Forty-Two Years as a Social Worker: A Calling or a Career?

by Arthur L. Blinick, MSW, LCSW

     Because it’s National Social Work Month, I’m wondering if it might be useful to hear from other social workers with their reflections on social work as a “calling” as opposed to a “career.”

     I recently retired after 42 years as a clinical social worker, working in a variety of direct service, administrative, and leadership positions, both in for-profit and nonprofit settings. I emailed a longtime colleague (not a social worker) to share the news of my retirement and offer well wishes. This person responded by saying, “Congratulations on a career that I’m sure far exceeded any expectations that you had when you started.”  I decided not to spend any time trying to determine what might have been the intended meaning of that reply, but it did cause me to reflect on why I chose to become a social worker, and as I look back at retirement, what I learned about myself in the process. I realized that I didn’t think I ever had any expectations about a “career” in social work. At the time, I think I viewed my work as a "calling" and a profession and not a career. I also recently read an online discussion about physician satisfaction with the Affordable Care Act in which someone suggested that older physicians felt a “calling,” while younger physicians were looking more for a “career in medicine.”  I wonder if that applies to social workers, too.

     As I thought back to my earliest years, as I know it has with many others, it seemed entirely natural that I got involved in a “helping profession.”  Certain faith, family, and cultural factors had steered me in that direction, and two core values of social work - social justice and integrity - were important to me, especially while in high school and college, during a time of great social unrest and change. Those experiences also shaped what became important for me to find in the settings in which I worked.  I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked in many different settings and models, and I have observed different values being emphasized and others being diminished.  I’ve also observed in those I’ve worked with, and have experienced myself, conflicts between the values that are core parts of organizations and behaviors that are necessary to support those values, and those of social workers that may have taken employment there for different reasons.

     My relationship with my former graduate school of social work leads me to believe that today’s social workers still consider their profession to be a "calling."  I encourage all social workers, however, to spend some honest self-reflective time discovering what values are really important to you. What does your practice setting need to feel like or look like for you to feel fulfilled in your profession?  And, how important is that to you?

     So, did you follow your “calling,” or did you plan a “career”?   I welcome your thoughts.  Please consider sharing your thoughts with the The New Social Worker magazine in the comments below.

Arthur L. Blinick, MSW, LCSW, is an Arizona Licensed Clinical Social Worker and received his MSW from the University of Illinois School of Social Work. He is a former Quality Improvement/Compliance Director/Psychotherapist/Clinical Director/Clinical Supervisor in for-profit and nonprofit behavioral healthcare settings.