What is Social Work?

Hello there!

Welcome to my blog, where I share some highlights from the latest episode of the Social Work Café podcast.

I am incredibly excited that episode one has been released.

The episode is all about the central question of season 01: what is social work?

If you want to know why that is the theme, check out my previous blog post.

I’ve often heard from fellow social workers that when they try to explain our profession to family and friends, they get confused looks.

I’ll admit I didn’t help myself when one of my aunts asked me some months ago, “what do I do?”

I’m afraid I babbled a bit and ended up saying something about being like counselling (an epic fail on my part).

So you can see yet another reason I decided to ask each guest who joins me in the café: what is social work?

I am so grateful that my colleague, Katrina Gersbach, agreed to explore this question in the first episode.

I loved chatting with her, not only because Katrina is a serious coffee drinker like myself, but also because I could relate to her story about finding social work.

I too, always wanted to go to university but had no idea what I wanted to study.

I was lucky that I happened to come across career counselling, which helped me to find my way into youth work and then social work.

Katrina was her own career counsellor, by researching what courses fit well with her passions and interests.

I think there is wisdom in her approach for others contemplating a career in social work or questioning whether the programme is really for them once they start studying.

It really helps to get in touch with your personal values, passions, and interests and see how they fit with what social work has to offer you as a career.

Katrina also gives some great advice about doing research online and finding some social workers to speak to directly.

Another highlight from our conversation was about working while studying.

Like many burgeoning social work students, Katrina went off and got herself a job in the human services field, which helped her get a taste for the field (while also paying the bills).

I often hear from students who like working and studying so they can apply what they are learning directly to their practice.

On the other hand, the challenge they often face is remembering that their current job does not reflect the full scope and breadth of social work, and so it’s important to build a broader professional identity and a social work practice framework (stay tuned for episode 05).

Katrina goes on to describe the various roles and levels of practice that she worked in during her field years, and I have to say, she demonstrates the diversity of roles that social workers can be employed in, making it a very attractive career option.

I remember feeling very relieved about finding and studying social work, but I had no idea what particular field or role to go into.

I had a lot of interests, but unlike Katrina, I didn’t really nail it down, and was lucky that my last field placement led me into counselling.

Katrina, on the other hand, knew that she was interested in working with children and families, making her eventual job choice clearer.

Not all students have that kind of clarity, which is perfectly fine, and study is an opportunity to explore, try new things, and see where your subjects and placement take you!

Katrina’s definition of social work blew me away, here it is:

Social work is about working alongside people, their families, and communities in a holistic way to meet their needs, as well as advocate for wider societal change.

I think she beautifully captures the range of people we aim to work with, how we want to work with them, while also pointing out that meeting people’s needs can be done through broader systemic change – she nailed it!

What do you think?

So what did you think of the very first episode?

Is this the kind of conversation you wish you could have had with a social worker when contemplating a career move?

I certainly wish I had met more social workers like Katrina when I was younger to learn about the profession.

Hopefully this episode has inspired you to get out there and promote the profession.

At the very least, we can do a better job explaining social work to all the aunties out there.

Until next time.

Dr. B