Dorothy Day Social Work Program: Career Information

If you’re looking for a career with meaning, action, diversity, satisfaction, and an abundance of options, consider social work. Social workers are people who care about people, who want to make things better, who want to relieve suffering, who want their work to make a difference.

Social workers help people overcome social and health problems, such as poverty, mental illness, child abuse and neglect, emotional instability, illness, economic uncertainty, domestic violence, homelessness, and drug abuse. They work directly with individuals, couples, families, and groups to identify and overcome these problems. Some social workers also work with communities, organizations, and other systems to improve and deliver services. Social work’s approach is unique among the helping professions because it focuses on people’s problems in the context of their social environment as well as on social and economic justice and social change. Social workers believe that people are influenced by the strengths and weaknesses of those around them – in their families, communities, workplaces, and organizations. Social workers apply their professional knowledge and skills to help people make the most effective use of their own abilities. When adequate services do not exist in a community, or when social conditions are such that people cannot effectively utilize their skills, social workers promote the development of new programs and instigate social change.  –National Association of Social Workers (NASW)