5 Reasons Why Being a Social Worker is Awesome
Hello and happy March! Welcome to my first blog post. I’m happy you’re here!
March is National Professional Social Worker Month, so I thought I’d share with you a few of the reasons I love my profession. And who doesn’t love a good “listicle” right? So here we go!
Flexibility - Did you know that you can find social workers in all kinds of jobs from direct clinical practice and case management to the highest levels of public policy formation, lobbying, and program evaluation? It’s true, and it’s one of the things I find inspiring about being a social worker. When considering graduate degrees, I settled on social work because, even though I was pretty sure I wanted to be a therapist, I was drawn to the idea that I could work in different settings and with different populations throughout my career. Variety is the spice of life!
Advocacy - If you need someone in your corner, find a social worker. Advocating for our clients and communities is at the heart of a social worker’s identity and has been a part of the profession’s DNA from the beginning. We know that individuals and families are only as healthy as the systems in which they live. In my work, I love empowering clients to advocate for themselves to get their needs met and celebrating with them when they succeed!
Holistic Perspectives - Most of my work happens one-on-one with individual clients, or at most, with one family at a time. One of the things that my education in social work really taught me was how to see the individual as part of a whole system that includes their family, friends, school, work, neighborhood, church, other healthcare providers, sports teams, girl scout troops, etc, etc. Thinking this way helps me help my clients tap into their natural support systems when they need to and to see where there may be gaps or other factors contributing to their lack of well-being and balance.
Ethics - All of the various mental health practitioners (psychologists, psychiatrists, professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, etc) emphasize ethical practice. And I don’t want to get too tribal about it, but having high ethical standards has been a hallmark of social workers from the very beginning and is a source of pride for me. Our code of ethics is often touted as particularly complete or exhaustive (exhausting?) and is held up as a model for other professions.
Mutual Support - From my experience, social workers deeply respect and value the work of other social workers. We like to celebrate each other’s successes and get inspired by the impact other social workers are having on whatever population they are working with. I love meeting other social workers “in the wild” and learning about what they are doing in their communities.
So there you go! Happy National Professional Social Worker Month. Make sure to thank a social worker you know. Or if you are a social worker yourself, take time to celebrate yourself and recognize the value you bring to the folks you serve. Next week, I’ll be sharing some stories and wisdom from my social work internship experiences that have stuck with me over the years, so I hope you’ll come back to check that out.
Until then, take good care of yourself
Meghan
PS: Thanks for reading my first ever blog post! Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments. I’d love to get to know you and answer any questions you have.