Introduction To Social Welfare

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History of Social Work

Social work can be defined as a profession that assists individuals and groups to achieve a state of individual and collective wellbeing. This means that social work can be used to intervene at the individual, community and even societal levels. Social work is paramount ensuring the wellbeing of a community. The World Health organization defines health as not only physical wellbeing but also emotional, spiritual and psycholological wellbeing (Hick, 2006 p 18). The social work profession is indispensable and operates through helping individuals and groups to use the resources that are available to enhance their wellbeing. Social work is also with the broader issues affecting communities and societies. These include poverty, family violence and unemployment. Looking at the history of social work, it is important to note that it has been associated with charity and voluntary assistance. In the contemporary society however, it is associated with public service provision and citizenship rights of the welfare state. This paper is going to focus on the history of social work in Canada.

Before 1887, social work was thought to relate to the interventions carried out to relief the poor and the underprivileged in the society. It is worth noting that this was the case not only in Canada but also other countries such as the England and the United States of America. Poverty in the society was associated with weakness in character. This means that any individual who was poor was though to have a weak character. The idea of helping the poor through charity seems to have originated from an organization that was formed in England. The organization was referred to as London Charity Organization Society. The organization followed a certain principle. They argued that if the head of the family is unable to provide sufficiently for the family, then it would be necessary that wife and children be assisted through charity in case the man of the house died. During those times, the title head of the family was generally accepted to mean the man of the home/house.

The Associated Charities was formed in Canada in 1881. It originated form movement in England that had started in 1869 (Hick, 2006). This organization was quite different from the other organizations of the time. The difference was in the approach taken in providing charity. The approach of this organization was a comprehensive investigation in to the issues being faced by the family before offering any relief. On the contrary, other organizations simply provided relief without any meaningful investigations. The Associated Charities started being replaced by municipal social service commissions in the year 1912 (Hick, 2006). It happened that at around the same time, there was a method of investigating social work cases that was being popularized in Canada. The method was referred to as the social casework method and the people responsible for popularizing it were generally known as the followers of Mary Richmond. Mary Richmond was one of the pioneers of social work in the United States of America (Social Work | The Canadian Encyclopaedia 2018)

Training and Specialization in Social Work

In 1914, the field of social work had significantly grown. The profession was appreciated by many people in Canada due to its unique role (One Hundred Years of Social Work, 2018). It was clear that social work was a profession that was necessary for the optimal functioning of individuals and communities. One of the greatest milestones in social work was achieved at around this time. This was introduction of a course in social work at the University of Toronto. The importance of social work continued gaining momentum and a similar program was in introduced at McGill University in 1918 (Bryson and Bosma, 2018). Social work continued to grow though at a small scale in the decade that followed (1920-1930). A milestone in social work was achieved in 1926 (Hick, 2006). This was the formation the Canadian Association of Social Workers. It was a great stride for it meant that social workers would now have a structure and a body to represent it. The great depression was a time when social work was in great demand. Although this was the case, the government was reluctant to promote the introduction of social work studies in institutions of higher learning. After the second world war, the profession of social work expanded in a great way. This growth was particularly immense between 1960s and 1970s (Hick, 2006). It was during this decade that the Canadian government appreciated the significant role played by social work in ensuring the wellbeing of communities. As a result, the government social work was put under the welfare state. This meant that social work would become associated with the rights of citizenship rather than simply be viewed as charity work. A census carried out in 1941 revealed that there were about 1767 social workers in Canada (Hick, 2006). There was a significant improvement in the years that followed. This is evidenced by the growth of the number of social workers to over 85000 in 1996 (Bryson and Bosma, 2018). By the year 2000, there were a total of 34 schools that were teaching social work as a profession. There are some individuals who have been associated with the reform of social work in Canada. These include Charlotte Whitton and Leonard Marsh. There were also other individuals who were influential in developing programs of social work at the universities.

The training is usually customized differently to meet the different needs of learners and the communities (Bryson and Bosma, 2018 p 23). At the undergraduate level of study, on e is taught on a diverse range of items relating to social work. The theory and skills that are gained here help an individual to work in diverse community settings and to be able to handle the various issues that might arise. The course is general in nature. At the graduate level of study, learners focus on a narrow area of social work, say family and child welfare.

New specialization in social work arise in response to the changing society (Gould and Taylor, 2017 p 46). The modern society is very dynamic in nature. To ensure effectiveness, it would be necessary to ensure that the social work courses are customized to meet the contemporary needs. otherwise, the trainings might not be helpful. Changes in the society have bee known to bring new personal and social problems. Research is always ongoing to ensure that the social work training is customized to meet the contemporary needs. In Canada, social work has been particularly been applied in counselling individuals and families. The main areas of counselling have been related to child abuse, HIV/AIDS, alcoholism and abuse of drugs. Social work is also applied in group works. This refers to programs which may involve people who are not necessarily closely related. Some examples are the centres for senior citizens or day care centres.

Majority of social workers are employed in organizations or institutions that either deal with public services or health. The main work of the social worker is to offer care and rehabilitation for certain groups of people. These groups include the physically and the mentally ill; the elderly and the mentally challenged. In the contemporary society, schools are appreciating the role of social work in ensuring the wellbeing of students. School boards often engage social workers when dealing with a student who is dealing with certain social problems. Such problems may include drug and substance abuse, ill health, depression etc. the profession has continually proven to be vital for the wellbeing of individuals and groups. Modern employers engage the social workers to help intervene when one or more of their employees is going through social problems. In addition, correctional centres hire social workers to hold counselling sessions with the offenders. There is one principle that underlies social work. This is that most of the behaviours that human beings have are learnt. Any learned behaviour can potentially be unlearned and replaced by a new one. The social workers apply the principle when counselling the patient. The goal is almost always to achieve a change in the behaviour of an individual. The future of social work is very promising. Research is being done to help the profession become better and better.  

Conclusion

Social work can be described as a profession that sits at the core of humanity and humanitarian works. Social workers aim at helping individuals and communities achieve a state of wellbeing. If the individual in a society are well, then the society will run smoothly. It would be therefore true to conclude that the role of social work in communities is indispensable. Social works has had an interesting history. It started as mere charity work. This was in the 19^th century when poverty was associated with a weak character. Over the years the profession started growing ang gaining popularity in Canada. Programs to train social work as a profession were also introduced. In the modern day, the field of social work is well established and has various specializations. Social workers are employed in many places including school, hospitals and correctional facilities. The main role of a social workers is to offer counselling and rehabilitation services.

References

Bryson, S. A., & Bosma, H. (2018). Health social work in Canada: Five trends worth noting (pp 1-26). Routledge.

Gould, N., & Taylor, I. (2017). Reflective learning for social work: research, theory and practice (pp 45-77). Routledge.

Hick, S. (2006). Social work in Canada (pp 14-32). Thompson Educational Publishing.

One Hundred Years of Social Work (2018). Retrieved from https://www.redeemer.ca/wp-content/uploads/book-review-hundred-years-social-work-vanderwoerd.pdfh

Social Work | The Canadian Encyclopaedia. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/social-work