WHAT IS SOCIAL WORK? WOULD U VOLUNTEER? by C1 STS

What is Social Work? The profession of Social Worker is an odd mixture of many things. It is usually practised by government civil servants in the west (Europe and North America) while many international NGOs have social workers on their staff. The clientele of social work are often called the vulnerable, ie people whose special conditions or circumstances put them in positions of weakness or vulnerability in comparison with the mainstream of a society. Generally they include members of society who need some help. Typically, these include those with physical or mental disabilities, persons who are not able to work for a living or not able to care for themselves. In special cases, these may include battered women (those who have been physically or emotionally assaulted – eg by their spouses –and can not escape dangerous situations on their own), frail elderly persons, children without parents to support them, or who are being mistreated, The tasks of a social worker mainly include administration and counselling, along with a little bit of medical (usually psychological) intervention and advocacy. The social worker provides her or his clients with little bits of wisdom, advice, information, counselling, as needed. Every case is different. The government (or NGO) social worker in a western country (Europe and North America) provides services that are usually provided by elders and family members in other countries. Social work services are too expensive for governments in the least developed countries. The word "social" is a bit misleading because, in the west, where it is mainly practised, the social worker does not work with a whole society, or even with a community or a group in a social context. The social worker usually handles "cases," and a case is usually about an individual or lately increasingly, a family. This is even more ironical because where social work is taught, usually in a university in a department or a school of social administration or social work, often (where they are small) they are attached to sociology departments. Such schools or departments, in turn, are then usually also where community development (like much of the material on this web site) is also taught. Community development, in contrast, is an activity aimed at social institutions, such as communities or groups, rather than at individuals. (See Community).