What Exactly Is Advocacy In The World Of Social Work, And Why It Is So Impactful?

Social work is such a versatile career path that many people on the outside don’t know what social workers actually do. They can work in hospitals, schools, and prisons. They can help people battling addiction or support former offenders as they acclimate to their new lives.

They can also be fierce community advocates. Like so many other aspects of social work, the advocacy component of their jobs can take many forms. In this article, we take a closer look at what social advocacy entails and why it is so important.

Education

Advocacy can be all about bringing new information to people in the hopes that it will make a difference. Let’s say your community is having a charity walk. The purpose of the walk is to raise money and awareness for childhood autism.

You are in attendance. After you complete your loop around the park and buy an overpriced hot dog—in the name of charity, of course—you browse the many booths that have been set up on the lawn.

These booths are not necessarily autism specific but represent many causes or opportunities within your community. You take a flyer from a smiling librarian. Donate to the local pantry. Then, you’re pulled in by a smiling twenty-something with a nose ring and passion in her eyes.

She explains that she is a social worker, here to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic in your community. You barely even drink. Opioids don’t factor into your life. Still, you listen politely. At the end of her schpiel, she tries to hand you a Narcan kit. You try to decline politely. She insists.

Hopefully, you never have to use it. But this social worker—this advocate—isn’t there for you specifically. She’s there to get reps in. There are thousands of people attending this walk. If she has it her way, all of them will leave with a Narcan kit that they know how to put to good use.

If even one of them winds up needing it, her advocacy will have saved a life.

Social work advocacy often takes this shape. The goal is not always to raise money or change legislation—those objectives, noble though they may be— are expensive and time-consuming. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of calling people’s attention to something important.

Change

The problems that social workers encounter during their work are usually not root problems. They are symptoms of larger system issues. They work on those symptoms at the individual level. Mark has been to jail twice. His social worker wants to make sure it doesn’t happen a third time. That’s a symptom.

The system issue is recidivism. Mark is not alone. Nearly 50% of people released from prison will return at some point in their lives. If Mark can’t conform to societal expectations, it is a personal failure. If the prison system mostly produces people who cannot meet those expectations, it is a public failure.

In this case, Mark’s social worker might represent an organization with clearly defined beliefs on how to reduce recidivism.

Not only will they have these beliefs, but they will have a framework for applying them. As advocates, they may:

• Educate the public on the problem, and explain a potential solution.
• Raise money to implement that solution.
• Lobby politicians to represent it.

They hope that this combination of activities will produce change over time. This type of advocacy is difficult, and usually very slow-moving. However, it does have the capacity to produce change.

Convince

Advocacy can also work to change perspectives. The gay rights movement of the early 2000s is a world-class example of how well-targeted advocacy can make enormous progress over a relatively short span of time.

The messaging, in this case, was very simple. Gay people want nothing that impacts the lives of heterosexual people. Moreover, they are not mysterious others. They are your friends, your family, your neighbors. Connecting familiar faces to reasonable requests helped change perspectives on gay marriage much faster than any other previous initiative.

Changing minds is not easy, but it can be a very effective form of grassroots activism that nurtures and supports other forms of activism. More people supporting a cause means more lobbying. Easier fundraiser. Broader public attention.

Changing hearts and minds is a necessary component of many social work campaigns. To convince people to fight back against the opioid epidemic, it’s first important that the public understands that addiction can happen to anyone.

If social workers want people to take the problem of recidivism seriously, it’s important to convince the wider public that it is an issue that leads to more crime and instability.

This type of advocacy pulls people off the sidelines, mobilizing them for the greater good.

Why it Matters

Change doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of time and effort. Often, that effort is put in by a relatively small number of people. If you’ve decided to become actively involved in your community, you probably have experienced this first-hand. There’s not a line forming down the block to get into the PTO meeting at your child’s school— and that’s a group that plays a direct influence on your family’s lived experience.

Imagine trying to rally the troops for an issue that most people don’t feel connected to.

Social workers do this every day. They understand how bad public policy or sheer indifference can hurt not just the people on their caseload, but society as a whole.

They decide to do something about it. Progress is not accomplished by staying on the sidelines. It is the product of time and work. If you would like to support social workers in their advocacy missions, there are many ways to do it.

Simple ones involve stopping the next time someone tries to hand you a flyer at a public event. More involved forms could include donating to causes that move you or finding out ways to volunteer your time.

There are many ways to make a difference in your community.