Social workers are important pillars in communities of all kinds. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, social workers in the workforce are expected to grow by 7% from 2033 to 2033. This gives more people the chance to educate, enrich, and protect communities that need it most.
The need for social workers isn’t strictly relegated to at-risk communities. Every community can benefit from a team of social workers and the resources they provide. Follow along as we highlight the role social workers play in improving community safety.
Helping Communities at Every Level
Social workers play unique roles in communities because they offer help at every level. Whether it be educating the youth or helping young adults get out of gangs, their work is invaluable. Social workers even provide counsel to people without resources to understand their mental health challenges. The role of a social worker in community growth is diverse and includes several responsibilities, such as:
Community Education
Today, we cannot always expect students to learn everything from their teachers at school. Sometimes, it takes the help of a social worker who knows how to talk to the local youth. That is where social workers often come in and educate the youth on more abstract topics.
For example, social workers have experience in educating communities about the dangers of drugs and their surroundings. Skilled social workers know how to word and package information easily. This includes everything from highlighting the risks of drugs, alcohol, and disease to community hazards.
Social workers often quickly become adept at packaging information in ways that community members will retain. Correctly articulating this information helps protect individual community members and the community as a whole. It’s an invaluable resource for the 60% of college students who suffer from mental illness.
Community Intervention
Sadly, widespread problems can permeate entire communities when left unchecked. We cannot simply expect law enforcement to be solely responsible for keeping the youth out of crime. Social workers pair practical knowledge with a skilled approach to discussing tough topics like mental health.
This lets them address at-risk youths in a way where they don’t feel like they’re in trouble. Doing so allows young community members to think about the implications of living a risky lifestyle. Community intervention can help keep people out of risky situations that could lead to confrontations with law enforcement.
Social workers work wonders to encourage de-escalation tactics, which ultimately make the community safer. They can also help with gang intervention in communities with high incarceration rates. By providing healthy alternatives to at-risk community members, social workers can keep countless people out of trouble.
Understand the Impact of Your Surroundings
Social workers help community members understand how their surroundings affect them. This is naturally hard for many who never leave their communities to grasp. Understanding why and how your community affects some of the negative things going on helps you avoid negative situations.
For example, highlighting education, incarceration, and addiction rates in one community versus another is invaluable. The goal isn’t to get people to necessarily leave their community, but to at least understand it. Once someone understands triggers, they can distance themselves to avoid getting swept up.
Many social factors affect health, such as employment, income, housing, and community safety. Social workers teach people to acknowledge which of these aspects in their community puts their health at risk. Providing statistics and examples can highlight how much someone’s surroundings can determine their health and future.
Helping Law Enforcement
Social work is as important as ever in a world with more social influences than ever. Many communities also trust the police much less than before. This is especially true when reporting nonviolent crimes that people fear will end in violent police confrontations.
Recent 2023 polls showed that trust in police fell as low as 43%. This is lower than ever and carries many hazardous implications for countless communities. The recent distrust comes from fear of police brutality even when reporting nonviolent crimes.
Skilled social workers intervene in mental health crises and help diffuse situations to avoid violent confrontations with law enforcement. Social workers can also work with prisoners to reduce recidivism rates. The fewer repeat offenders there are, the safer our communities are.
The Importance of Social Work Continues to Grow
The projected growth of social workers in the workforce only serves to help our communities. Educating people at every age about mental health and community health factors only serves to help. Understanding how your community influences you can save you from the pitfalls of the negative aspects of your surroundings.
Social workers help inject communities with compassion, understanding, and knowledge that helps everyone. That’s why it’s so important to accept social workers into our communities and greet their compassion with appreciation.
MindOwl Founder – My own struggles in life have led me to this path of understanding the human condition. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy before completing a master’s degree in psychology at Regent’s University London. I then completed a postgraduate diploma in philosophical counselling before being trained in ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy).
I’ve spent the last eight years studying the encounter of meditative practices with modern psychology.