March is National Social Workers Month, which gives us the opportunity to focus on the many roles that social workers play, day in and day out, often without our being aware. Here is a broad look at the social worker reach throughout our society.

Social work, a helping profession, has become so involved that an MSW – a Masters in Social Work – is usually required in order to be a full-fledged social worker in the US. A Bachelor’s degree is helpful for some entry-level social work-related positions, but is not enough for working in most social work jobs. In addition, there are state-by-state mandated license exams, and possibly other requirements, for working as a social worker.  Clinical social work has further requirements, and some social workers go onto earn a DSW, or Doctorate of Social Work, in order to work at higher-level teaching and research positions.  All this having been said, social work is a serious matter.

What do social workers do? Essentially, the role of social worker is to assess, communicate, and assist with problems in managing routine life. Social workers help people in a variety of settings, be they public or private, directly or as liaisons. Here is a partial list of social worker fields:

1)        Healthcare facilities

2)        Domestic conflicts (such as foster care, or child abuse)

3)        Administrators of social service programs

4)        Social Science Research

5)        Low-Income Populations

6)        Mental Illness Facilities

7)        Drug Abuse Institutions

At Rockaway Care Center, social workers are employed in our Multidisciplinary Team, Professional Respiratory Team, and Hospice Care. They provide the personal touch in any situation, looking out for our residents’ interests based on their medical, social and mental needs. Social workers embody bedside manner without the prescription. They provide the warmth as well as the social networking information necessary to connect residents with the public and private support available in the community.  Social workers are the glue between the medical and bureaucratic aspects of help, binding the assessments together in order to personally deliver residents the best “package” of suggestions for comprehensive help. In short, we thank you, social workers!