Course overview
If you're looking for a career with meaning, action, diversity, satisfaction, and an abundance of options, we invite you to consider social work! Social workers are people who care about people, who want to make things better, who want to relieve suffering, and who want their work to make a difference. Social work is a profession devoted to helping people function well in their environment. This may be accomplished through provision of direct services or through direct therapy with individuals. It may also include working to improve social conditions. The phrase "in their environment" points to a distinguishing characteristic of social work, one that sets it apart from other helping professions. Social workers help people deal not only with how they feel about their situation, but also what they can do about it.The social work profession has its own body of knowledge, code of ethics, practice standards, credentials, state licensing, and nationwide system of accredited education programs. These equip the professional social worker to combine the desire to help others with the knowledge, skill, and ethics needed to provide that help. For sheer variety, few occupations can match social work in terms of the broad range of opportunities and settings it offers. Social workers are found in public agencies, private businesses, hospitals, clinics, schools, nursing homes, private practices, police departments, courts, and countless other interesting workplaces. Social workers serve individuals, families, and communities. They are managers, supervisors, and administrators, as well as elected political leaders.
