Well, Social Work Month 2023 has come and gone. I had intended to post during the month, even toward the end of the month I thought "Oh I need to post something". Yet here we are.
I am writing today to share a thought about the social work profession. Maybe not the profession so much as those coming into the profession and a trend I've noticed in my small corner of the world. By no means am I saying this thought is research based or has empirical evidence to support it.
TW: Unpopular Opinion
I am sure we have all noticed a trend that people are entering social work to go into private practice. I think it has been gaining traction for the past decade with more and more students saying their goals are to go immediately into private practice post-graduation. Some are even interning in private practice settings.
I am not trying to bash on private practice, but what I see in this trend is kind of this shift from why people are entering the profession. We have gone from this outcome focus to a more activity or process focused. Sure there have always been people who enter the profession because they "want to help help people", but we use to hear words about "change" and "justice". Now we hear people say "I want to go into private practice" or "I want to be a therapist". These are things social workers can do, but therapy or private practice is not really an outcome.
My MSW program application required a purpose paper. I wrote about my desire to work on making organizations just - not organizations that work on social justice issues but organizations that are just in the the way they do business. That is more of an outcome that drives my work.
I think the difference is subtle, but powerful. Our profession seems to be losing it's foundation and I think this has something to do with it.
