Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 1) | Page 16

Basics That Help Bring About Change

Dear Students of Social Work,
Social workers do many things. Primarily, we bring about changes – in the
lives of individuals, families and communities. We don’t do magic.
We work alongside people.
There are 3 simple steps that we aim to do in some of the work that we do to
help others help themselves. They may be simple but each step goes a long
way in developing the thinking towards carrying out any role or assignment
that you may have.

1. We always seek to inform
Knowledge is a tool that is often the trigger of change. What information or
knowledge we pass on to people and the purpose of informing becomes important. In order to pass on good information effectively we must first learn
the content and context. So before we even begin to inform our clients, the
community or the groups we belong to, we have to first spend time learning about, researching and evaluating the information. We then move on
to arrange the information in order to effectively communicate them. This
requires an astute mind. It is about serving information in the right dosage,
at the right time, to the right audience in an appropriate medium. It sounds
easy but good communication requires planning and effort. It is a discipline
to distil information and prepare to communicate. It requires effort, training
and lots of practice to hone this skill.

2. We advocate
We spend most of our time advocating in the interests of those who are less
able to help themselves, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged. We advocate so that the lives of the disadvantaged can be better. We advocate so
that what they do to help themselves is reciprocated with more help to uplift
them and to develop their potential. We advocate at the systems level, at the
community level and at the individual and family level.
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