Social Development
(a) How many social workers are currently employed in Mitchells Plain and (b) what services do they provide?
a) 29 social workers from DSD. One of our funded partners, namely, the ACVV provide an additional 5 Social Workers and 5 Social Workers who work in the Mitchell’s Plain in the area.
b) Being a social worker is often a challenging, yet rewarding career. Social workers are responsible for helping individuals, families, and groups of people to cope with problems they’re facing to improve their patients’ lives. One aspect of this is teaching skills and developing mechanisms for patients to rely on to better their lives and experiences. Social workers will often serve as liaisons between different institutions to assist patients and collaborate with other health professionals to ensure patient wellness. They will become familiar with, and refer clients to, community resources. Social workers address legal issues, such as assisting with hearings and providing testimony relating to their patients.
They also engage in research, policy development and advocacy for services. And of course, social workers must maintain case history records and prepare reports. Social work can be the kind of job that requires a great deal of overtime, and separating the emotional aspects of the job from the duties required can be a difficult undertaking. But there are plenty of resources, including websites, books and social media users, that can offer great advice.
Specializations
Within the field of social work, there are many different specializations and industries that professionals can pursue and focus on. While these different fields all require practitioners to show the cornerstones of social work: empathy, flexibility, and persistence, and respect for different circumstances; there are some skill sets and knowledge that social workers will need to utilize in order to become the as effective at their jobs as possible. Social workers can be required to aid with issues directly caused by trauma, disability, poor family circumstances, abuse, mental and emotional problems, addiction, and acute, chronic, or terminal illnesses. Some social workers prefer to focus their skills on one area of expertise by going into specific fields.
• Family, child or school social work involves providing assistance and advocacy to improve social and psychological functioning of children and their families. These social workers attempt to maximize academic functioning of children as well as improving the family’s overall well-being. These professionals may assist parents, locate foster homes, help to arrange adoptions, and address abuse. In schools they address problems such as truancy, bad behavior, teenage pregnancy, drug use, and poor grades. They also advice teachers and act as liaisons between students, homes, schools, courts, protective services, and other institutions.
• Public health social workers are often responsible for helping people who have been diagnosed with chronic, life threatening or altering diseases and disorders, helping connect patients with plans and resources in order to help them cope. One of the most difficult things a person can go through is dealing with acute, chronic, and terminal illnesses and these social workers provide services to ease these patients’ process. These services include advising family care givers, providing patient education and counseling, making referrals to other services, case management interventions, planning hospital discharge, and organizing support groups. These social workers are often employed at health care centers, assisted living homes or in hospitals.
• Addictions and mental health social workers offer support and services to those struggling with unhealthy grounding techniques, connecting them with facilities that serve to teach healthier behaviors and get patients back on track. These patients often struggle with mental and emotional problems as well as addictions and substance abuse problems. Services that mental health and substance abuse social workers provide include individual and group counseling, intervening during crises, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education. They also focus on counselling families to assist in understanding and dealing with the patient’s problems.
