The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the profession’s accreditation body, is rethinking its blueprint for training social workers for future generations.
Social work’s role in healthcare is a key focus as new trends are developing such as the utilization of interprofessional collaborations; recognition of the importance of prevention, trauma, and social determinants; and the reliance on the provision of services outside traditional delivery systems. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of social workers is expected to grow by 15 percent between 2016 and 2026 with much of that growth due to increased demand for healthcare services as the population ages. The years ahead will present a host of new challenges for the social work profession with advances in technology providing new tools and posing new problems. There will be opportunities to expand the use of telebehavioral health applications and challenges such as finding ways to address the deleterious effects of cellphones on Millennials.
The CSWE Board of Directors will review a report during its March 2018 meeting with recommendations that will inform its strategic planning for its next phase beyond 2020. CSWE President Darla Spence Coffey says that process will probably take another year, perhaps by Social Work Month in March 2019.
The post The Future of Social Work appeared first on Congressional Research Institute for Social Work and Policy.
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