It's About People

Social workers try and form relationships with all sorts of people. As adviser, advocate, counsellor or listener, a social worker helps people to live more successfully within their community by trying to help them find solutions to their problems. Social work also involves engaging not only with clients themselves but their families and friends as well as working closely with other organisations including the NHS, schools, probation service and the police.

Social workers tend to specialise in either adult services: Roles include working with people with mental health problems or learning disabilities, working with people who are in residential care, working with asylum seekers, working with offenders by supervising them in the community and supporting them to find work, assisting people with HIV/AIDS and working with older people at home helping to sort out problems with their health, housing or benefits.

OR

children’s services: Roles include providing assistance and advice to keep families together, working with neglected and abused children, working in children’s homes, managing adoption and foster care processes, providing support to younger people leaving care or who are at risk or in trouble with the law, or helping children who have problems at school or are facing difficulties brought on by illness in the family.

Prospective students

You will find further information on many aspects of social policy, social work and the role of social workers by exploring the links below.