SOCIAL WORK

SOCIAL WORK

The Social Work profession promotes social change, problem-solving in human relationships, and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance their independence and happiness.

If you are willing to be a partner, negotiator, supporter, communicator, re-framer, confronter and reflector and if you feel a great deal of compassion towards social issues, then this can be an excellent career option for you.

Social work is not just about doing good deeds and helping the under-privileged. Over a period of time, it has evolved into a profession. Correctly it is not a ‘conventional’ career. But with issues of disability, drug misuse, poverty, mental ill health, problems associated with aging etc. rising constantly, social work has become a vital need of our society today. If you are willing to take up a profession for emotional fulfillment and if your purpose of working is not just financial, this would be the ideal career for you.

What it takes?

Interest in the psychological and emotional side of people's behavior, sensitivity, patience and persistence are a few of the characteristics that you must possess to be in this field. You need to have idealism to make a difference to the lives of individuals, the courage to make a positive decision to do a job that contributes to the society, the need to feel proud of your contribution and stimulating role and most importantly personal fulfillment. Also you need to treat everyone as equals and you cannot hold a bias or prejudice against any section of the society.

THE WORK

Social work is all about determining people's social, economic and emotional problems. Social workers work towards the solutions of these problems through counseling, arranging conferences, increasing resources, spreading public awareness and starting social programs and health services. Assessing and treating, mental health and emotional problems is also the job of a social worker. Social work offers diverse opportunities because every individual and society deals with different kinds of problems.

Clinical Social Work: Social workers who venture into this field can work in psychological and mental health care settings or large companies. Their job involves psychotherapy and counseling.

School Social Work: This job involves providing emotional help and problem-solving to prevent family and school breakdown. Counseling the children, home visits, family assessments, making referrals to locality teams etc. is all a part of this job. Discussing and educating on issues like drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sex-related problems and diseases is also the job of a school social worker.

Psychiatric Social Work: Psychiatric social workers work with disturbed children and teenagers with behavioral problems. They assess and diagnose their problems and help in facilitating a treatment process.

Criminology and Correctional Social Work: Social Work in remand homes and prisons to prevent crimes and anti-social behavior is also carried out by social workers. Crime prevention programs are also started by social workers.

Medical Social Work: Social workers, who venture into this area, help patients and their families in coping with stress and other personal and economic problems. Any hindrances that restrain recovery are dealt with by Medical Social Workers. Services for home care after discharge from the hospital, economic help for poor patients and long term care facilities are all provided by them. Also, they help health professionals in treating the patients by providing them with information concerning the social, emotional and economic status of the patient.

Community Organization: Social workers work towards solutions to problems of specific communities. They deal with problems like lack of housing, unemployment, local services etc. They help in distribution of resources and implementing social policies.

Research: Social workers carry out social research to determine solutions to problems like poverty and homelessness. They also research on the causes of social problems and the effectiveness of agencies.

Industrial Social Work: Social workers help ensuring labour welfare in industries and commercial units.

Social workers also help people with mental health problems, marriage issues, substance abuse and dealing with diseases like HIV/Aids.

A social worker works towards the interests of the community and ensures that its most susceptible/vulnerable citizens receive protection and care in the most responsive way possible.