Briefly describe the following roles assumed by social workers in social work practice: enabler, broker, advocate, activist, empowerer, mediator, negotiator, educator, initiator, coordinator, researcher, group facilitator, and public speaker

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

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In working with individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities, a social worker is expected to be knowledgeable and skillful in a variety of roles. The particular role that is selected should ideally be determined by what will be most effective, given the circumstances.

Enabler: In this role, a worker helps individuals or groups to articulate their needs, to clarify and identify their problems, to explore resolution strategies, to select and apply a strategy, and to develop their capacities to deal with their own problems more effectively.

Broker: A broker links individuals and groups who need help (and do not know where it is available) with community services.

Advocate: The role of advocate has been borrowed from the legal profession. It is an active, directive role in which the social worker advocates for a client or for a citizens' group. When a client or a citizens' group is in need of help and existing institutions are uninterested (or even openly negative and hostile) in providing services, then the advocate's role may be appropriate.

Activist: An activist seeks institutional change; often the objective involves a shift in power and resources to a disadvantaged group. Activists are concerned about social injustice, inequity, and deprivation, and their strategies include conflict, confrontation, and negotiation. The goal is to change the social environment to better meet the recognized needs of individuals.

Mediator: The mediator role involves intervention in disputes between parties to help them find compromises, reconcile differences, or reach mutually satisfactory agreements. Social workers have used their value orientations and unique skills in many forms of mediation.

Negotiator: A negotiator brings together those who are in conflict over one or more issues and seeks to achieve bargaining and compromise to arrive at mutually acceptable agreements.

Educator: The educator role involves giving information to clients and teaching them adaptive skills. To be an effective educator, the worker must first be knowledgeable. Additionally, she or he must be a good communicator so that information is clearly conveyed and readily understood by the receiver.

Initiator: An initiator calls attention to a problem-or even to a potential problem. It is important to realize that some problems can be recognized in advance.

Empowerer: A key goal of social work practice is empowerment, which is the process of helping individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities increase their personal, interpersonal, socioeconomic, and political strength and influence through improving their circumstances.

Coordinator: Coordinators bring components together in some kind of organized manner.

Researcher: Every social worker is at times a researcher. Research in social work practice includes studying the literature on topics of interest, evaluating the outcomes of one's practice, assessing the merits and shortcomings of programs, and studying community needs.

Group Facilitator: A group facilitator is one who serves as a leader for group activity. The group may be a therapy group, an educational group, a self-help group, a sensitivity group, a family therapy group, or a group with some other focus.

Public Speaker: Social workers occasionally are recruited to talk to various groups to inform them of available services or to advocate for new services. In recent years, various needed services have been identified. Social workers who have public-speaking skills can explain services to groups of potential clients.

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