Social Work Jobs of the Future

Gradually, hospitals have been primarily phased out - reserved for only emergency and the most extreme health needs.  All other serious health needs are met remotely (as trends predicted over the last 20 years) at the homes of patients.  This did involve a great deal of "home well-being" coordination for those that didn't have homes or less than ideal living situations to facilitate needed treatment, technological support readiness, and healing.   Social workers are employed to specifically address the intensive coordination and home stabilization needs of persons without family and/or other means to do this on their own with special attention to reinforcing not only the physical components of "home,"  but the social and community aspects as well.   This often involves working across housing, health and other public support sectors to assure that people receive life affirming and holistic supports to regain their health.   (May 2023)   Signals here, here, here and here.   Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

As climate change continues, new viruses and diseases emerge with more frequency and intensity.   Special interdisciplinary community teams are needed to both help to identify causes/origins as well as new methods of preventing spread and maintaining some semblance or normal life.   Given the deep social and community dynamics combined with proliferating misinformation and politicization, social workers are engaged to help become trusted communication bridges with community members, as well as to mobilize resources needed to navigate repeating and continual mystery disease outbreaks.   (May, 2023) Signals here, here and here.    Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

Despite political turmoil about neglected earth-bound social issues, space colonization has become a reality and a variety of international space stations, energy and resource space cultivation, and deeper space discovery missions are a reality.    Entire diverse, communities comprised of representatives from around the world are forming in space with new governing structures that take steps beyond any known previous earth governments including an earnest international commitment to shared power and collective decision making.   Where humans form communities, they will need support and assistance in coordinating care and life challenges as well as advocating for systems to work in transparent, trustworthy and equitable ways.  Social workers engage in lifespan support, relationship cultivation, conflict resolution and life fulfillment activities to assist individuals, familiies and groups to achieve maximum well-being in new atmospheres and lifestyles alongside new challenges not known in the history of humanity.    (May 2023) Signals here, here, here and here. Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

After several generations of disinformation warfare, a massive global citizen science action movement has been launched by community leaders from around the world to connect everyday citizens to science in new ways.    Invested in every area of science, communities work with established scientists in partnership to forge new questions, invest in emerging methods, seek new knowledge and cultivate new approaches to engaging in science communication in ways that build trust with local stakeholders.  Specially prepared social workers are positioned to facilitate engagement opportunities among diverse community representatives and to shape the overall contours of the program.  (May, 2023)Signals here, here, here and here.   Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

Following unprecedented social action, resistance and activism (the fruit of generations of movement actors), as well as the national truth and reconciliation commission regarding police violence against Black Americans and other BIPIOC, Queer and other vulnerable populations, new national, Tribal and local community commissions have all formed to re-create new mechanisms of safety and support together.   These are led by combinations of policy experts, community activists, survivors of police violence and their famlies, government actors and artists.   New re-directed funding has caused housing, education, health and well-being sectors to expand dramatically and new governing arrangements to be opened to community stakeholders in partnership with traditional governing bodies - with equal say in how resources are deployed and unprecedented commitments to anti-racism and the dismantling of related systems of oppression.   The focus has been on decarcerating care for all and cultivating an ethos of community ownership.   Expanded and ongoing efforts to invite, support and construct meaningful restitution and reparations programs are led by people most impacted by legacies of police violence.  Social workers are invited to serve in these renewing and expanding systems of care, renewal and reparation from communities themselves are undergo a regular and rigorous  regular community review process to assess their capacity to work in partnership effectively.     (May, 2023). Signals here, here, here and here.   Have comments or more to contribute?   Link here.

As climate change continues to evolve, and its resultant harms to all living things, social workers around the U.S take unprecedented steps to commit to a profession-wide green commitments including pushing for funding to retrofit all buildings in which social work is conducted to the greenest possible footprint, committing to green travel approaches, utilizing methods which promote and/or reinforce green justice and climate equity, and cultivating pathways for additional funding to needs for community partners to participate in climate justice and support.  Across every type of social work specialty practice, green infrastructure is now seen as an ethical imperative, and managing the complexities and additional labor of going green is actively reconceptualized as an essential part of the social work role.     Social workers in every sector engage in green transition with particular emphasis on the fiscal, social and political aspects of change.    Signals here, here, here and here.   Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

In a world where increasing use of AI continues to proliferate, professional social workers engage in ethical AI governance development and admininistration - especially with regard to all kinds of uses of these technologies in contexts of vulnerable, under-served and/or marginalized populations.    This role includes such expertise areas as algorithmic auditing, public interest technology, community engagement in technological application and evaluation, skills to eradicate racism and other isms in applied tech,  and innovation regarding use of tools to solve problems communities believe are most important.  Centrally, Social Work Ethical AI Managers anticipate, interrupt and reconfigure any use of AI that is ethically problemmatic and seek new pathways to resolve emerging ethical dilemmas in partnerships with users and applications.   Signals here, here, here and here. (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?    Link here.

In a world where multiple, overlapping and intersecting failures of traditional democratic processes (including voting and other aspects of corruption in electoral politics), as well as shared governance at local, state and federal levels, social workers develop new democracy renewal initiatives funded by bipartisan sources to chiefly engage with disengaged and disillusioned voter groups.   These efforts work closely with historically situated voter and electoral empowerment efforts.  This initiative involves new  local community forum processes and better data collection of community attitudes/preferences to be directed more transparently towards elected officials.  Active political discourse workshops including numerous varities of conflict resolution, deconstructing political extremism and community, human rights in a real-time context,  media literacy and community well-being visioning run by social workers and other commuity leaders with the explicit goals of repairing  frayed social bonds, faith in institutions, and a vision for a renewed democratic social fabric.  Signals here, here and here.  (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here. 

As water becomes more and more scarce, new tensions, conflicts and battles emerge among community stakeholders about water availability and access.  New water rationing occurs for individuals, families and government, as well as businesss.   Social workers who specialize in community needs and issues are positioned to assure that "water equity" is assured, working in conjunction with public interest lawyers who support efforts to gain water equity.  This involves working with community leaders to advocate centrally for the rights of individuals and families in under-served communities to assert their rights, de-tangle and/or navigate emerging water control laws and regulations, and address other barriers to access to water.   Signals here, here and here. (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

In a world in which increasingly invasive neurotech  has become part of modern life, social work specialists have evolved to push for, create and implement policies which protect the neuro-rights of persons to maintain the privacy and integrity of their own mental space.   This includes specific protections aimed at neurotech activities including brain privacies at work, in health care, in justice and in other spaces where people are at their most vulnerable with specific attention to the weaponization of personal neural data, and building upon understandings and legacies of human rights violations of personal health or identity-related data throughout history.   Signals here, here and here.   (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

As ongoing genetic background technologies increase and proliferate, more and more people are "discovering" new truths about their family backgrounds which may include identifying and engaging with altogether new family members.   These processes have become so widespread that new varieties of family therapy have emerged to address the anxiety, identity, adjustment, cultural considerations and conflict issues that frequently emerge with these revalations.   Signals here, here and here.  (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

Following a generation of environmental degredation of individual and collective "attention ecosystem" and identification with pandemic levels of resulting attention disorders, a new channel of psychosocial diagnostic and treatment emerges to help people "heal" disrupted and low functioning attention capabilities.    Social workers rally to create new identification and treatment protocols that build in cognitive and community psychology, and dedicate themselves to founding mass, culturlly relevant, self-help communities to assist people in engaging in supportive recovery ecosystems to process, practice and participate in "focus healing."    Signals here, here and here. (April, 2023.) Have comments or more to contribute?    Link here,

As mental health remains a persistent challenge in our changing world, research expands regarding use of psychedelic medications as treatment modalities.   Social workers become a primary specially trained set of facilitators/supports in conducting psychedelic experiences in a controlled, ethical and equitable manner.   Here's the signals - one, two and three.   Have comments or want to share more? (July, 2021)  Link here.  

As numerous new states are added to the United States, entire new state governments are formed.    Diverse community members gather to cultivate new statewide aspirations, identities and plans as collectives with many interests and concerns.   New relationships with the Federal government, positioning of new elected officials and community engagement across every civic domain are all occurring simultaneously.  Social workers lead in mobilizing a robust community engagement and participation with specific attention to deploying innovative strategies that increase authentic citizen voice and agency.   Here's the signals - one, two and three.   Have comments or more to share? (July, 2021)   Link here. 

As personal and environmental technologies expand and become even more central to modern life, families with children appeal for attention.  They request study, support, advocacy and guidance about how to balance the benefits of individual and family engagement with technology - along with the risks and the ways in which technology interferes with positive and meaningful family life.   Social workers emerge with focused and specific expertise in how to best balance and support families' identities, needs and aspirations - with special attention to issues of equity and equal access to the resources that technology brings, as well as the harms that may be experienced.  Here's the signals - one, two and three.   Have comments or more to share? (July, 2021)   Link here.   

In this future, we reach a point where the number of social media accounts belonging to dead people far outnumber their living counterparts. Social workers specially trained in social media literacy, digital legacy, and grief become a resource for family and friends to coordinate virtual profile burials and services. These Digital Death Coordinators advocate for clear post-life policies and account settings from social media companies on behalf of the dead. Digital Death Coordinators help grieving family and friends navigate the options for account closure, preservation or memorial.  Here's the signals - one  and two. (June, 2021). Have comments or more to contribute? Link here.

As social media continues to proliferate, the number people behind the scenes who perform the essential service of content moderation increases dramatically.  These people perform sensitive work that often exposes them to images and content that is known to be psychologically damaging, and continually reveals some of the worst behaviors and expressions of humanity.   Because of their numbers, they gain increasing power through labor organizing to insist on specific and specially tailored widespread mental health supports focused on prevention of problems as well as interventions when damage does occur.  Here's the signals - one, two and three.   (June, 2021). Have comments or more to contribute?  Link here.

As ecological devastation continues on earth, even with increasing efforts to mitigate or slow the impacts, more and more people are experiencing significant mental health challenges as a result of dealing with numerous eco-related issues.   Among them: persistent and regular ecological disasters and instability as well as intensifying uncertainty regarding ecological well-being, and loss of cherished ecological beauty and sanctuary.  These losses and burdens have fallen harder on marginalized communities.   Social workers develop a speciality to provide adaptation mental (and physical) health supports as well as engagement and partnership opportunities in activism specifically related to climate preservation.   Here's the signals - one, two, three and four.   (June, 2021).  Have comments or more to contribute?   Link here.

As a reaction to growing numbers of displaced climate disaster survivors and the formation of massive tent cities (AKA Hardenvilles), the US Government created the Migrant Development Department. Fearing that Hardenvilles would become sources of rival political power and social unrest across the nation, the MDD created policy which essentially designates climate refugees as a nomadic workforce: guaranteeing temporary housing and a fixed wage for migrants on the condition they comply with all assigned labor deployments and relocations. Through the MDD, Climate Migrant Resettlement Counselors run group therapy sessions to integrate newly-arrived migrants into the local migrant community and provide basic mental health resources to those struggling with eco-PTSD, eco-grieving, and other eco-traumas. Climate Migrant Resettlement Counselors manage individual caseloads and are expected to match migrant clients with employment opportunities - either in-city or ex-city - and explore temporary housing options in the target location. To navigate the vast network of information required to meet the needs of the climate refugees, Climate Migrant Resettlement Counselors quickly built interorganizational, intermunicipal, interstate, and occasionally international online databases to better manage the 'climagrants.'   Here's the signals - one, two, three and four.  (June, 2021).  Have comments or more to share?  Link here. 

As calls grow to not only reform government, but transform it, more and more people seek to become involved in democratic processes.   New commitments are made to inclusion and justice in increasing  the number and diversity of community voices.    Expansive, purposeful and creative methods, that both respect and celebrate community identity, histories (of oppressions and liberations) and aspirations expand.   Formerly "wicked problems" are more solvable and disruptive solutions emerge. Bridges between social movements (on racial equity, and other pressing social justice issues) and the government structures they seek to reform/transform are created.  Social workers increase their presence and effectiveness serving in these spaces.  Here's the signals - one, two, three and four.   (June, 2021).  Have comments or more to share?   Link here.

Two forces have driven a need for new ways to manage personal identity - increased identity theft and manipulation and increased migration from sectors for whom legal identity confirmation is politically complex and unreliable.   The block chain identity infrastructure has grown -and given the variety of human rights issues associated with this rapidly growing practice technology, social workers emerge as a primary agent of educating people about, developing equity-centered and human rights-based guidelines for use of and implementation of broad scale utilization of block chain technology to support "identity self-sovereignty."    Here's  the signals - one, two, three, and four.   (July, 2021) Have comments or more to share?   Link here.