The first thing that we shall start with, which is probably the most important, is the Code of Ethics. In this source is the Code of Ethics that is required of all social workers. This Code tells what is expected and required of all social workers in their relationships with clients, each other and in the field itself.
This Code is thorough and describes fully what is expected, and therefore is a valid source with information that can be trusted. It is also in line with the other social work companies, which emphasize it's trustworthiness and accuracy of information.
The next source of imortance is what the Missions and Goals are for the field of social work. This source explains where this field is heading and what its vision is. It explains why certain things are the way they are, and where they come from. It also explains what this field is trying to accomplish in society.
This source is reliable and has accurate information and, like the first source, it's information is in line with the Missions and Goals of the other companies. This is a good place to start looking because it gives lots of information about where this profession stands and where it is heading.
Many of you may not even know what clinical social work really is. In this link, you will find out exactly what is meant by the term Clinical Social Work. This source is a definition of Clinical Social Work. This helps us to understand more about what one of the different speciality areas of social work is all about, and if we want to get involved in it.
In this section this link will take you to a school's program in which most of it talks about the school itself, but there are some interesting, and helpful aspects in it which could help us in many of our decsions. In this link the most relevant and helpful parts for you, unless you were going to this school, would be to look at the two sections:
In the first of these sections "The Fields" it talks about different places you can work according to which speciality area you choose within the field of social work. It gives lots of ideas of where you could go, and may be able to help you choose your speciality. The second section "Employment and Training" also talks about the jobs you could get, what is generally required for some of these jobs and how some of them can go further and some can't.
The accuracy of this information is okay, because this was written in another country for a school and therefore it is more relevant to that country. However, many of the same things are here, so it is relevant to this country as well. A lot of this is just ideas of where this field could take you.
This next link is a paper about the issue of Poverty which is something that a social worker has to deal with almost every day. It gives us an idea of what this life actually entails, and helps us to feel what this life might be like to live, and hopefully will give us compassion for those who live this way, and the motivation to do something about it. This paper is someone's opinions and therefore is probably not that accurate, but it is very useful for letting us see what social workers deal with.
These links here are possible (internet) mailing lists that might be of some interest to people seeking more information on social work and social work issues. They are okay, but not great. They are mostly the discussions of social workers and others asking questions of each other and answering, not really solid information about what social work is or what the issues are. The nice thing is that you can listen in to what these actual social workers have to say, and maybe even post questions of your own that they could answer for you.
The list about the social issues brings you to a main menu with all the issues listed, but you have to click on the issue you want and then go to the Discussion list in there to get the mailing list.
Jeremy Grim helped with the picture and title