National Social Work Month
For those out there who aren’t in the loop, March is the annual celebration of National Social Work Month here in the United States. If you aren’t a social worker or you aren’t connected to one, it might go unnoticed as we are a small and unsung few who work to help make the world a better place through direct, community, and policy-level action in the arena of health and social justice.
Contrary to what you might learn on Sesame Street, social workers don’t just take kids (or Big Bird - check it out!) away from homes where they might not be safe. While the work of our colleagues in the Child Welfare System is indeed good work for the safety of kids, Social Work is a bit different. Specifically: Social Work is defined as “a practice profession and an academic discipline that recognizes that interconnected historical, socio-economic, cultural, spatial, political, and personal factors serve as opportunities and/or barriers to human wellbeing and development.”
As a professional workforce, we social workers abide by a code of ethics that directs us to serve our communities, support our clients, push for social justice, and be ethical and upstanding members of our communities. Over 700,000 social workers serve across the country in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, mental health clinics, schools, social service organizations, government agencies, and even legislative bodies. Our work is as diverse as our membership and I am proud to work alongside amazing people who are trying to make a positive impact in their communities every day.
This year, the theme of National Social Work Month is “Empowering Social Workers”. As a person who has led social work for many years, I can tell you that my colleagues in the workforce are dedicated and hard-working to the point of burnout. As many as a quarter of new social workers burn out of the profession in their first few years of work due to the complexity of the work. Many more, including me, have suffered from vicarious trauma at times in their career. If we are to support our social work colleagues we need to help make sure that they are recognized, heard, and supported in their vital work. If you know a social worker, take a moment this month to reach out and check in on them and hear what their work is like.
