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The Social Work Profession
The profession of social work is dedicated to meeting the diverse social service needs of special populations of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. As a practice oriented profession, social work deals with social concerns that range from societal oppression to people's emotional/behavioral problems. The social work practitioner helps at risk populations which typically include the poor and homeless, abused/neglected children and adults, people of color, women, recent refugees, chronically mentally ill, developmentally disabled, physically ill or disabled, substance abusers, criminal offenders, and the aged. In focusing on disadvantaged groups, social workers use a range of traditional and nontraditional methods to promote well-being, personal growth, and social justice, e.g., client and systems policy advocating, brokering, consulting individual, family, and group counseling/psychotherapy, mediating, researching, supervising, and teaching.
While the discipline of social work is deeply rooted in a rich, 100-year history of service, what social workers "do" is no longer traditionally defined. The role of the social worker is constantly expanding into innovative service fields wherever a compassionate response to human need is indicated.
