The Helping Profession

So last night I was talking with a friend... someone entirely new to the idea that social work is more than just welfare case management and individual counseling. And he kept telling me he thought it was so amazing that I want to "help people." And it got me thinking about that whole concept... of helping people. I remember in one of my first real social work classes in college, with my favorite professor of all time, she asked us why we wanted to be social workers. But we were not allowed to say "I want to help people." And I don't at all remember what I said... probably something entirely different from what I think now. But I think back on this whole helping people thing... and I honestly just really don't like the way it sounds.

I think in my mind... social work and and "helping people" is not an option. It is not something that I have a choice about... it is my duty as a member of this human race. And I don't even necessarily think that what I am doing can best be described as helping people. *I think of it more as redesigning the structure of society so that people are allowed to succeed.* That's a good sentence... I like that.

And so this is where social workers hit that fundamental divide between the micro- and the macro- practice. I myself have been struggling with this divide since I began my work as a domestic violence counselor, through my grassroots political organizing, up to my hobnobbing with city officials to buy land and develop it. How do I, as a social worker, prioritize the "helping?" One the one hand, we have social workers who deal with immediate problems and crises and assist clients with making it through. I may have a woman sitting in front of me literally dying of poverty and violence. And on the other hand, we have social workers who are confronting the system as a whole and trying to make it more just, reasonable, and effective for success.

So I think the reason that I have ended up doing what I do and getting worked up about the things I do, is that I believe helping people function within an already diseased society is not creative of long-term social change. And seriously... are we all at the point where we can agree that social problems are not entirely caused by individual default? So really... how much are we empowering people just by teaching them to jump through the hoops of a society that devalues them anyway?

But, like I said before... at what point do I turn my back from people in immediate crisis? How is that being socially responsible or doing my part as a citizen of earth? Do I just leave that up to those "other" micropractice social workers?

Someday I will be able to end my blogs without a series of really intense questions... maybe someday I will actually have some answers...