Social workers are in charge of promoting the social well-being of individuals, groups and communities through prevention work and responding to specific problems. Their objective is to facilitate social cohesion in times of change and to articulate support and protection for the most vulnerable members of the community.
Their work is carried out thanks to the mechanism of basic social care services, through which they can learn about, intervene and prevent situations of conflict, need or social exclusion in coordination with a multidisciplinary technical team.

These professionals work at different levels of intervention. The first one is directly with users: guiding, informing and helping them in specific situations (situations of violence, basic needs or economic losses, among others). In these cases, they give specific information and advice on existing benefits and resources; process and monitor benefits or carry out referral proposals to appropriate specialised care social services.

At a second level, they are responsible for the detection and prevention of situations of vulnerability within the community, working for example with marginalised groups or with problems of social integration, analysing their demands and the social needs of the area in particular and managing social services or the most beneficial community work.

And at a third more macro level, work with an emphasis on social policies, planning interventions aimed at promoting change and development, social cohesion and the empowerment of people under the principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversity.

Social workers are a required professional in different areas and their specific functions will vary depending on the characteristics of the people they serve or the centre where they work: prisons, adoption and foster care processes, the health sector, the field of mental health and addictions or social health centres, among others.

• Interview individuals or families, listen to their requests and encourage a good relationship.
• Collect the pertinent data, carry out the exploration and social diagnosis.
• Inform and guide on the legal means and existing resources, facilitating the knowledge of rights, services and benefits, as well as the conditions for access.
• Prepare the work and social improvement plan, which is agreed with the user, and carry out the follow-up.
• Manage the social resources of the social benefits to which the person assisted is entitled.
• Refer to specialised care services: basic primary social care services, home care services, limited-stay residences, dining room services, outside school hours care services, reception centres and social services, among other programmes.
  

• Know the resources and institutions of the area.
• Plan and evaluate the actions of social and community care, designing prospecting, awareness-raising and dynamization projects.
• Promote, develop and monitor social and community intervention projects with groups of people affected by the same social problems, for example by building mutual aid groups.
• Participate in the community with participatory strategies, which motivate and actively involve users or the social group in which they take part.
• Promote the organisation and/or dynamization of the community to achieve social improvements so the community can solve problems on its own.
• Work with other professionals in the area to establish prevention mechanisms and community intervention within their field of competence.
  

• Participate in regular team meetings to share resources, methodologies or other information of interest.
• Perform case supervision and evaluations of specific social problems.
• Work together with the team in the different aspects of intervention, defining work plans and intervention actions.
• Coordinate with the different public and/or private services in the educational, health and social spheres, whether general or specific.

Regulated training and graduates

• Grau: Treball social

Complementary training

This offer is variable depending on the scope of intervention, these are some examples:

• Master's degree in Social Work in Health Services
• Master's degree in Health Social Work
• Master's degree in Social Integration
• Master's degree in Social Intervention in Knowledge Societies
• Master's degree in Social Intervention in the area of Family and Minor

Other specific skills

Constantly updated training in order to adapt the understanding of new emerging problems of individuals, families and social groups, and to improve social and community intervention.

Ability to incorporate innovation processes applicable to the field of social work.

Self-control: Level 2

Customer orientation: Level 3

Analytical thought: Level 3

Planning and organisation: Level 2

Team work and cooperation: Level 2

Customer service

Direct and personal interaction with people and relating to the public are highly-motivating activities for individuals who have an interest in the field of customer service. A focus on people and on satisfying customers' needs is key in the occupations included in this field. These jobs entail the need to know suitable techniques for attending to the public and being able to give appropriate service that is tailored to their needs and expectations. Good examples are activities which offer assistance and guidance during functions, trips or at facilities, and those which provide advice in relation to products and services.

Social community worker

Individuals related to the social/community field have an interest in working to improve people's social well-being and quality of life, as well as enhance their integration into their social, family and/or work environment. The professional activities that are common in this field include providing special support and aid to people at risk of social exclusion, designing programmes and implementing resources for the social and cultural stimulation of an area, and acting as mediators for conflict resolution in family, social or interpersonal environments. These activities involve constant interaction with people in order to improve their psychological and social well-being.

Mediator

Migration advisor

Clinical psychologist

Palliative care specialist

Customer Experience Manager

• Work hours

  The working day can be both full-time and part-time work. Some social workers work in the public administration (mainly in city and county councils), and they usually work 37 hours per week, often in the morning and afternoon; but there are professionals who work in services where the working day is usually part-time (for example, in residences or day centres), which means that they have to work in more than one service.
  In any case, they must be available to work sometimes at weekends and public holidays.
  

• Salary

  The salary is highly variable, depending on whether these professionals work within the public administration, for a private company or a third sector organisation.
  Their salary will vary according to the collective agreement to which these professionals belong (the Health, Dependency or Social Intervention agreement). As a reference, in the latter case the salary ranges 17,000 and 23,000 euros gross per year, but it may be increased due to seniority or when the person assumes managerial tasks.
  

• Other features

  These professionals can work in public institutions, within the area of social services, as well as in private institutions (usually non-profit ones) that manage basic social care services and therefore have to work in close collaboration.
  

• Professional category

  Technician