Social Work

What do you think we do? Well you are wrong, we do a whole lot more. Most people only think of social workers as therapists and DCF workers, but we do a lot more than that. My specialty is community organizing; some other specialties where I went to school are policy planners and administrators and other universities have other concentrations to choose from.

However, we have one thing in common…

We Should All Hug a Social Worker
Huffington Post
By Dominic Carter
Posted: 09/19/2012

As the keynote speaker for the conference, I had invited some of the attending social workers and law enforcement officials on stage, and asked a simple question: why do you do, what you do for others?

When it was Kimberly's turn to take to the podium, her voice started to tremble, and she almost broke down in tears. However it was the emotion of joy as she described it as an honor for her to spend a portion of her own salary on "her children."
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Social Workers are the fabric of our society, and I for one don't think we should take them for granted.
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Later in a one-on-one conversation with a social worker, I asked her what's the best thing that ever happened to her on the job, and the worst. The best, with her face bright with pride and a million dollar smile, was being able to go to the high school graduations of some of the kids that she has helped. But the smile quickly went away, and then she lost eye contact with me as she looked to the floor, and said the worst is when you lose children. I was hoping her response wasn't what I thought, but then she said yes, she had seen several children on her caseload murdered.

It was a remarkably humbling experience that day in that large auditorium, and I really feel we should all hug a social worker today, and say thank you. If not a social worker, how about a teacher, or a police officer?

I think that we all became social workers because we care for others, we want to make someone else life easier.

I think a comment from kaw0606 summed it up best…

I'm a social worker, and I am proud of my profession. I am lucky because my values are my work. Not many people can say that. I left teaching because I learned that teachers, unfortunately, have to conform to expectations that are often contradictory to their values. I knew I needed to be in a profession that expected from me what I expect from my self and my fellow human beings: to act in a manner that conveys dignity and worth to ALL people. In my profession, I am expected to recognize injustice and work against it. I am expected to have empathy for people whose circumstances lead others to judge. My profession does not allow me to judge; my profession demands that I look beyond what others see to the real person in his/her environment and work with that person toward hope and solutions. Thank you for writing this article, for acknowledging what social workers already know...we are heart and soul and we believe that PEOPLE MATTER!