Social work in the community

Introduction
Social worker has become one of the nation’s largest providers in client care. “Social workers spend the majority of their time providing direct client services 96%” highest fact researched. Social workers main stream work is to provide help to people in the community. What is social work? “Social work is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their own resources and those of the community to resolve problems.

” Another defines it, “social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments.” In both definitions social work is helping others with problems and wellbeing, directing them to empowerment and freedom to change their lives.

Social work plays a major part in the community and without out having
social work the community will be hopeless.

Therefore, they have become very important to the society today. Some questions that trigger people today is What exactly do they do? What area do they work in? Why do we need social workers? What are the roles of social work? It raises questions. Some people have negative comments on social workers and some have positive remarks.

What does social work do in the community and what areas do they work in? Social workers are in all fields from hospitals, mental health, Child and Family services, community based organizations as well as legal organizations etc.

According, to the Canadian Association of social workers, “Social workers work in a variety of settings: family services agencies, children’s aid agencies, general and psychiatric hospitals, school boards, correctional institutions, welfare administration agencies, federal and provincial departments.” (Canadian Association of social workers) They have major parts in all aspects in the community. One of the main things they do is “to help others” in all areas of life no matter what field it is in. “Social workers provide services as members of a multidisciplinary team or on a one-to-one basis with the client.” As well as “Social workers help individuals, families, groups or communities enhance their quality of life and develop the full potential of the individual or group.” (University of British Columbia ) “The duties performed by social workers vary depending on the settings in which they work.” (Canadian Association of social workers) In the field like family and children agencies social workers are more one to one client based and case files.

They give support and guidance on family violence, conflicts, Abuse and other resources etc. “Social workers investigate cases of family violence, child abuse and neglect and take protective action as required. Recruits Foster parents or supervises the placement of children in protective care. Others work on adoption cases” (Canadian Association of social workers) In health and community, Social workers are engaged in counselling, providing services and help people to distinguish their needs and find ways to meet them. “Social workers are involved in the provision of counselling to individuals or families and in providing services to seniors. Some work as community developers helping citizens to identify their needs and proposing ways of meeting these needs” (Canadian Association of social workers) either on one to one or in group settings. In schools, they are there to help students to adjust to the environment, help with student and teachers with problems and to find the solutions that will help both sides. In legal organizations or corrections, social workers provide support on rehabilitation with youth and adults offenders in society.

Social workers in correctional facilities are classified as “Probation officers or Parole officers. Parole officers help ex-prisoners adjust to life in the community while conforming to the conditions of their parole.” (Canadian Association of social workers) .In government and provincial settings social workers deal with social planning, policy development and planning, and policy analysis. As well as, some are teaching in colleges and Universities. Why do we need social work?

Why do we need social work? Because of the professional practice social work has. “Through social work research the reasons why we need social work: Assess the needs and resources of people in their environments Evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people’s needs Demonstrate relative costs and benefits of social work services Advance professional education in light of changing contexts for practice Understand the impact of legislation and social policy on the clients and communities we serve.” (Social work Policy Institue, 2012) These are reasons why social work is needed. The roles of Social work

The roles of social work, the enabler role, a social worker helps a client become capable of coping with situations or transitional stress. “A social worker conveys hope, reducing resistance and ambivalence, recognizing and managing feelings, identifying and supporting personal strengths and social assets, breaking down problems into parts that can be solved more readily, and maintaining a focus on goals and the means of achieving them.” (Social work Policy Institue, 2012) The mediator role involves in resolving problems, conflicts and arguments on different levels. “Mediation helps in such areas as resolving divorce and child custody cases. A mediator remains neutral and does not side with either party in the dispute.” (Chechak, 2013) The coordinator role, this involves bringing together differences. “ Coordination involves bringing components together in some kind of organized manner.

A generalist social worker can function as an integrator/coordinator.” (Chechak, 2013) Manager Role this involves various levels of administrative responsibilities in different agencies in order “to determine organizational goals’. . . acquire resources allocate them to carry out programs; coordinate activities toward the achievement of selected goals; and monitor, assess, and make necessary changes in processes and structure to improve effectiveness and efficiency” (International Federation of Social Workers, 2008) Educator role to teach and give information to clients and understanding, usually have to be knowledgeable and be a good communicator. Analysis role is involves knowledge on evaluating and analyzing how programs and systems work and find the effectiveness of each. Based on the research, social work plays big roles on the community.

Conclusion

Social workers are needed in the world today, whether it is in a health care field or corrections it knowing the importance of the roles and the impacts it has on people. Without social workers our world will not be the same. We have to learn to accept them for their good and hard work in the community.

Reference

http://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/swMonth/2008/factsSW.asp

http://apaswe.com/attachments/article/125/workshop_part1.pdf http://www.casw-acts.ca/en/what-social-work (International Federation of Social Workers, 2008)