Social Work a Rapidly Growing Field

Sandra Schiff, PhD, has a long and varied career in helping professions. Head of her own consultancy, which focuses on executive and leadership coaching, Dr. Sandra Schiff is also an adjunct professor of social work at Detroit, Michigan’s Wayne State University, where she earned her master of social work (MSW).

According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), social workers are highly trained and experienced professionals who have earned social work degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral levels and completed a minimum number of hours in supervised fieldwork. US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics projections indicate that social work is among the fastest-growing careers in the United States.

NASW loosely defines social work as psychosocial services and advocacy. Social workers help people restore or enhance their capacity for social functioning, NASW says, as well as help them overcome such challenges as poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, illness, divorce, disability, and unemployment.