Are Direct or Indirect Services Right for Your Career In Social Work?
As a clinical social worker, there appears to be an endless amount of areas of social work practice for you to focus on. Two of the primary areas are direct social work and indirect social work. By sharing a common goal-–to better the communities we live in and their peoples, these two fields of social work contribute distinct work to solve peoples’ problems.
What is Direct Practice in Social Work?
A direct social worker manages cases with a hands-on approach. The responsibilities of a direct practice social worker include an initial intake, conducting a client screening, determining the client’s eligibility for services, and more. These responsibilities vary wildly depending on the client, but they all are primarily focused on face-to-face interactions, either with the client, their family, or with members of the community this client is a part of. As an area of social work practice, this type of social worker is one on the grounds of giving primary support to clients.
What is Indirect Service in Social Work?
Indirect service takes a step back and focuses on the bigger picture. While there are still plenty of face-to-face interactions in an indirect social worker’s day, they are primarily focused on the macro practice that is affecting the system we all live in. This work can be administrative, supervision, academic research-oriented, or educational. By doing so, the goal of a clinical social worker in indirect service is focused on changing the entire system, rather than the individual.
What Type of Clinical Social Worker do You Want to Be?
When wondering about your future career in clinical social work practices, answer the following questions:
What Type of Social Work Are You Good at?
Why Does Social Work Make You Passionate?
Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years of Clinical Social Work?
How Can You Make a Difference in Social Work?
Who Do You Want To Help?
While some of them might seem obvious, each one is primarily focused on how you want to become a better social worker. It might surprise you to realize that pushing policies to help marginalized communities is where you see yourself in five years as an indirect clinical social worker, or that you want to establish personal relationships with certain clients, ones that can last a long time.
How to Advance Your Social Work Career
Regardless if you want to work in indirect service or direct social work practice, expanding your social work career with a graduate-level degree is a big step towards advancing your career. At ICSW of Chicago, this hypothetical becomes a reality with a Master’s or Phd in clinical social work. The Institute for Clinical Social Work provides students with a psychodynamic perspective on how their areas of social work practice can make a difference in the community.