Change the World
by Elijah Jones, MSW, LISW-S, LICDC, ACSW
If you ask any social worker their reasoning for entering the field, the answer often boils down to “I wanted to help people.” Some know exactly who they wanted to help, whether that is survivors of domestic violence or human trafficking or those suffering from mental health or substance use disorders. For others, like myself, the decision to enter social work was more about seeing all the problems with the world and having a desire to help bring about change.
Social workers have an intuitive understanding regarding the interconnectedness of life. People’s problems do not exist in a vacuum, but our solutions to those problems are repeatedly siloed. Again and again, social workers enter positions where they are forced to help a client with one aspect of life while leaving the other areas in disarray. We work in organizations where we are understaffed and underpaid while our jobs are dictated by scope of work and what is and is not billable. Yet, we persist to do our best to inspire hope and empower those with whom we work.
Since graduating with my MSW, I have worked primarily in mental health and substance use disorder treatment. I have taken on a number of different roles in micro practice working with both youth and adults. Currently, I am in a macro practice role with a county behavioral health authority in Ohio. I work with community-based agencies to address the treatment needs in our county and help inform policy on a local level. I get to see the best and the worst of our community. I’ve learned so much from being in my role and am constantly challenging myself to think beyond helping the individual person to strategizing ways to improve our community in sustainable ways.
From a macro perspective, the most essential thing I want social workers to know is that we must work on changing the whole social environment. Our code of ethics calls us to engage in social and political action to ensure equitable access to resources, employment, and opportunities for people to meet their basic needs and then to expand choice and opportunity for all people, especially the vulnerable, disadvantaged, and oppressed (NASW, 2018).
I had my aha moment when I realized that we want people to go to treatment, but their lives remain in chaos. We expect those who are homeless to make therapy appointments and remember to take their medication while worrying where they will sleep that night and how to protect their few belongings. We encourage people to become sober but without safe and secure housing; employment; and healthy, supportive relationships. Our community has low quality housing stock, limited opportunity, and struggles with social isolation (which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic). We treat people only to have them return to the environments that have caused them to struggle.
We can understand principles of trauma-informed care and the social determinants of health. We can develop and implement evidence-based practices. But if we are not actively working to change the social environment through equitable access, policy, and practice, then we are not taking our responsibility seriously enough. Social work is a value-based profession that goes beyond our job descriptions and office hours. Piecing out our clients’ problems without also doing work to improve our communities is no longer an option.
I encourage you, today, to get involved in changing the social environment, whether that means encouraging legislators to vote for policies that help the vulnerable, disadvantaged, and oppressed; joining coalitions that are working on community issues you are passionate about; or volunteering with an organization that is making a difference in where you live. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but change can happen when all social workers realize their part in changing our environment and take action to improve the quality of life for all.
References
National Association of Social Workers. (2018). Code of Ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/about/ethics/code-of-ethics/code-of-ethics-english
Elijah Jones (he/him) graduated from the University of Toledo with his MSW in 2014 and is a doctoral candidate in educational psychology. He is an advanced generalist social worker in Toledo, OH.