I became a social worker 25 years ago, with a lot of hope in the power of change. I still believe in it!

My choice started in my childhood, when I noticed the happiness of a family after a social worker's intervention. A wealthy family in my hometown wasn't able to have a baby for years. After the adoption of the baby, they became a happier family. This was when I first realized that the role of a social worker is to be an agent of change and a promoter of the happiness.

This idea was the beginning  of the career that I actually chose. Nothing is so inevitable as change. (Bob Dylan) If the change is headed toward something positive, this way the person can grow up.

Today, I have the proof that, when a person is available to change, the social worker can be a tool and a guide to that change, step by step. I noticed that the skills that I use in my job are the same that I use in my daily life. There are a lot of connections between my private life and my job…many more than I could  imagine when I started my career.

Now, my main satisfaction is to see the personal change, for example, from being an addicted person to becoming independent and free.

I call myself an instrument of change. In the early years of my career, I worked with foster care, adoptions, and domestic violence. I noticed that in this job there was little need for any consent to intervene by the patients..

 I have worked in the service for addicted people for the last eight years. In my current job, the patient's consent to the treatment is the first unavoidable requirement. This is what makes a difference with the first job!

In my daily work, I am discovering the multi-disciplinary labour force. The "team" to me is like a change multiplier. The work with many professionals improves the effectiveness of the social work. It also gets better the personal motivation to the change of the patients.

Learning about the collaboration between the team of doctors, psychologists, and nurses has made a huge difference in my way of working.

In recent years, I have become much more focused than previously on the role of the social worker. Even in my self–motivation, every day I find more and more positive meanings. So, I keep working with satisfaction and good energy. I am also convinced that the only way to treat the patients is to get their active collaboration, to obtain an holistic approach to the disease and to the suffering.

I think that it is the new frontier of social work.

Rosita Mazzi is a social worker specializing in family therapy and addiction treatment in Italy.