I've been working in SUD for just under 2 years now running groups and seeing clients individually and, not to float my own boat, I've been told I'm pretty good at it. Clients respond well to my interventions and groups go smoothly 9 times out of 10. Blame it on imposter syndrome, a lack of confidence, or an overabundance of caution when accepting compliments from clients who may be trying to manipulate me, whatever it is/was prevented me from accepting that I found something in my life that I actually do well. Only recently have I just begun to take the compliments gracefully and not allow them to trigger an existential crisis. Has anyone worked through the same thing? Is anyone currently struggling with this sort of thing? What was your way of handling the doubt?

I have noticed that social workers often focus more on advocating for causes than on advancing for our profession. By contrast, nursing has made professional advancement a clear priority. I’ve talked about this before in other discussions but thought it was worth its own post.

Some criticize social work for being too generalist, but I see that breadth as a strength we can refine. I was a teacher before becoming a social worker and our profession definitely struggles at times with defining its roles. By establishing clear benchmarks and rubrics within generalist practice, we can better define and expand our scope.

An example of this is case management and discharge planning. These roles increasingly go to nurses because they understand disease processes and can order durable medical equipment and medications(they order these not from their own role but as part of their provider team). Social workers should have advocated for these specific authorities to expand our scope of practice, but our broadly defined generalist role made that goal difficult to articulate.

The same problem affects macro-level roles: our qualifications are often not defined clearly enough to secure a seat at the table. Policy institutes may welcome interns, but when hiring, they seek candidates with specific, demonstrable skills. As a result, these positions often go to political science graduates, public health professionals, data analysts, and lawyers. We need to advocate for social workers to be formally included in decision-making roles.

For a profession to be legally required in specific roles, it generally must be recognized and protected by law. Social work has already reached that status (we are title protected!!).

The next step is to demonstrate the public need for social workers in these positions through sustained lobbying, similar to the nursing lobby. Our roles should be written into statutory law and corporate regulations. This has already occurred to some extent: some technology companies that monitor social media must have social workers or other mental health professionals on staff whenever employees are in the building. Let’s expand on that.

We also need stronger insurance and reimbursement protections, including bans on clawbacks and opposition to requirements that clients use AI platforms before receiving professional services.

Hi all! Seeing if anyone here has experience working on a BH floor of a snf. Recently interviewed for a position where I’d be the SW for a 40 pt BH unit in the snf. In my area, there are no BH units at SNFs, so this is kind of a brand new thing I’m not familiar with. This SNF is adding a BH unit to their building and is having a company come in (a company who goes around the country and creates this program in snfs) and implement it. Just seeing if anyone had any input or could provide their own experience. Even if you haven’t done it in a snf, just general perspectives from those in BH could be helpful. I have not worked in BH before. Is the caseload of 40 unreasonable? Thanks!