different from the social worker. Being aware of and sensitive to the beliefs of others is not always an easy task. In dealing with different people, a social worker must really want to understand the troubles that others face. So first of all, a good social must genuinely like working with diverse individuals.

Second, a social worker must want to help people. A social worker will encounter all types of problems ranging from abuse and neglect, to mental health issues to community-based substance abuse problems. A good social worker wants to help his client in their efforts to figure out what is going on and how best to resolve their problems. Social workers value working in partnerships with both their clients and their colleagues. Social work practice involves facilitating change: Working with others, not doing something to them or for them.

Third, social workers want the community to be a better place for all people. Through his or her professional activities, a social worker help a client and at the same time he or she tries to better the community for all people.

Where are Social Workers employed?

Social Workers help people deal with complex problems such as poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, domestic violence, and so forth. Settings that employ social workers include schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, crisis intervention programs, child welfare services, hospices, correctional institutions, business and industry and community organizations. Social workers can be found in federal and state government as lobbyists, policy makers and elected officials. They are employed as researchers and professors in colleges, and private and public foundations that are created for studying social issues such as domestic violence, AIDS, child welfare, poverty and so forth.

What is the Employment outlook for Social Workers?

The professional ranks of social workers are expanding. Occupational outlook estimates that the workforce of social workers will increase by over 36 percent by the year 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000a). Recent trends in service delivery reveal an increasing number of social work positions in home health, mental health, criminal justice, school-linked services and neighborhood based, multidisciplinary service centers.