Beyond therapy: bringing social work back to human services reform

Area of Science:

• Social Work
• Human Services
• Social Innovation

Background:

• Current social work practice is examined alongside human services innovation.
• Field interviews were conducted in Chicago, New York City, and St. Louis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the intersection of social work practice and human services innovation.
• To provide a rationale and blueprint for reorienting social work's "helping relationship."
• To review innovations and strategies for operationalizing this reorientation and explore change dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Field interviews with community development corporations and settlement houses.
• Interviews with social services innovators and social work educators.

Main Results:

• Identified promising innovations and strategies for social work reorientation.
• Explored forces driving and restraining change in the social work profession.

Conclusions:

• A reorientation of the social work "helping relationship" is proposed.
• Innovations and strategies are presented to facilitate this professional evolution.
• Understanding change dynamics is crucial for advancing social work practice.