Role of the professional social worker
Encyclopedia
Social work definition: The International Association of Schools of Social Work and International Federation of Social Workers 2001:
“The social work profession promotes social change,
problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment
and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising
theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work
intervenes at the point where people interact with their
environments. Principles of human rights and social justice
are fundamental to social work.”
The main tasks of professional social workers are case management (linking clients with agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs), medical social work
, counseling (psychotherapy), human services management, social welfare policy analysis, community organizing, advocacy, teaching (in schools of social work), and social science research.
Professional social workers work in a variety of settings, including: non-profit or public social service agencies, grassroots advocacy organizations, hospitals, hospices, community health agencies, schools, faith-based organizations, and even the military. Other social workers work as psychotherapists, counselors, or mental health
practitioners, normally working in coordination with psychiatrists, psychologists, or other medical professionals. Additionally, some social workers have chosen to direct the focus of their efforts on social policy
or academic research towards the practice or ethics of social work. While the emphasis has varied among these task areas in different eras and countries, some areas have been the subject of controversy as to whether they are properly part of social work's mission.
, leaders and scholars in the field of social work have debated the purpose and nature of the profession since its beginning in the late 19th century. Workers, beginning with the settlement house movement, have argued for a focus on social reform, political activism, and systemic causes of poverty. Social workers of the Settlement House Movement were primarily young women from middle-income families and chose to live in lower-income neighbourhoods to engage in community organizing
. These workers sometimes received stipends from charitable organizations and sometimes worked for free.
In contrast to the settlement house movement, the friendly visitors were women from middle-income families who visited (but did not reside among) families in lower-income neighbourhoods. Friendly visitors emphasized conventional morality (such as thrift and abstinence from alcohol) rather than social activism.
Others have advocated an emphasis on direct practice, aid to individual clients and families with targeted material assistance or interventions using the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental diseases DSM-IV. While social work has been defined as direct, individual practice in the last quarter of the 20th century, there is a growing resurgence of community practice
in social work. Of broad and growing significance are the relationship counseling
and Relationship Education
movements which seek to assist in interpersonal social skill building which can be of great societal value in promoting marriage and family stability. Relationship education and counseling primarily aid the majority of individuals who are free of pathology or who have found that DSM-IV based services are ineffectual. This majority can benefit from education and exposure to relationship skills that have not otherwise been discussed and distributed by social services in this time of weakened family, church, and societal conventions. Another new development in social work is the focus on informatics
(Parker-Oliver & Demiris, 2006). For many social workers, the use of any online technology is problematic due to persistent concerns about privacy. However, other social workers recognize that clients are going on line for many purposes. Some schools of social work, such as University of Southern California are offering courses to build informatics skills at the graduate level.
Community practice
is the new term of art for what used to be known as "macro practice" social work. Community practice includes working for change at the systems level, including human services management (administration, planning, marketing, and program development); community organizing (community development, grassroots organizing, policy advocacy); social policy and politics; and international social development.
The National Association of Social Workers
(NASW) is the largest and most recognized membership organization of professional social workers in the world. Representing 150,000 members from 56 chapters in the United States and abroad, the association promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well-being
of individuals, families, and communities through its work and advocacy.
Although membership is generally not required for licensure, NASW survey data give a rough idea of how social workers are employed in the US. According to NASW:
Within the mental health field, social workers may work in private practice, much like clinical psychologists or members of other counselling professions often do. Social workers are often in the position of recommending the use of psychopharmaceutical agents, though not prescribing them. The increasingly widespread usage of these agents in the U.S. has received little scrutiny by the NASW, despite that fact that these drugs are prescribed far more heavily in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. Social workers in private practice may take direct payments from clients and may also receive third-party reimbursement from insurance companies or government programs such as Medicaid
. Insurance reimbursement for mental health services involves the designation of the recipient of services as mentally ill, or more specifically a label is assigned from the DSM-IV, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness. This assignment, when recorded to an individual's medical history can prove to be a significant impediment to future pursuits. It can raise the cost to the individual for health or nursing home insurance; it can be the basis of denial for life insurance; and it can limit an individual's professional choices, such as in health care, motor vehicle operation, or airplane piloting.
Private practice was not part of the social work profession when it began in the late 19th century. It has been controversial among social workers, some of whom feel that the more lucrative opportunities of private practice have led many social workers to abandon the field's historic mission of assisting disadvantaged populations. The private practice model can be at odds with the community development and political activism strains of social work.
Social workers in mental health may also work for an agency, whether publicly funded, supported by private charity, or some combination of the two. These agencies provide a range of mental health services to disadvantaged populations in the US.
Some social workers are child welfare workers, a role that looms large in the public's perception of social work. This role contributes to a negative view of social work in the U.S., since child welfare authorities can remove abused or neglected children from the custody of their parents, a practice that is fraught with controversy and sometimes with scandalous incompetence. Many child welfare workers in the US do not in fact have social work degrees (though all caseworkers in most states have at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field).
Some states restrict the use of the title social worker to licensed practitioners, who must hold a degree in the field. Such restrictions are a high legislative priority of NASW.
and elsewhere, a social worker is a trained professional with a recognised social work qualification, employed most commonly in the public sector
by local authorities.
Spending on social services departments is a major component of British local government
expenditure.
In Social care UK, the title "social worker" is protected by law (since 1 April 2005) and can be used only by people who have a recognised qualification and are registered with the General Social Care Council
(in England
), the Scottish Social Services Council
, the Care Council for Wales , or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
The strategic direction of statutory social work in Britain is broadly divided into children's and adults' services. Social work activity within England and Wales for children and young people is under the remit of the Department for Children, Schools and Families
while the same for adults remains the responsibility for the Department of Health. Within local authorities, this division is usually reflected in the organisation of social services departments. The structure of service delivery in Scotland is different.
Within children services some social workers are child protection workers, a role that looms large in the public's perception of social work. This role contributes to a negative view of social work in the UK since child protection workers for local authorities can remove suspected abused or neglected children from the custody of their parents, a practice that is fraught with controversy and media criticism. However, this is only with the prior agreement of the court and the provision of a Court Order - such as a Emergency Protection Order. Contrary to popular belief, Social Workers cannot simply arrive at a family home and remove children.
In mental health care, social workers can train to become an Approved Mental Health Professional
, involved in the application of the Mental Health Act 1983
(as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007
) in England and Wales. Though now open to other professions, this involves a contributing a social care perspective to Mental Health Act assessments and is predominantly a social worker role.
In 2007, the General Social Care Council launched a wide-ranging consultation, in concert with a number of other social care organisations, to agree a clear professional understanding of social work in the UK
“The social work profession promotes social change,
problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment
and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising
theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work
intervenes at the point where people interact with their
environments. Principles of human rights and social justice
are fundamental to social work.”
The main tasks of professional social workers are case management (linking clients with agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs), medical social work
Medical social work
Medical social work is a sub-discipline of social work, also known as hospital social work. Medical social workers typically work in a hospital, skilled nursing facility or hospice, have a graduate degree in the field, and work with patients and their families in need of psychosocial help...
, counseling (psychotherapy), human services management, social welfare policy analysis, community organizing, advocacy, teaching (in schools of social work), and social science research.
Professional social workers work in a variety of settings, including: non-profit or public social service agencies, grassroots advocacy organizations, hospitals, hospices, community health agencies, schools, faith-based organizations, and even the military. Other social workers work as psychotherapists, counselors, or mental health
Mental health
Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...
practitioners, normally working in coordination with psychiatrists, psychologists, or other medical professionals. Additionally, some social workers have chosen to direct the focus of their efforts on social policy
Social policy
Social policy primarily refers to guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to human welfare. Thus, social policy is that part of public policy that has to do with social issues...
or academic research towards the practice or ethics of social work. While the emphasis has varied among these task areas in different eras and countries, some areas have been the subject of controversy as to whether they are properly part of social work's mission.
United States
In the United States of AmericaUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, leaders and scholars in the field of social work have debated the purpose and nature of the profession since its beginning in the late 19th century. Workers, beginning with the settlement house movement, have argued for a focus on social reform, political activism, and systemic causes of poverty. Social workers of the Settlement House Movement were primarily young women from middle-income families and chose to live in lower-income neighbourhoods to engage in community organizing
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
. These workers sometimes received stipends from charitable organizations and sometimes worked for free.
In contrast to the settlement house movement, the friendly visitors were women from middle-income families who visited (but did not reside among) families in lower-income neighbourhoods. Friendly visitors emphasized conventional morality (such as thrift and abstinence from alcohol) rather than social activism.
Others have advocated an emphasis on direct practice, aid to individual clients and families with targeted material assistance or interventions using the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental diseases DSM-IV. While social work has been defined as direct, individual practice in the last quarter of the 20th century, there is a growing resurgence of community practice
Community practice
Community Practice is a branch of social work in the United States that focuses on larger social systems and social change, and is tied to the historical roots of United States social work...
in social work. Of broad and growing significance are the relationship counseling
Relationship counseling
Relationship counseling is the process of counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences and repeating patterns of distress...
and Relationship Education
Relationship Education
Relationship education presents and promotes the principles and practices of premarital education, relationship resources, relationship restoration, relationship maintenance, and research-based marriage preparation.-History:...
movements which seek to assist in interpersonal social skill building which can be of great societal value in promoting marriage and family stability. Relationship education and counseling primarily aid the majority of individuals who are free of pathology or who have found that DSM-IV based services are ineffectual. This majority can benefit from education and exposure to relationship skills that have not otherwise been discussed and distributed by social services in this time of weakened family, church, and societal conventions. Another new development in social work is the focus on informatics
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
(Parker-Oliver & Demiris, 2006). For many social workers, the use of any online technology is problematic due to persistent concerns about privacy. However, other social workers recognize that clients are going on line for many purposes. Some schools of social work, such as University of Southern California are offering courses to build informatics skills at the graduate level.
Community practice
Community practice
Community Practice is a branch of social work in the United States that focuses on larger social systems and social change, and is tied to the historical roots of United States social work...
is the new term of art for what used to be known as "macro practice" social work. Community practice includes working for change at the systems level, including human services management (administration, planning, marketing, and program development); community organizing (community development, grassroots organizing, policy advocacy); social policy and politics; and international social development.
The National Association of Social Workers
National Association of Social Workers
The National Association of Social Workers is a professional organization of social workers in the United States. It had over 150,000 members as of January 2008 and provides guidance, research, up to date information, advocacy, and other resources for its members and for social workers in general...
(NASW) is the largest and most recognized membership organization of professional social workers in the world. Representing 150,000 members from 56 chapters in the United States and abroad, the association promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well-being
Quality of life (healthcare)
Quality of Life is a phrase used to refer to an individual’s total wellbeing. This includes all emotional, social, and physical aspects of the individual’s life. However, when the phrase is used in reference to medicine and healthcare as Health Related Quality of Life, it refers to how the...
of individuals, families, and communities through its work and advocacy.
Although membership is generally not required for licensure, NASW survey data give a rough idea of how social workers are employed in the US. According to NASW:
Within the mental health field, social workers may work in private practice, much like clinical psychologists or members of other counselling professions often do. Social workers are often in the position of recommending the use of psychopharmaceutical agents, though not prescribing them. The increasingly widespread usage of these agents in the U.S. has received little scrutiny by the NASW, despite that fact that these drugs are prescribed far more heavily in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. Social workers in private practice may take direct payments from clients and may also receive third-party reimbursement from insurance companies or government programs such as Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
. Insurance reimbursement for mental health services involves the designation of the recipient of services as mentally ill, or more specifically a label is assigned from the DSM-IV, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness. This assignment, when recorded to an individual's medical history can prove to be a significant impediment to future pursuits. It can raise the cost to the individual for health or nursing home insurance; it can be the basis of denial for life insurance; and it can limit an individual's professional choices, such as in health care, motor vehicle operation, or airplane piloting.
Private practice was not part of the social work profession when it began in the late 19th century. It has been controversial among social workers, some of whom feel that the more lucrative opportunities of private practice have led many social workers to abandon the field's historic mission of assisting disadvantaged populations. The private practice model can be at odds with the community development and political activism strains of social work.
Social workers in mental health may also work for an agency, whether publicly funded, supported by private charity, or some combination of the two. These agencies provide a range of mental health services to disadvantaged populations in the US.
Some social workers are child welfare workers, a role that looms large in the public's perception of social work. This role contributes to a negative view of social work in the U.S., since child welfare authorities can remove abused or neglected children from the custody of their parents, a practice that is fraught with controversy and sometimes with scandalous incompetence. Many child welfare workers in the US do not in fact have social work degrees (though all caseworkers in most states have at least a Bachelor's degree in a related field).
Some states restrict the use of the title social worker to licensed practitioners, who must hold a degree in the field. Such restrictions are a high legislative priority of NASW.
United Kingdom
In the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and elsewhere, a social worker is a trained professional with a recognised social work qualification, employed most commonly in the public sector
Public sector
The public sector, sometimes referred to as the state sector, is a part of the state that deals with either the production, delivery and allocation of goods and services by and for the government or its citizens, whether national, regional or local/municipal.Examples of public sector activity range...
by local authorities.
Spending on social services departments is a major component of British local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
expenditure.
In Social care UK, the title "social worker" is protected by law (since 1 April 2005) and can be used only by people who have a recognised qualification and are registered with the General Social Care Council
General Social Care Council
The General Social Care Council is a the regulator of social workers and social work students in England. The GSCC protects the public by requiring high standards of education, conduct and practice of social workers by ensuring that only those who are properly trained and committed to high...
(in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), the Scottish Social Services Council
Scottish Social Services Council
The Scottish Social Services Council is responsible for raising standards in the Scottish social service workforce.The Scottish Social Services Council was established in October 2001 by the Regulation of Care Act and is responsible for registering people who work in the social services and...
, the Care Council for Wales , or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
The strategic direction of statutory social work in Britain is broadly divided into children's and adults' services. Social work activity within England and Wales for children and young people is under the remit of the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education...
while the same for adults remains the responsibility for the Department of Health. Within local authorities, this division is usually reflected in the organisation of social services departments. The structure of service delivery in Scotland is different.
Within children services some social workers are child protection workers, a role that looms large in the public's perception of social work. This role contributes to a negative view of social work in the UK since child protection workers for local authorities can remove suspected abused or neglected children from the custody of their parents, a practice that is fraught with controversy and media criticism. However, this is only with the prior agreement of the court and the provision of a Court Order - such as a Emergency Protection Order. Contrary to popular belief, Social Workers cannot simply arrive at a family home and remove children.
In mental health care, social workers can train to become an Approved Mental Health Professional
Approved Mental Health Professional
The role of approved social worker, or ASW, has now been replaced by that of approved mental health professional, or AMHP, in England and Wales....
, involved in the application of the Mental Health Act 1983
Mental Health Act 1983
The Mental Health Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which applies to people in England and Wales. It covers the reception, care and treatment of mentally disordered persons, the management of their property and other related matters...
(as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007
Mental Health Act 2007
The Mental Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It amends the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It applies to people in England and Wales. Most of the Act was implemented on 3 November 2008....
) in England and Wales. Though now open to other professions, this involves a contributing a social care perspective to Mental Health Act assessments and is predominantly a social worker role.
In 2007, the General Social Care Council launched a wide-ranging consultation, in concert with a number of other social care organisations, to agree a clear professional understanding of social work in the UK
Further reading
- Specht, Harry, and Courtney, Mark E., "Unfaithful angels : how social work has abandoned its mission", New York : Free Press ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994. ISBN 0029303559