Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 1) | Page 46

Advocacy 2

• Helping a family connect to financial assistance and community resources
• Counselling a client and the family struggling with mental health issues
• Organizing a neighbourhood revitalization project
• Lobbying lawmakers to enact legislation to protect the vulnerable2
What sets social work apart from many other professions concerned with
human well-being is the seemingly unlimited ways we approach our work.
While some can embrace the widening possibilities, unlimited ways and
multiple modalities, others can find it daunting because of its perceived lack of
certainty and precision. What is clear is that the profession encourages social
workers to embrace both perspectives. And it is important to understand
that they are not a dichotomy.

Case and Cause Advocacy - both have their place
and need not be a balancing act
So the challenge for social work education is to balance the difficult task
of preserving social work’s focus on multiple modalities while ensuring that
students master certain core competencies needed for professional work.
Charlotte Towle, wrote about this tension in the journal, Social Service
Review. She said, “Gradually, we have come to the point of view that, while
the demands of professional education cannot be individualized, the student
can and must be individualized throughout the educational process.”2
Despite the on-going debate about social work’s role as a case or cause
profession, there is a slight inclination for the majority of students studying
social work today wanting to pursue a career as a social caseworker. Students
should open themselves up to using a wider range of modalities. Increasingly,
2 Reardon, C. (2012). Case and Cause in Social Work Education – A Balancing Act. Social Work
Review, volume 12 (No. 2), page 20.

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