What is social work?

Social work is a profession that can challenge you and help you to make a difference for others. Its goal is to improve the overall functioning and well-being of all people. Social workers have a special concern for the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable. Social work is both an art and science." Social work is both a profession and social science.

Social workers help individuals, families and groups in dealing with relationships, solving problems, and coping with the many social and environmental concerns which affect and control daily life. Social work is concerned with ensuring the responsiveness and effectiveness of the social institutions to which we look for needed resources in life. Social workers are concerned with the interaction between people and their social environment and institutions. Social workers are concerned with societal conditions in their efforts to improve the quality of life.

"Social work is helping people cope more effectively with their world and helping the community meets the needs of its citizens”,"A generalist social worker is one who uses basic knowledge, skills, values, and ethics to assist people in becoming self-actualized and to assist the environment to function to its potential for the benefit of people." - Senior

Social work is a profession committed to the pursuit of social justice, to the enhancement of the quality of life, and to the development of the full potential of each individual, group and community in the society. It seeks to simultaneously address and resolve social issues at every level of society and economic status, but especially among the poor and sick. There are a number of professional associations for social workers. The purpose of these associations is to provide advocacy, ethical guidance, and other forms of support for their members and social workers in general.

Two of these are the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) and the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). In the United States, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest. The School Social Work Association of America (SSWAA) is made up of social workers employed by education agencies and local school districts throughout the U.S. Services the social workers are the people work to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being, run support groups for family caregivers or for the adult children of aging parents, help workers cope with job-related pressures or with personal problems that affect the quality of their work and provide persons with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Also that, assess and treat individuals with mental illness or substance abuse problems, develop programs to address such issues as child abuse, homelessness, poverty, and violence.


Social Work Issues such as:

• domestic violence
• substance abuse
• mental and health challenges (such as schizophrenia, depression, cancer and diabetes)
• adjustments to life transitions (such as divorce and unemployment)
• experiences with traumatic events (such as rape, child sexual abuse, and the aftermath of natural or manmade disasters)

Tuesday, July 14, 2009