Social Workers Make A Difference

 

• Professional social workers assist individuals, groups, or communities to restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning, while creating societal conditions favorable to their goals. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior, of social, economic and cultural institutions, and of the interaction of all these factors.
• According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), social work is one of the fastest growing careers in the United States.
• Social workers are highly trained and experienced professionals. Only those who have earned social work degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral levels, and completed a minimum number of hours in supervised fieldwork, are “professional social workers.”
• Social workers help people overcome some of life’s most difficult challenges: poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, physical illness, divorce, loss, unemployment, educational problems, disability, and mental illness. They help prevent crises and counsel individuals, families, and communities to cope more effectively with the stresses of everyday life.
• Professional social workers are found in every facet of community life—in schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, senior centers, elected office, private practices, prisons, military, corporations, and in numerous public and private agencies that serve individuals and families in need. They often specialize in one or more of the following practice areas:

  Mental Health Therapy Disaster Relief Military Social Work Rural Social Work Adoption & Foster Care Child Welfare Services Family Preservation Services Homeless Family Assistance Eating Disorders Genetics Hospital Social Work Crisis Intervention School Violence Hospice and Palliative Care Depression Institutional Care Chronic Pain Outpatient Treatment Development Disabilities International Social Work Advocacy, Consulting and Planning

  Community Mental Health Employee Assistance Private Practice Veterans Services Child Abuse & Neglect Domestic Violence Political Development Parent Education Family Planning HIV/AIDS School Alternative Programs Difficulties in School Gerontology Services Community-Based Services In-Home Services Senile Dementia and Alzheimer’s Addictions Prevention/Treatment Criminal Justice Housing Assistance Public Welfare Employment Services

Please visit HelpStartsHere.org for more information on how Social Workers help.

• Over 40% of all disaster mental health volunteers trained by the American Red Cross are professional social workers.
• “There are over 170 social workers in national, state and local elected office, including two U.S. Senators and seven U.S. Representatives.