A Call to Social Workers To Act Against Racism and White Supremacy Now
We are experiencing a time in our history when we awaken to near daily reminders of the racist violence that plagues our country. Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the brutal murder of Ahmaud Arbery by a trio of White vigilantes, followed by the murders of Breonna Taylor, Sean Reed, Tony McDade, and George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement. Earlier this year, we witnessed the murders of Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson, also at the hands of law enforcement.
Practicing Anti-Racism in Social Work: A Guide
Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and combating racism. Anti-racism requires ongoing action. The goal is to become aware of racism in all its forms and actively change the beliefs, behaviors and policies that perpetuate racist ideas and actions in individuals, institutions and systems in order to create an equal society.
Undoing Racism Through Social Work
Like most professions and institutions since 2020, the field of social work has been grappling with the
consequences of our nation’s racist foundation. Continued violent tragedies and widespread public protests
illuminated centuries of racial exploitation and trauma in the United States. Clearly, no discipline can escape
scrutiny if we are to build a truly inclusive and equitable future together.
Undoing Racism Through Social Work Vol. 2.
Social work can and will achieve an antiracist future. Each social work organization and every social worker has an important role to play in dismantling racial injustice in our nation and demanding human wellbeing for all in society.
Social Workers Must Help Dismantle Systems of Oppression and Fight Racism Within Social Work Profession
The mission of social work is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic needs of all people, with particular attention to those who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. We cannot maximize this mission and fully actualize our core professional values without advocating to reform, dismantle, or even abolish the racist and oppressive systems we may work within and beside.
What is Anti-Oppressive Practice?
AOP recognizes that multiple forms of oppression can occur simultaneously within micro-, mezzo-, and macro-levels that uniquely impact marginalized people and communities.
Anti-Oppressive Practice
The complex nature of oppression is witnessed in the lives of people who are marginalised in this society. As social work practitioners, we have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility to challenge inequality and disadvantage.
Anti-Oppressive Social Worker
Melissa Taylor is a Registered Social Worker, and Psychotherapist working in Toronto. Melissa specializes in: - Intergenerational Trauma - Racism - Anxiety - Depression - Oppression - Life Transitions - Trauma Processing
Baylor University: 5 Ways to Embrace Diversity in Social Work
Social workers are confronted with various situations, people, and personalities every day....Clients may speak a different language, have difficulty communicating in other ways, or have a cultural background that is completely unfamiliar to you. As such, a successful social worker's fundamental tenet is to embrace diversity, so that they may provide the best care and service for all clients.
Regis College: The Importance of Increasing Diversity in Social Work Practice
As advocates for people from all walks of life, particularly those who are underserved or marginalized, social workers are most effective if they are conscious of the rapidly diversifying population. This awareness can be enhanced by increasing diversity in social work practice: recruiting, hiring, and training individuals from all communities and backgrounds in the field of social work and enhancing their opportunities for professional success.
Columbia University: The Diversity of Social Work: How Shared Experiences Shape the Field
While social work is a field primarily associated with helping individuals and communities in need, its versatility can lead graduates down unexpected and exciting career paths. In today’s dynamic and interconnected world, social workers are finding success in fields as diverse as public administration, politics, and entertainment, demonstrating the adaptability and impact of their unique skill set.
Introduction to Social Work: A Look Across the Profession: Chapter 4: Culture And Diversity
The New Social Worker: On Equity-Minded Practice as a Framework for Social Workers
Although discussions about the need to shift from a focus on equality to equity have been happening for some time (George Washington University, 2020), the particulars of equity as applied to education and practice is new for many social workers.
NASW: Racial Equity
NASW is committed to ending racism through public education, social justice advocacy and professional training. Our members understand cultural and ethnic diversity and strive to end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social injustice.
Beyond Inclusion Initiatives, Toward Expansive Frameworks
An all-too-common response for organizations centers on inclusion. A plethora of entities have announced new inclusion initiatives aimed at diversifying the people, practices, and policies associated with their brands. Others have renewed or doubled down on commitments to existing inclusion endeavors. Whilst these efforts are mostly commendable, many of these responses seem to be overly reliant on inclusion as a panacea to address deep-seated social ills associated with racism—with the positive aim of diversity.
NASW: Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
NASW’s commitment to diversity is rooted in our belief that creating a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is ethical. It is the right thing to do. It is also crucial to our organization’s continued success. Most important, it is what all members of our workforce deserve.
The New Social Worker: Ethics Alive! Anti-DEI Laws, Moral Distress, and Student Roles
This article begins with an overview of anti-DEI legislation, including what such statutes actually state. The balance of the article explores the moral distress that social work educators may face, as well as options for social work students who want to develop DEI competencies, support their instructors, and advocate for legislative reform that advances DEI education.
Social Work Today DEI Training for Social Workers
A key component of DEI initiatives, training aims to provide all employees with the same foundation of knowledge and engage them in DEI goals, preparing them for changes, allowing for their input, and opening the door for more work moving forward.
University of Michigan: DEI & Social Work: Resources for Upcoming/Professionals
The following resources are for social workers in their professional development journeys towards equitable practice.
University of Michigan: DEI Toolkit
Welcome to the School of Social Work DEI Toolkit! The purpose of this toolkit is to provide material and resources that will strengthen your knowledge as you navigate a journey towards embodying DEI and anti-racist social work practice.
*Note: Some resources are only available to those with a Michigan account/email address.
NASW: Aging
The dramatic growth in the number of adults aged 65 and older, combined with overall population aging, affects not only families and workplaces, but also health care and social service delivery systems. Meeting the needs and leveraging the contributions of an increasingly diverse older population presents both challenges and opportunities to social workers and other service providers.
John Hartford Foundation The Importance of Social Work in the Care of Older Adults
As people age, they have more complex health care needs, some experience financial difficulties, and they may become less and less able to coordinate their own increasingly complex needs. Social workers formulate care plans based on comprehensive assessments to manage the interconnected physical, social, and socioeconomic factors that affect the health and well-being of older adults.
NASW: Understanding Our Aging Society: Social Work Contributions
The aging of our society, both in the United States and globally, demands an increased focus on aging within the social work profession and the preparation of more social workers skilled in working with older people and their families. This page highlights aging research across many domains, identifies gaps in knowledge, and makes recommendations for future research.
9. Social Work with Older Adults - Mavs Open Press
In this chapter, the student will focus on social work practice: social work with older adults. We will consider some important considerations in the study of gerontology, common health complications for the older adult, and some of the more common concerns for the geriatric social worker.
Berkeley Law:
South Asia’s caste system is a socio-political basis for discrimination, with Dalits, persecuted as the “untouchables” of society, facing prejudice in the workplace and academia. As South Asians have migrated to jobs and academic positions in the United States, caste discrimination has followed.
Caste has become a university diversity issue in the US
Many international students from disadvantaged groups hope to leave the entrenched social structures and caste discrimination behind and start afresh as they come to the United States or elsewhere. But to their consternation and horror, some South Asian students have found that caste discrimination is alive and well overseas, particularly where there is a large South Asia diaspora or foreign students on campus.
The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour
Relative to middle‐class counterparts, lower/working‐class individuals are less likely to define themselves in terms of their socioeconomic status and are more likely to have interdependent self‐concepts; they are also more inclined to explain social events in situational terms, as a result of having a lower sense of personal control.
In the child protection arena it is relatively unusual to be working with a family who would be deemed to be middle-class. Of course that is not to say middle-class parents do not abuse their children, which did not happen in this recent case but has been found in other serious case reviews, so why are those children not being identified as being maltreated?
A Social Work Response to Social Class Disparities Within Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Communities
When it comes to the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (or LGB) community, there is a significant distinction in social class within the workplace. According to Krieger, Williams, and Moss (1997), a worker's social class is dependent on legal relationships and interdependent economic relationships based on his or her physical site in the economy.
The Construction of Social Class in Social Work Education: A Study of Introductory Textbooks
Social work introductory textbooks reflect myriad practical interests, pedagogical concerns, and theoretical considerations. However, they also present students with accepted views, dominant perspectives, and main discourses of knowledge. In light of this centrality, the present article examines the representation of the concept of “social class” in introductory textbooks as a way to look at the construction of the concept in social work education. Based on the content analysis study of 50 introductory textbooks, the article suggests that social work education has overlooked or even denied the relevance of social class.
NASW Code of Ethics
The NASW Code of Ethics is a set of standards that guide the professional conduct of social workers. The 2021 update includes language that addresses the importance of professional self-care. Moreover, revisions to Cultural Competence standard provide more explicit guidance to social workers. All social workers should review the new text and affirm their commitment to abide by the Code of Ethics.
Council on Social Work Education Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards for Baccalaureate and Master's Social Work Programs
The Commission on Accreditation (COA) of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to accredit baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in social work education in the United States and its territories. The COA is responsible for formulating, promulgating, and implementing the accreditation standards for baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in social work, for ensuring that the standards define competent preparation, and for confirming that accredited social work programs meet the standards.