Make the Future of Social Work Better Than Its Past and Present

by Samantha Wolfe-Taylor, MSW, LCSW, CTMH

     We have a responsibility to the public, to ourselves, and to the profession to recognize social work’s history and to own our role in perpetuating discriminatory practices and creating systemic barriers. When I entered the field of social work, it was hard for me to recognize my role in continuing such practices because of my own naive, misunderstood, narrowed, and privileged lived experiences. I can humbly admit, that to this day, there are missed opportunities for me to do better, to be better, and to collaborate more in the creation, critical evaluation, and advancement of change, not only in our profession, but in my community, and in my own life.

     There have been missed opportunities in the past and in the present to address these issues. However, I take hope in knowing that there is a future. I take hope that five minutes from now, there lies the future. That tomorrow, ten months from now, twenty-five years from now, the future always exists and affords us the opportunity to do better, to be better, and to create positive changes to the profession, in the way we personally practice, in the way we live our day-to-day lives.

     Everyone’s journey is different. I am not here to tell you how to do it, but I am calling on you to come alongside me in recognizing social work’s role in perpetuating discriminatory practices and creating systemic barriers. I am calling on you to own your lived experiences and current role in shaping the present of the field of social work and their implications for the field, your community, your clients, and you. Finally, I am calling on you to create a future in the field of social work that is better than its past and its present.

Samantha Wolfe-Taylor, MSW, LCSW, CTMH, is Associate Director of the Office of e-Social Work Education and Practice for the Indiana University School of Social Work. She desires to advance the future of social work through technology innovations that focus on high-impact practices, while seeking to use such technologies to remove barriers for clients. She is a PhD candidate.