Mission: Faith, Service, Possibility

Social Work Program Mission Statement

The primary mission of the CUW Social Work Program is to prepare graduates for baccalaureate level, generalist, social work practice, within the context of faith, service, and social justice.

The key phrases of “Faith, Service and Possibility” and the Social Work Program’s Mission Statement may sound quite simple and straight-forward, but there is also complexity in these phrases and in our program’s mission.

In our Social Work Program, we understand the importance of grounding our teaching and social work practice in the context of faith.  This faith perspective gives us energy and determination in teaching and in helping our students to develop strong, competent skills to help others.  It reminds us (faculty and students) that our talents, abilities, and resources are all gifts from God and are to be used in the spirit of love, generosity, and forgiveness.

Our faith-based context also directs the manner in which we provide service to our clients. It means that social work students and faculty will utilize the expected professional practice knowledge and skills of the social work profession, but will also attempt to see social work as both a career and a vocation as we provide services to our clients.

The idea of possibility relates both to our work as social workers and in regard to social justice.  The concept of possibility reminds us that there are a myriad of opportunities in the social work profession and as students and faculty we have the chance to discern the best fit for our talents and skills.  Likewise, in pursuing social justice, we help our clients reach for the possibilities in their lives and as social workers we confront the barriers that might prevent our clients from reaching the possibilities that fit their skills and abilities.

The term, generalist practice, might make us think of just acquiring general basic skills, but it means much more than that.  In fact, the term stands for a whole paragraph of ideas, concepts, and values.  The Association of Baccalaureate Program Directors define generalist practice as:

Generalist social work practitioners work with individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations in a variety of social work and host settings. Generalist practitioners view clients and client systems from a strengths perspective in order to recognize, support, and build upon the innate capabilities of all human beings. They use a professional problem solving process to engage, assess, broker services, advocate, counsel, educate, and organize with and on behalf of client and client systems.  In addition, generalist practitioners engage in community and organizational development.  Finally, generalist practitioners evaluate service outcomes in order to continually improve the provision and quality of services most appropriate to client needs.

Generalist social work practice is guided by the NASW Code of Ethics and is committed to improving the well being of individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations and furthering the goals of social justice.

As you can see from the above definition, there is a lot involved in our mission statement in referring to generalist practice skills.

In addition to our students gaining a strong generalist social work foundation, they also study courses in the social sciences and liberal arts.  In combination, all of the concepts of our mission statement then provide the sum total of the social work student’s academic.