- Social work has a history, which has become the defining feature of professions, of focusing on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to and address problems in living.
- Social workers promote social justice and social change on and on behalf of clients. “Clients” is used inclusively to refer to individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice.
- These activities may be in the form of direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation, administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation, education, and research and evaluation.
- Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs and to seek to promote the responsiveness of organizations, communities, and other social institutions to individuals’ needs and social problems.