What is a social worker?

Social workers are people who care about people; who want to make things better, who want to relieve suffering, who want their work to make a difference.

Social work is a profession devoted to helping people function the best they can in their environment. This can mean providing direct services or therapy directly to people (called "clients"). It can also mean working for change to improve social conditions.

The phrase "in their environment" points to a distinguishing characteristic of social work - one that sets it apart from other helping professions. Social workers help clients deal with not only how they feel about a situation but also what they can do about it. For example, a man suffering stress stemming from single parenting may be referred by a social worker to a child care agency. The social worker might also help him explore flextime with his employer and might work with a coalition of local employers to make flextime and child care more available. In addition, the social worker might provide therapy to help him handle the immediate stress.

Many social workers work for social change as well. The victim of an assault benefits not only from therapy but also efforts to curb neighborhood crime. The client under stress because illness has devastated the family finances benefits from efforts to reform the Nation's health care system.