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Looking into the Field of Social Work

The field of social work is a difficult job, and is one that involves getting to know and

help other people with their problems. The social work field focuses on creating social change by

helping other people with their problems, as well as trying to create better situations by

understanding human development and behavior. An individual in the field is dedicated to

helping others in different situations in order to create a better environment. Social workers make

sure to help others know their needs and how to get there. Jobs in the social work field involve

setting up needs and resources for the elderly, making resources available for people with

substance abuse problems, as well as those who are victims of abuse. In this essay, there will be

a description of the education to become a social worker, the jobs and performances of a social

worker, and how the pandemic has affected the field of social work in general.

First Steps and Education

The education involved to engage in the social work field is an important first step to

begin in this type of occupation. Most social workers have a degree in social work, but there can

also be various degrees as long as these degrees are related to the social work field, such as

psychology, sociology, and even criminal justice. The basic classes that one has to take when

entering this field, or a field related to this topic usually involve sociology classes, psychology

classes, a statistics class, and a communications class. The majority of social workers have a
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bachelors and masters degree. From the interview that I conducted with the Head Director of

Morgan County of Human Services, Jacque Frenier, she mentioned, “In standard law in

Colorado to work as a social worker you have to graduate from University and

academy….Academy is a six week to 2 month program. You can shadow and train. You can get

paid while on the job while training and also receive while interning.” (Frenier). Jacque

graduated with a Bachelor’s in Social Work from Colorado State University and has worked in

the social work field for forty-four years. After graduating with a degree, one has to enter an

academy that is a six week to two month long program, which allows those who are going into

the social work field, to get training while interning and even on the job. When it comes to

graduating from college, it is a requirement that the person wanting to go into the social work

field enters the academy which is a requirement from the state. When having to learn specific

skills for certain jobs, the learning of these skills can be on the job or while in training. When

asked if the colleges sponsor the academy for graduates to enter, Frenier replies, “There are

colleges who are contracted to hold the academy, or other agencies hold the academy. There are

specific skills that they have to cover in training, or at specific colleges.” (Frenier). These

important steps lead to entering a career field that is important to the individual and for the

people that an individual would be helping along in their career journey.

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The Performance and Roles of a Social Worker

There are many jobs that a social worker could encounter when entering the field, and

many skills that someone in this position needs to acquire. Specific jobs that may come with this

occupation are foster care recruitment, working for Child Protective Services, working in Child

Welfare and even Family Preserver positions. There are also positions where social workers help

with substance abuse issues and trauma victims as well. In the article, "Social Workers in the

Substance Abuse Treatment Field: A Snapshot of Service Activities." written by Mickey J. Smith

et al, states, “...social workers provide services to more individuals with substance use disorders

than do other helping professions (Zarin et al., 1998). Because social workers are employed in a

wide variety of settings that serve individuals with substance use disorders, it is clear that the

profession is in a unique position to either provide or arrange for appropriate treatment.” (Smith

et al, 2006). Other parts of the job include helping people with their trauma and having social

workers become informed about trauma in order to help those with their trauma as Bent Goodley

writes in the article, “Necessity of Trauma-Informed Practice in Contemporary Social Work”,

“...trauma-informed practice is a comprehensive approach that fosters a strong partnership with

the client and exercises the use of multiple social work skills and competencies within the

construct of the helping relationship.” (Goodley, 2019). Regarding trauma, social workers help

those with their own trauma and are trained to be help and support those who have faced

adversity. Foster Care Recrutement which involves studying the parents and observing the
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household and the parents’ routine in order to see if the parents are suitable to take care of a

child. There is also the child welfare position that requires the interview of a child to attain

knowledge if there is abuse going on in the home. There will also be interviews with the family

members as well as the biological and foster parents,“When working families, the social workers

need to engage the families in seeing what needs to be done, and what needs to be done next, and

how to take the next steps in how to get there.” (Frenier). This type of engagement process is

used when trying to engage and help families figure out the problems that are going on in the

house which is the job of the Family Preserver. In many small communities, ones especially like

Fort Morgan there is a lot of bouncing around the community and working different types of

cases and working in different types of social work positions. There are many roles that a social

worker plays when in big and small communities, and many positions that need to be held in

order to perform roles that need to be met in order to help families, children, and other types of

people who need resources in order to enhance their well being.

Social Work in the Pandemic

During the pandemic that struck this past year, many peoples’ lives have been affected in

many different ways, social work is one of the fields that has been affected along with the people

and children associated with this field. Some of the difficulties that had taken effect during the

pandemic for this field of work range from small to larger issues such as other co workers not

wanting to wear masks, to visitation between child and foster parents and biological parents are
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now virtual, which are hard for the children. Other issues remain regarding therapy types during

visitation and even interaction with social workers and therapy dogs have been hard to

incorporate into the child’s life,

“A lot of the times we would have a therapy dog in the building when there was

visitation to help kids, but now that everything is virtual the dog wasn’t there so it is harder for

the kids, especially for the younger ones….For social workers wearing masks is a hiccup for kids

not being able to really interact with the social workers and not really seeing them. It was hard to

not be able to see the kids reacting with them because of the masks.” ( Frenier).

The pandemic has caused a lot of issues for parents, kids, and the social workers, with

the exception of being able to pay for services online and the ability to be able to work online

and at home. Despite the setbacks that the pandemic has caused there have been some

improvements over time and hopefully these setbacks will continue to be able to improve to a

time that is normal.

Many professions have an individual dedicating their career to helping others. Social

work is definitely an important profession that allows enhancement of well being of an

individual or groups of people. By communicating and setting up clients with resources, social

workers allow for people to experience better opportunities and improve the safety of children in

family situations. With the roles of a social worker listed and explained in this essay, hopefully
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communities can continue to appreciate the jobs that these men and women perform in order to

improve and secure the lives of others. There are many roles and job positions a social worker

performs that revolve around helping people which this year has been affected by the pandemic.

The employees in this field have persevered in coming up with restricted, but new ways to help

and give services to many different types of people that include men, women, and children. All

of these people have different types of problems, and different needs who have greatly been

affected by this crisis.

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Sources Cited

Frenier, Jacque. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2021.

Goodley, Bent, and Tricia B. "Necessity of Trauma-Informed Practice in Contemporary Social

Work." Social Work, vol. 64, no. 1, Jan. 2019, pp. 5-8. EsbscoHost, doi:10.1093/sw/swy056..
Accessed 7 Mar. 2021.

Smith, Mickey J., et al. "Social Workers in the Substance Abuse Treatment Field: A Snapshot of
Service Activities." Health and Social Work, vol. 31, no. 2, 2006. EsbscoHost,
doi:10.1093/hsw/31.2.109. Accessed 7 Mar. 2021.