Social work is a varied profession that often requires a practitioner to take on multiple roles such as adviser, therapist, caretaker, administrator and clinician. The business of social work demands a wide variety of emotional and psychological skills to accompany the formal academic training practitioners receive.

Social workers face many issues, and National Social Work Month is a good time to take a look at some of the major issues many social workers face. The issues are varied in their impact but are of singular importance in how they affect social workers, their patients and the profession at large.