What do social workers do?
Social work focuses on assisting persons and oppressed individuals to achieve their maximum human potential. The profession is concerned with social justice and providing an environment conducive for growth and opportunities. Social workers practice in a variety of human service settings such as hospitals, juvenile corrections, nursing homes, mental health centers, and child protective services. Many of these settings are where you may have your BSW field education internship during your senior year. Among many tasks, within these settings, social workers provide clients with resources and connections to community support, counseling, crisis intervention, case management, and advocacy. See the National Association of Social Work (NASW) for more information.
According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) – www.naswdc.org – social workers help people overcome social and health problems, such as poverty, mental illness, child abuse and neglect, emotional instability, illness, economic uncertainty, domestic violence, homelessness, and drug abuse. They work directly with individuals, couples, families, and groups to identify and overcome these problems. Some social workers also work with communities, organizations, and/or systems to improve services and/or administrate social and health programs. Social workers apply their professional knowledge and skills to help people make the most effective use of their own abilities. When adequate services do not exist in a community, social workers promote the development of new services and programs.
