The
professional activity of helping individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and to create societal conditions favorable to their goals. Social work requires
knowledge of
human development and behavior; of social, economic, and cultural institutions, and of the interaction of all these factors.
Social workers use their knowledge and skills to provide social services to clients, as defined by the National Association of Social Workers. They help
people increase their capacities for problem solving and help them obtain needed resources, facilitate interactions between individuals and between
people and their environments, make organizations responsible to
people, and influence social policies. One common misconception of social workers is that people believe that most of them are "
baby snatchers.” People
don't see the services provided by social workers, the families social workers have helped, or the children social workers have saved, or the parents that come back to thank the social workers.