PROFESSIONALS AND PRACTITIONERS
IN SOCIAL WORK
• Social work as a profession focuses on the
individual’s social functioning.
• Social work is an active profession with a wide
array of responsibilities in the areas of caring,
curing, and changing.
Roles of Social Workers:
• Advocate - involves taking a partisan interest in the client and
his/her cause and aims to influence another party in the interest of
the client through arguing, bargaining, negotiating, and
manipulating the environment on behalf of the client.
• Resource Broker - direct provision of material aid and other
resources that will be helpful in reducing situational deficiencies.
These resources are mobilized and created or directly provided to
the client being assisted.
• Social broker - involves a process of egotiating the “service
jungle” for clients; linking the client to the needed services and
ensures quick delivery of these services.
• Enabler - the social worker engages in activities in order to help
the client cope with the current situation and eventually find
strengts and resources within themselves to solve problems they
encountered.
• Mediator - acting as an intermediary or conciliator betweens
persons or in groups and the social worker engages his/her efforts
to resolve disputes between the client and other parties.
• Counselor/Therapist - provision of necessary services on an
individual or group basis to provide emotional support to facilitate
adjustment.
- can be done through purposive listening, reassurance, teaching,
guidance, logical discussions, etc.
Other roles:
1. Mobilizer of community elite
This involves the worker in various activities with the goal of
informing and interpreting to certain or identified sectors of
the community, the different programs and services
including the needs and problems that the clients are facing
to gain their support, commitment, and involvement in
different endeavors.
2. Documenter/social critique
This involves the worker documenting the need for sufficient
policies and programs based on her/his knowledge and
actual experiences about the inadequacies in the existing
policies and programs including what needs to be done and
what needs to be enhanced, in the light of professional
values and goals.
3. Policy/program change advocate
This involves the worker in efforts to change policies and
programs on behalf of a particular segment of the
population based on professional values and entails the
worker to take a stand on important issues, argue and
defend her/his proposals on certain social welfare policies
and programs affecting a client population.
The Functions of Social Work:
1. Rehabilitative Function refers to restorative,
curative, and remedial by actions. Social workers are
responsible for assisting individuals and groups to
determine and settle or reduce the problem that
came out of the imbalance between the individuals
and the environment. This function attempts to put
back the person to a balanced state of social
functioning.
2. Preventive Function detects impending imbalance
between the individuals or groups with the environment.
This function encompasses early detection, control, and
eradication of situations which may have a damaging effect
on the social functioning.
3. Developmental Function ascertains and strengthens
the potential in individuals, groups, and communities. This
function seeks to help the individual make full use of her/his
potentials and capacites and to enhance the effectiveness
of available social or community resources.
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS
1. Child, Family, and School Social Worker
2. Community Social Worker
3. Hospice and Palliative Social Worker
4. Medical and health Social Worker
5. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Worker
6. Military and Veterans Social Worker
7. Psychiatric Social Worker