Social work is a wide and growing field. Social workers face numerous, challenging obstacles in their careers. Schooling and training are meant to give them the foundation they need, and prepare social workers to work in a variety of situations like schools, private clinics, and other places. More and more often, additional resources are popping up online to help continue to support social workers in their emotional and professional lives.
Consider these online resources as being supplemental to your BSW or MSW courses. You may be able take what you learn from these and apply them to your education, and vice versa:
- Social Work Helper: Social Work Helper is a social work magazine that provides news and updates to current social worker issues and social justice matters. It is a newer publication, but serves social workers all over the world are finding local, political, and mental health news from this site.
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: A great resource for social workers who work primarily in the mental health or substance abuse field. Excellent articles, statistics, and other resources are found here.
- Clinical Social Work Association: This association attempts to serve as the “voice” of clinical social workers. There is a job board, a listing of recent news and legislation that affects social workers, and other membership benefits.
- Social Work Institute: The articles found here help social workers address how to serve multiple people and their needs. Through research and collaboration with partnering groups, this site continues to help bring about policy, change, and jobs.
- Social Work Podcast: A collection of podcasts by clinical practitioners and social workers in other fields. Topics range from practice and organization, education, and a variety of social work issues such as drug abuse and adoption.
- Grant Writing Tips: An excellent source for those who work with donations and grants from organizations.
- Nonprofit Career Network: A large directory of nonprofit jobs, including many social work positions.
- Child Welfare League of America: A source for any social workers who work with children. Here social workers can find jobs, read research, and find educational and training conferences.
- International Federation of Social Work: IFSW works on a global scale, linking social workers with organizations that work for social justice and development.
Being a social worker can be a difficult career; it can also be rewarding and worthwhile. With a supportive network of resources, it can be a long and fulfilling journey.