Social workers are found in every facet of community life, including schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, senior centers, elected office, private practices, prisons, military, corporations, and in numerous public and private agencies.
Some social workers help clients who face a disability or a life-threatening disease or a social problem, such as inadequate housing, unemployment, or substance abuse. Social workers also assist families that have serious domestic conflicts, sometimes involving child or spousal abuse.
Some social workers conduct research, advocate for improved services, engage in systems design or are involved in planning or policy development. Many social workers specialize in serving a particular population or working in a specific setting.
Administration and Management
Social work administrators are proactive leaders in public and private agencies that provide services to clients. Many elements of this area of social work practice are common to administration in other organizations. However, administration and management also require knowledge about social policy and the delivery of social services, vision for future planning, an understanding of human behavior, and commitment to social work ethics and values.
Advocacy & Community Organizing
Advocacy is one of the keystones of social work practice. Social work advocates champion the rights of individuals and communities with the goal of achieving social justice. Community organizing and advocacy work with the power of numbers—many people thinking, working, and acting together—to counterbalance wealthy and powerful groups and the means they have to protect and extend themselves.
Historically, community organizing and social work were responses to the many forces that created inequality in our society. They remain as necessary and effective as ever today.
Aging
Social workers link older adults with services that help them live independently and with dignity, thereby maximizing their quality of life and participation in society. Social work with older adults focuses on the physical, psychological, social, and economic aspects of daily living.
Child Welfare
Child welfare social workers serve some of the most vulnerable children, youths, and families. Social workers specialize in building on the strengths of families and helping them to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children and youths.
However, when families are unable to do this, social workers must intervene to protect the children from harm. Child welfare social workers ensure that children and youths who have experienced abuse or neglect are supported through a range of services.
Developmental Disabilities
Social workers also help parents of children with developmental disabilities understand their legal rights. They help parents learn to be advocates and find special services that enable their children to be as independent as possible.
Health Care
Since the early 1900s, professionally trained social workers have helped people deal with personal and social factors that affect health and wellness. Some health care social workers are in direct services and concentrate on individuals, families, and small groups.
Others work in settings where the focus is on planning, administration, and policy. In the health care setting, social workers may conduct research, develop programs, and administer social work and other departments
International Social Work
The functions of social work in international development are diverse. They include direct services in communities, refugee camps, orphanages, hospitals, and schools, as well as supporting the efforts of national governments, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations to enhance social well-being.
Justice and Corrections
Social workers who work in justice and corrections can be found in courts, rape crisis centers, police departments, and correctional facilities.
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Mental Health and Clinical Social Work
Clinical social workers are one of the nation’s largest groups of providers of mental health services. They provide mental health services in both urban and rural settings, where they may be the only licensed provider of mental health services available.
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Mental Health and Substance Use Social Work
Social workers help individuals, families, and communities find ways to recover from substance use. They provide a much-needed ecological perspective to treatment that focuses on the client in relation to family and neighborhood environments, community support systems, cultural attitudes, and policies.
Consequently, social workers trained in treating alcohol, tobacco, and other drug addictions can be found doing case management, group and individual therapy, family counseling, advocacy for jobs and housing needs, community resource development, education, and policy making.
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