Ask Nicole: What is a Public Health Social Worker?
There are two things I know for sure about social work and public health:
One: Social work and public health are naturally complimentary fields, perfectly suited to advance community health and wellbeing.
Two: People are just as confused about what public health is as they are with social work.
A struggle with social work is, because the profession is so diverse, most have a narrow view of what social workers do. While most only associate social work with social services, social workers work in many different settings, including schools, hospitals and clinics mental health practices, veteran centers, child welfare agencies, the criminal justice system, corporations, academia, research and policy, and state, federal and local government.
Similar to social work, public health practitioners work in various settings like the one’s I’ve mentioned. Also similar to social work, the general public is unclear about what public health is, what practitioners do, and how public health adds value. This disconnect limits communities’ understanding of what’s required to do social work and public health work effectively.
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