Professional and Practitioners in Social Work

ROLES AND FUNCTION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

ROLES DESCRIPTION
Resource Broker This role is about the direct provision and material aid and other
resources that will be helpful in reducing situational deficiencies.
These resources are mobilized and created or directly to the client
being assisted.
Social Broker This role involves a process of negotiating the “service jungle” for
clients. The social worker links the client to the needed servides and
ensures quick delivery of these services.
Mediator This role includes acting as an intermediary or conciliator between
persons or in groups and the social worker engage her/his effort to
resolve disputes between the client and other parties.
Advocate This role involves taking a partisan interest in the client and her/his
cause and aims to influence another party in the interest of the client
through arguing, bargaining, regulating, and manipulating the
environment on behalf of the client.
Enables This role is about activities that the social worker engages in order to
help the clients cope with the current situation and eventually find
strength and resources within themselves to solve problems they
encountered.
Counselor/Therapist This role intends to restore, maintain, or enhance the clients capacity
to adopt to the current reality. Such good maybe achieved through
provision of necessary services on an individual or group basis to
provide emotional support to facilitate adjustment.

Areas of Specialization of Social Work

Specific Work Area Area

Child, Family, and School
social worker
Community social worker
Social worker
Medical and Health
social worker
Mental health and
substance abuse social
work
Military and veterans
social work
Psychiatric social worker
Deals with all sorts of situation such as helping a child who has
experienced trauma or abuse. Counseling students at school who are
experiencing grief over the death of a friend, or helping parents find
the right resources for their child who is suffering from a severe
mental illness.
Helps plan, coordinates and organize efforts related to
Who is seriously or terminally it. They help provide relief from pain,
improve quality of life; assist with difficult decision-making; help
family and friends of an individual; and in social cases assist with
trauma, grief and loss.
Works in hospital settings and helps navigate the emotional financial
and physical struggles that serious medical condition can cause an
individual or family.
Assist individuals who struggle with addiction substance abuse, or
mental health problems.
Helps both the soldiers and their families with post- traumatic stress,
roles adjustments, the implication and stressors of returning home
and any substance abuse that occur as a result of combat.
Provides therapy and assess the psychiatric health of their patients.
They work with the individuals family to understand legal procedures
long-term case options, and make referrals or provide resources.

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Career Opportunities of Social Work

Social workers may pursue careers in the following areas:

✓ Social work in health care
✓ Social work in school
✓ Occupational social work
✓Clinical social work such as medical and psychiatric social work
✓ Forensic social work
✓Adoption social work
✓ Management and supervision in various agencies working on social welfare, social policy and
planning
✓ Charity social work and social work education
✓ Child and family social work
✓ Community social work
✓ Social work research
✓ Military social work

CODE RIGHTS, RESPONSIBILITIES, ALLOUNTABILITIES ARK AND CODE OF ETHICS

Six (6): Areas (I) Responsibilities to clients (II) Responsibilities to colleagues (III) responsibilities in
practice setting (IV) Responsibilities as professionals, (V) responsibilities to social work profession
(VI) Responsibilities to broader society.

Section A: Responsibilities to clients

Element Brief Description
Commitment clients Uphold the well-being of clients. The clients interests are primary.
Self-determination Respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist
clients to identify and clarify their goals.
Informed consent Social workers should use clear and understandable language to inform
clients of the purpose of the services, risks related to the services, limits
to service etc.
Competence provide services and represents themselves as competent only within
the boundaries of the education, training, license, certification,
consultation received etc.
Conflict of interest Be alert to and avoid conflicts of interest that interfere with exercise of
profession disoreation judgement.
Privacy and Respect clients right to privacy. Social workers should not solicit private
confidentiality information from clients unless it is essential to providing services or
conducting social worker evaluation or research.
Access to records social workers should provide clients with reasonable access to records
concerning social workers who are concerned that client's access to their
records could cause serious misunderstanding or harm to the client
should provide assistance in interpreting of the records and consultation
with the clients legarting records.
Sexual relationship Do not engage in sexual activities or sexual contact with current clients,
wither such contact is consensual or forced.
Physical context Do not engage in physical contact with clients when there is a possibility
of psychological harm to the client as a result of the contact (such as
cradling or caressing clients).
Sexual harassment Do not sexually harassment includes sexual advances, sexual solicitation,
request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a
sexual nature.
Derogatory language Do not use derogatory language in their written or verbal
communications to or about clients. Social workers should use accurate

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 and respectful language in all communication to and about clients.
Payment to service Ensure that the fees are fair, reasonable, and commensurate with the
services performed. Consideration should given to clients ability to pay.
Avoid accepting goods or services from clients as payment for
professional services.
Clients who lack When social workers act on behalf of clients who lack the capacity to
decision-making make informed decisions, social workers should take reasonable steps to
capacity safeguard the interests and rights of those clients.
Termination of Terminate services to clients and professional relationships with them
service when such services and relationships are no longer required of no longer
serve the clients needs or interests.

SECTION B: RESPONSIBILITY TO COLLEAGUES

Respect Treat colleagues with respect and represent accurately and fairly the
qualification, views, and obligation of colleagues; avoid unwarranted
negative criticism of colleagues in communication with clients or with
other professionals.
Confidentiality Respect confidential information shared by colleagues in the course of
their professional relationships and transactions.
Dispute involving Do not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and an
colleagues employer to obtain a position or otherwise advance the social workers
own interest.
Referral services Refer clients to other professionals when the other professional's
specialized knowledge or expertise is needed to serve clients fully or
when social workers believe that they're not being that affective on
making progress with clients and that additional service is required.
Sexual harassment Do not sexually harass, supervises, students, trainers, or colleagues.
Impairment of social workers who have direct knowledge of a social work colleagues
colleagues impairment that is due to personal problems, psychosocial distress,
substance abuse or mental health difficulties and that involves with
practice effertiveness should consult with that colleague when fearible
and resist the colleague in taking remedial action.