Social Work with Children and Youth
The process of growing up is an emotional challenge. Your life's mindset and worry's range from figuring out who you are, how you want others to perceive you, determining who your real friends are, just trying to make it through school and all the awkward stages of your youth leading up to your adult life. That was what my childhood was like, with my family and friends to help me through all the ruff patches, encouraging me to become the strong hard working person I am today. There's an infinite number of youth who do not have that kind of support system, helping them through their life; ...view middle of the document...
Everyone has their own understanding of what a profession in social work is and what tasks they perform daily. Some believe that social workers carry out the same daily tasks; they presuppose that they separate homes that demonstrate a toxic environment. Those people do not understand that social workers do more than just separate unhealthy homes. Social work is "a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their own resources and those of the community to resolve problems. Social work is concerned with individual and personal problems but also with broader social issues such as poverty, unemployment, and domestic violenceâ€(CASW, 1). This quote demonstrates how so many individuals like myself do not realize the complexity to a profession in social work. Many do not comprehend that social work is a large part of our world, "according to government sources, 60% of mental health professionals are clinically trained social workers, compared to 10% of psychiatrists, 23% of psychologists and 5% of psychiatric nursesâ€(Gibelman,1). Social workers help in numerous aspects of everyone's life, they can be found in schools, stores, hospitals, businesses etc. Countless individuals don't recognize that social work is a profession needed in every job there is, they are the individuals that will always be there to talk; their job is to listen and respond. Another concept most individuals are not made aware of is what exactly a profession in social work pertains; what they get paid to do everyday? "The Child and Youth Worker is a mental health professional who is part of an interdisciplinary team that serves children, adolescents, and their families. They develop meaningful relationships because of the ongoing, intimate contact and, subsequently, are present to provide support and counseling when the client needs it. They also help manage inappropriate and/or destructive behavior, including verbal aggressionâ€(Namavarian,1). Through this informational quote, it was made aware of what duties social workers with children and youth perform daily. Several do not realize that social workers with children and youth work not only with toxic environments, but they also work with counseling on traumas, family losses, stress, bullies and many more. "In May 2013, there were 277,000 child, family, and school social workers; 142,000 health care social workers, and 110,000 mental health and substance abuse social workers"(DPE). Through the several quotations above it has become aware, what a social worker is, what a profession in social work pertains, and the several different fields of social work available.
Through this paragraph, it will be shown how social workers have overcome the most detrimental issues that aroused throughout the history of social work with children and youth. According to Nicole Ives,...
