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Generalist Social Work

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Generalist Practice Concept Paper
Why did I choose social work as my profession? I ask myself that question often these days. I love working with families and seeing them succeed, but social work is a hard job, and the decisions we make can change people lives forever. So let’s start the paper by talking about what is a generalist social worker. A generalist social worker is an individual who is skilled to work with individuals, families, and their communities on many different levels. Generalist social worker can work in areas like substance abuse, aging, child welfare, work with families, health care or mental health (Raymond, Teare, & Atherton, 1996). Generalist social workers are able to make decisions on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Generalist social worker uses a person-in-environment perspective to help their clients. Meaning that a generalist social worker knows and fully understands how their client’s environment impacts their lives, and makes the best decisions in order the serve their clients accurately. They incorporate diversity into their practice and are expected to advocate for human rights and social justice (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, Strom- Gottfried, Larsen, 2010).
I currently work at Dougherty County Department of Family and Children Services, in the social services department as an investigator. I’ve worked with DFCS for past four years. I have worked as an investigator for the past 7 months. So I can totally relate and understand completely with the A day in the life article. I felt like the reporter was riding along with me for a day. As a CPS worker my main duty is to insure that a child is safe and away from danger and harm. I have to make referrals for families whether it’s helping families get connect to parenting classes so they can be better parents, or helping a child get counseling for being sexually molested by their

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