Discussion - Social Work History, Mission, and Your Role

Discussion: Social Work History, Mission, and Your Role

You may arrive at this course with a background in a helping profession. Perhaps you work at an agency that helps children, or you have seen an opportunity to further support aging populations through your work in an assisted living home.

Perhaps you or a family member have been helped by a service you didn’t even know existed, experiencing firsthand the transformative power of social work. Or, you may have looked at the community around you and felt a calling to do more.

These touchpoints of inspiration are not naïve or overly simplistic. In fact, this week’s selection of videos features similar stories of inspiration turned to practice from social workers with long tenures in the field. In this Discussion, you explore how your social work inspiration aligns with the inspiration of others.

To Prepare

· Watch the videos about social work and different types of social work practice in the Learning Resources.

· Read about the social work profession.

By Day 3

Post a response to the following:

· Provide an introduction of yourself including:

· Name

· Location

· Past social work experience

· Reasons for pursing an MSW

· Identify what you learned in this week’s Learning Resources that inspired you the most about the social work profession.

· Explain why what you identified inspired you. Make sure to refer to specific details, stories, or examples.

· Explain how what you learned aligns with your own professional goals.

Support your post with examples from the course text to demonstrate that you have completed the required readings, understand the material, and are able to apply the concepts