Why Social Work Exists
Name a reason social work developed.
What is: poverty, immigration, health, or social order?
Name a way helping can also control people.
What is: rules, conditions, forced participation?
Name something Indigenous social work begins with.
What is: relationship, connection?
Whole class: give an example.
Hint: What do we start with before we try to help someone? Is it assessment, or something else?
What matters first in relationship-based work?
Name a way land is more than a place.
What is: land is relational, living, or sacred?
Name an example of micro practice.
What is: counselling, crisis support?
Name a problem the state was trying to manage.
What is: unemployment, crime, alcohol, or housing?
Name a group that benefits from systems.
What are the government, institutions, and majority groups?
Whole class: How do they benefit?
Hint: Who designed the system?
Who does the system work well for?
Who doesn’t have to fight the system as much?
Name a way the "self" is understood.
What is: connected to land, family, community?
Name one way land affects people.
What is: health, identity or connection?
Name an example of mezzo practice.
What are: teams, agencies, group work?
Name a group that had power in early helping systems.
What is: the church, state, or professionals?
Name a group that may be controlled by systems.
Who is: Indigenous people, poor people, marginalized groups?
Name a goal of helping.
What is: balance, healing, restoration?
Whole class: Give an example of what that looks like?
Hint: What are we trying to move someone toward?
Is helping just about stopping problems?
What does ‘better’ actually look like?
Name a way Western systems treat land.
What is: resources or property?
Name an example of macro practice.
What are: policies, law, and advocacy?
Whole class: give an example.
Hint:
What is something that affects many people at once?
What shapes what social workers are allowed to do?
Where do rules come from?
Name one way early helping included judgment?
What is: deciding who deserves help or monitoring behaviour?
Whole class: give some examples.
Hint: What did people have to prove to get help?
Who decided what ‘good behaviour’ looked like?
What happened if someone didn’t fit those expectations?
Name a question we ask to understand power.
What are: who benefits, who is controlled, who defines help, who is accountable.
Whole class: give an example.
Hint: Think about a system like child welfare or school. What question would help you understand power there?
If something feels unfair, what would you ask?
Who is helping accountable to?
What is: the community, relationships, Elders?
Name a way Indigenous perspectives understand land.
What is: relationships, responsibility to the land (Mother Earth - Shkagamik kwe)?
Name a way systems are connected.
What is: how do policies affect practice, or how organisations shape care?
Whole class: give an example.
Hint: If a law changes, what happens to workers or service users?
If a worker sees the same issue over and over, what might happen next?
If the government makes a rule, who feels that right away?
Name a goal of social work beyond helping.
What is: control, stability, and managing populations?
Whole class: give an example.
Hint: What was the state trying to protect?
Was it only about helping people, or also about controlling problems?
Who benefits when things stay ‘stable’?
Name an assumption about helping.
What is: helping is always good, professionals know best?
Name one difference from mainstream social work.
What is: not individual-focused, not deficit-based, not about control.
Name a way social work could include land.
What is: asking about land, or including land-based healing?
Name a way practice can shape systems.
What is research, data, or advocacy?