Social workers are practice-based professionals who promote social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. They interact with individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities in order to provide various forms of therapy and counselling, group work, and community work. Social workers guide people to use services to claim benefits, access community resources, find jobs and training, obtain legal advice or deal with other local authority departments.

Tasks

Tasks include -
(a) Interviewing clients individually, in families, or in groups, to assess their situation and problems and determine the types of services required;
(b) Analysing the client's situation and presenting alternative approaches to resolving problems;
(c) Compiling case records or reports for courts and other legal proceedings;
(d) Providing counselling, therapy and mediation services and facilitating group sessions to assist clients to develop skills and insights needed to deal with and resolve their social and personal problems;
(e) Planning and implementing programmes of assistance for clients including crisis intervention and referral to agencies that provide financial assistance, legal aid, housing, medical treatment and other services;
(f) Investigating cases of abuse or neglect and taking action to protect children and other at risk persons;
(g) Working with offenders during and after sentence, to help them to integrate into the community and to change attitudes and behaviour in order to reduce further offending;
(h) Providing advice to prison governors and to probation and parole review boards that helps determine whether, and under what conditions, an offender should be incarcerated, released from prison or undergo alternative correctional measures;
(i) Acting as advocates for client groups in the community and lobbying for solutions to problems affecting them;
(j) Developing prevention and intervention programmes to meet community needs;
(k) Maintaining contact with other social service agencies, educational institutions and health care providers involved with clients to provide information and obtain feedback on clients' overall situation and progress.