SOCWRK 1102

Social work locus of practice

Locus practice
• LOCUS – LOCI plural
• A place; locality
• A center of source, as of activities or power
• A place or area, especially the place where something occurred.

The social welfare (in its broad meaning) is the field of social work practice, whether
here or abroad. However, this vast field of social welfare (with its organized systems of
social services and institutions to meet a variety of human needs and problems,
whether under government or private auspices) may be broken down further into
specific “fields of social work practice” or “social work practice settings” characterized by
certain programs and services and staff functions and activities which take into account
the particular type of clientele being served. Any setting where social work is practiced,
or where the professional training of a social worker is put to use is a “field of social
work.”
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SETTINGS
• Social agencies whose program and services are the direct purview or scope of
social work.
• Primary settings are those public and private social welfare agencies where
professional social workers are seen as the key players, given that they run or
manage the settings.
• DSWD, PSWDO, MSWDO
• Hospicio de san Jose
• SOS Village
• Home for Girls
• Balay Dalayunan
• Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth
• Haven – regional Center for Women
• Asilo de Molo

Primary Setting
• Social agencies whose program and services are the direct purview or scope of
social work.
• Primary settings are those public and private social welfare agencies where
professional social workers are seen as the key players, given that they run or
manage the settings. 
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Secondary setting
• Agencies, institutions and organizations whose primary function is to provide
service other than social welfare but which employ social workers to support,
strengthen, or complement their own services (which include a social service unit
in their set up)
• Hospitals
• Industrial/Corporations
• Schools
• Church
• Housing Agencies
• Regional Trial Courts
• Military

Direct and indirect practice

Most people who go into social work do so because they want to help children, adults,
and families. When you envision social work, you likely think of sitting down with clients
to help them find ways to improve their lives, whether through offering guidance or
finding community assistance programs. This type of social work is called direct
practice, and it is at the heart of what it means to be aa social worker.
Direct practice
• Is when the social worker works directly with an individual, family, or group of
people? The first direct meeting can occur in a variety of ways such as crisis,
voluntary, or involuntary. The first meeting is a critical point in establishing a good
helping relationship. A social worker should prepare for any type of first contact,
so that they may set up the best relationship possible with the client (Sheafor &
Horejsi, 2008)
• Direct practice in social work involves many responsibilities, including
maintaining immediate contact with clients and connecting them with the services
and resources they need. In particular, direct practice in social work involves an
initial intake, conducting a client screening, determining the client’s eligibility for
various services and programs, and providing case management.
• As a direct social worker, you will have the opportunity to get to know your clients
and recognize which programs and services would best suit each one’s needs.
This means building a catalogue of potential options and finding the right match
for your clients.

Indirect practice
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• Is generally when the social worker is involved in activities that consist with
facilitating change through programs and policies. This type of practice is more of
behind the scenes and is aimed to help prevent problems from developing. Also,
the social worker may participate in this type of practice by advocating through
agency administrators, legislator, or other powerful people to effect a change.
System level/sizes in social work
• Micro Level
• Mezzo Level
• Macro Level

Micro level
- Direct interaction with clients to address individual problems.
- This can be offered by agencies and nonprofits, as well as in schools, police
departments or even the military.
Examples: Helping people find housing, health care and social services. Individual and
family counseling and certain kinds of mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Mezzo level
- Zooms out to look at groups instead of individuals
- Many practitioners use micro and mezzo social work simultaneously to solve problems
in businesses, schools, organizations and communities.
Examples: Bullying in school. Drug prevention program in the community.

Macro level
- Involves interventions and advocacy on a large scale, affecting entire
communities, states or even countries.
- Intervention in large systems that may seem beyond the reach of individuals.
Examples: Bullying in school. Drug prevention program in the community.
Situational example
 A school counselor who is tasked with helping a child who is facing difficulties at
school and acting out. While the initial interaction between counselor and student
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represents social work on the micro-level, the counselor may discover that the
child is reacting to negative situations at home. At this point, the social worker
may move into the mezzo level to address the family conflicts at the root of the
student’s behavior. This can easily scale up to the macro level: if familial
instability is caused by adverse economic conditions, the social worker could, in
turn, begin to advocate for better job training within the community.

 A medical social work interviewed the jobless father of a pregnant minor-aged

woman who is due to give birth in the hospital.
 Micro Level: Help in hospital bill
 Mezzo Level: Family planning
 Macro Level: Skills training and family planning talk in the community
 High COVID-19 virus cases, low vaccination tuen out in Brgy CPU because Mr
Bong Marc (Founder of a religious group) spreads fake news about the vaccines.
 Micro Level: Address Mr Bong Marc
 Mezzo Level: Group learning session with the congregation
 Macro Level: Communicating with communities the FAQs of
vaccines. Coordinate with other local leaders

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS

1. LOCAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION (LGO)

 Local government is the public administration of towns,

cities, counties and districts.
 Officially local government in the Philippines, often
called local government units or LGUs, are divided
into three levels –provinces and independent cities;
component cities and municipalities and barangays.
 Examples:
Local Government Associations
Sangguniang Bayan
Sangguniang Panlungsod
League of Municipal Mayors
League of City Mayors
2. NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION (NGO)
 As private, non-profit, voluntary organizations that are
committed to the task of socioeconomic development and
established primarily for service.
 A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a non-profit
group that functions independently of any government.
NGOs, sometimes called civil societies, are organized on
community, national and international levels to serve a social
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or political goal such as humanitarian causes or the

environment.
 Some of the NGOs:
Philippine Red Cross
UNICEF
Habitat for Humanity Philippines
World Vision
Haribon Foundation
Operation Smile Foundation
3. GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION (GO)

 The Philippines is a republic with a presidential form of

government wherein power is equally divided among its
three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The
government seeks to act in the best interests of its citizens
through this system of check and balance.

 Some of the government organizations:

 CHED
 DepEd
 DA
 DBM
 DSWD

Three Levels of Operations of NGOs

1. PRIMARY NGOs – also called people’s organizations and self-help groups

which are direct organizations of the beneficiaries themselves
2. SECONDARY/INTERMEDIATE NGOs – the agencies composed of different
professions providing services to the beneficiaries
3. TERTIARY NGOs – usually a network of NGOs established for mutual
assistance or for special purposes.
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GO-NGO COLLABORATION
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