Policy Agenda of a Clinical Social Worker

Social work’s ability to promote social change and help empower marginalized communities is a huge reason many have started a career in social work. Social workers make a real difference, and one of those is by pushing social work advocacy. Advocacy in social work has done great things to help make a real societal change, and as a social worker, you too can help change legislature, converse with politicians, and inspire others to make the world a better place. 

What is Social Policy? 

Social policy is a plan or action of the government, usually with persuasive assistance of institutional agencies, with goals to improve and progress society as a whole. The study of social policy issues focuses on social welfare, social protection, and social services. These principles help to create a baseline social safety net for the community and its individuals. 

This is why social policies are considered social interventions, by creating large-scale programs focused on bettering the community in some way. There are many social policy aims, and social security, living conditions, animal rights, child protection, and urban development are just a few of the hundreds of aims behind social policies. The role of social workers is on the front lines of creating societal change,  helping at every step of the way to make sure these changes are enacted and implemented. 

How Do Social Workers Help Push Policies? 

Advocacy in social work is done by social workers, who help to bring light to ways a community’s members need assistance, or are being ignored in some way. This can be focused on housing, healthcare, food, or childcare assistance. As a clinical social worker, you are advocating for your clients, presenting the hard-lined evidence to government representatives, and showing them just how and why a community needs assistance. 

Social workers use three important skills to push social work advocacy: research skills, analytic skills, and communication skills. Together, these skills are used to help raise awareness of societal issues that need to be addressed. As a social worker, you will bring this awareness to businesses, NGOs, and other organizations that have the resources but need social work advocates like yourself to point their resources in the right direction. 

How Have Social Workers made a Societal Change With Policies? 

In the last three decades, the role of a social worker has helped to define what is social policy, and how social work advocacy can really help embolden a community and makes changes seen for generations. Anti-poverty policies, in particular, starting from the Clinton Administration in the 90s, have created a lasting positive impact, below are just a few of the concrete contributions of social workers and their advocacy in social work have made: 

• School-based health clinics that reduced the rate of teenage childbearing by more than 50 percent within three years and raised the average age at which young people became sexually active;

• Comprehensive prenatal care and nutrition programs have reduced the proportion of babies born at low birthweight by a third and the proportion of very low birth weight babies by half;

• Intensive family support, nurse home-visiting, and child care programs have resulted in rates of child abuse one-fifth to three-quarters lower than the rates among control groups, significantly fewer children removed from the home, and fewer mothers on welfare;

The role of a clinical social worker might seem insignificant in the wake of societal changes, but the day-to-day efforts of social workers help to make these changes a reality. This is just one example of how social work policies have made a long-term difference in the world. 

What Can A Master’s or PhD in Clinical Social Work Help Make a Difference? 

Getting a Master’s or PhD in clinical social work doesn’t just prepare you for a career in social work advocacy, it makes you skilled in it. The Institute for Clinical Social Work was founded by visionaries who wanted to focus on the clinical aspect of social work. As the only accredited clinical social work PhD program in the nation, we are focused on serving the communities with both academic and professional contributions. Giving advocacy in social work a clinical lens allows you to have a unique perspective on policy, and will influence real societal change.