So Many Causes, So Little Time

It’s hard for me to believe I’m voluntarily writing yet another midterm paper when I just finished school five minutes ago, but here we are. I can’t seem to stay away.

 

Social work is a unique profession within the broader mental health field in that it primarily focuses on the person within their environment and on addressing broader social issues as opposed to focusing solely on the individual. (Individual clinical practice is usually not the bulk of what you learn in an MSW program. If you want to be a therapist you develop your clinical skills mostly on the job and through additional training). There’s a school of thought within social work that maintains that macro level and community-focused work is true social work, and individual clinical practice with middle-class paying clients is something of a betrayal of the field.

 

In the course of my studies, these are causes I’ve learned about and care about, but will probably not have the opportunity to focus on in my career. Feel free to take ’em on 🙂 :

• early childhood language and literacy, parent coaching, the word gap
• prison reform, medical parole/compassionate release
• mental health and social services for Native American populations
• isolation, community and programming for senior citizens
• access to healthcare for people who can’t afford to pay… (Medicaid is often not an option either)
• voter registration, turnout

 

Any social issues that bother you or you want to work on (or already do)? 

 

As a reminder, feel free to drop anonymous comments and suggestions here.