In 2016, I wrote a blog post about the flexibility of a social work degree. I followed it up a year later on why there’s no one way to be a social worker.

The irony of the social work profession is that, while it’s touted as a diverse and expanding field, it often promotes a particular image of a social worker: Someone who provides one-to-one services to clients in a particular setting.

Also, there are many ways for social workers to connect in-person and online, and how we market ourselves should reflect that. (And “marketing” tends to be a touchy word for many, not just social workers.)

I’ve enjoyed sharing my social work journey throughout the years, and today, I’m going a step further and giving a face (or, in this case, multiple faces) to how social workers are utilizing their degrees to give more insight into the expansiveness of this profession when we think outside the box. Since my focus is on women and girls of color, I’m highlighting WOC social workers I’ve known and admired for a long time, as well as ones I’ve admired from afar. I’ve chosen these social workers to not only showcase their interests and expertise, but how they’ve managed to connect with others while building their professional brand. Whether you decide to work for someone or work for yourself, you still need to figure out how to get yourself out there in a way that’s authentic to you.

While this blog post is specific to social workers, I hope these women serve as a testament that, regardless of your profession, you can make your career be whatever you want it to be.

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March is Social Work Month, and today’s post was inspired by a comment left on the article “I am Getting in MSW, but I Do Not Want to be a ‘Social Worker‘” on the Social Work Helper. The comment reads:

“Although trained to think in a multi-systemic way, many of us choose to specialize. I do a great deal of mezzo and macro work; however, I chose to concentrate on clinical practice when completing my master’s in social work…Outside of our profession, there are some practitioners who do not understand what social work is. When I’ve testified on legislation and engaged in policy making, people assume I don’t have the skills necessary because I am not a lawyer or didn’t major in criminal justice. I can’t help but wonder then if this is why some social workers impose practice goals and assumptions on others (or upon students) as a part of assuaging the anxiety produced by how our profession–as a whole–is undervalued and misunderstood by society.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, social work is one of the fastest growing careers in the United States. The profession is expected to grow by 19% between 2012 and 2022, and more than 650,000 people currently hold social work degrees. If you’re not in the profession, chances are you know someone who currently is or who currently studying to enter the field. And there are some common misconceptions about the field. The biggest misconception about social workers is that they only work with individuals and families, provide therapeutic counseling or link clients to programs and services via case management, or that our days only look like Mrs. Weiss’.

The foundation of social work rests on social justice, with social workers like Jane Addams in the late 1880s dedicating their career to taking action against the injustices of sexism, racism, classism and poverty, taking the approach of addressing these through research, reform, and building up urban areas.

And then professionalization happened 

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In April, I’ll be presenting “Reproductive Justice as a Social Work Value: Using Intersectional Analysis in Maternal and Reproductive Health Advocacy” at the National Association of Social Workers-NYC‘s third annual “Social Work in the City” conference. During this presentation, I’ll be introducing the Reproductive Justice framework to social workers and how it connects to the NASW Code of Ethics; provide strategies in applying intersectional analysis in reproductive health education, counseling, and advocacy; and provide strategies for advocating for Reproductive Justice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work. The NASW-NYC did an excellent job in choosing some dynamic workshop topics, so if you’ll be in the area, make sure you register.

But today’s post isn’t so much about Reproductive Justice as it is about ethics. In many professions, people work under a code of ethics. It’s the profession or an organization’s way of operating and presents guiding principles on how to handle certain situations. In the NASW Code of Ethics, the first ethical standard involves a social worker’s ethical responsibilities to clients, including the client’s right to self-determination: “Social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals…”

Because I’m so immersed in Reproductive Justice,  I can see how the framework falls in line with a client’s right to self-determination. Whether a person chooses birth, adoption, or abortion, it’s my responsibility as a social worker to provide unbiased information and to help a client arrive at a decision based on their goals and their current situation. A choice someone makes may not be a choice you’d make for yourself. It’s a lesson you learn quickly once you enter the social work field or any other field within the helping professions.

Back when I was working for an agency that provided case management services, I worked with people from all walks of life. In general, I had no problems  working with anyone who was different from me. Except men who had a history of physical and sexual violence towards women and girls. Early on in my social work career, I would just ask my supervisor to transfer these client cases to another caseworker and would explain my reason for the transfer request. As I started to build my skills as a social worker, I learned how to focus on delivering the best care possible, in spite of my personal feelings. This may work for some, and for others there may be some counter-transference issues that will prevent them from doing so.

Do your personal values have to align with your professional ethics?

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