2017.01.27 Essence of Social Work

#socialwork has two main components, which distinguish it from all other professions of caring.

1. Empathy, this characteristic of the caregiver is not the exclusive domain of #socialwork. In all professions empathy promotes bonding with the client and lets the person know he is not alone, she is understood. This bonding is established through the contact and subsequent interplay of client and clinician. All health care professions need this ability. Studies show that women caregivers have a greater capacity for empathy than male caregivers. ( http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/873941)

2. The second distinguishing characteristic of #socialwork is the provision of resources that resolves the client's dilemma. Each profession delivers some resource that is the province of that profession. Medicine, law, nursing, preaching, teachers each provide specialized knowledge and resources. The resource that #socialwork provides is the specialized knowledge of resources that facilitate the wholistic advancement of the client in the community. It is not enough to just feed or clothe the individual and the family. Social work inculcates the idea of connection to community. And it always starts with the social worker, the family, the neighborhood and into broader society. No other profession does both these services with the tenacity, precision and passion that social work does.

For these reasons, interference from governmental bodies, no matter how well intentioned or seemingly deserved, impedes the care that trained social work professionals deliver. Further, not being able to develop the bonds of empathy due to client case overload or other time constraint shortchanges the client and causes burnout in the clinician. Likewise, the unavailability of needed resources does the exact same things.

#socialwork evolved from charitable giving and philanthropy. Charitable giving was the provision of resources and philanthropy is the love of humanity.