What is Social Work?
What is Social Work?
Social work is a tertiary-qualified (Requiring a master's degree or 4 year bachelor minimum) profession recognised nationally and internationally that supports individuals, families, groups and communities to improve their wellbeing. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversity are central to the profession and are underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and Indigenous knowledge.” (AASW, 2023).
General Disability Support Workers and Support coordinators cannot do what a Social Worker does (excluding level 2 and 3 Support Coordinators who are often trained Social Workers), as it requires specialist training and experience. However, when Social Work is explained, sometimes people think it is similar to Support Coordination or Support Work, this is not the case.
Social Workers use a person in environment perspective to clinically assess your needs, we then work with you, your support network and community to ensure your needs are met via not one but several means. It is for this reason that Social Workers are seen as "experts in complexity" and are often called in to support other Allied Health Professionals in their role. Under the NDIS funding system this could look like:
- Taking a key role in supporting you to collaborate with your therapy team, support workers and informal supports
- Supporting you to create and maintain informal supports
- Working with whole families, understanding that all people but especially children can only function within their wider system
- Providing early intervention supports
- Providing therapy services to adults (see below for some differences and overlap with Psychology and Occupational Therapy)
- Supporting you to engage with the systems around you more effectively
- Resourcing and Educating you
- Provide support at the time of your NDIS plan review including clinical report
- Provide assessments that support your need for NDIS funding. Although historically social work has been recognised for its skills in the area of psychosocial assessments, other clinical assessments, such as functioning, developmental, environmental and risk assessments, are also within the scope of the social work profession.
Explaining differences and overlap
Social Work - Psychology - Occupational Therapy
There is huge overlap between Psychology, Occupational Therapy and Social Work under the NDIS funding system. It can be difficult to know when to allocate/prioritise funds for Social Work and or when to refer to a Social Worker. Here are some of the things a Social Worker can do for you:
Social workers:
- Address the psychological needs providing the same therapies as Psychologists (eg. CBT, EMDR, emotional regulation, sensory understanding, understanding of disability, cognitive assessments and therapy)
- Address the occupational needs using similar emotional regulation, daily living and sensory education as an OT
- Address the sensory needs through understanding, education and appropriate referrals for profiling
- Administer clinical and non clinical assessments (there are a wide range and each Social Worker is trained differently)
- Address the social needs by completing assessments, support and linking to appropriate community community places (different to support coordination - more involved, differently skilled)
An NDIS participant should be referred to a social worker when:
- There are high levels of psycho-social complexity, hidden disabilities or challenges that are greater than just psychological or regulation needs.
- The person is having great difficulty in engaging with the systems around them due to their disability (eg. the person is losing opportunities because they cannot access or get a system to understand their disability needs)
- A psychologist or OT feel out of their depth with a client and need further support.
- There is a large need for collaborative efforts with the family, network or care team.
- An individual participant or family feel they are not having their needs met by other professions as their needs are too complex or are not being provided with service flexibility
