Environmental Social Work: A Call to Action – Webinar

The importance of social work adopting environmental priorities has only become increasingly clear. The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare proposed 12 Grand Challenges for our profession (http://aaswsw.org/grand-challenges-in.... One of these is: “Create social responses to a changing environment”.

Instead of viewing a person in environment, it is crucial to view the environment in the person. Environmental social work, sometimes referred to as ecosocial work, is different from ‘regular’ social work in that it takes an ‘ecocentric’ instead of a people-centric view. The eco system is at the core of practice rather than the person.

It isn’t difficult to believe that the most vulnerable populations are exploited environmentally. But it is not as easy to identify ways that social workers can advance environmental justice. This workshop explores social work roles in addressing environmental injustice.

Learning Objectives:
Identify the Grand Challenge of Social Work regarding a changing climate.
Enumerate ways in which environmental challenges affect people, especially marginalized communities and vulnerable populations.
Describe three specific themes of the social work profession and environmental action.
Discuss ways that individual social work practitioners can address environmentalism concepts on micro, mezzo, and macro levels.

When: Wednesday, April 25, 2018 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Presenter: Claudia J. Dewane, D.Ed., LCSW