COVID-19: challenges, opportunities, and the future of social work

Social workers have essential life-saving roles, possessing many important skills to help clients and community access services, and obligation to facilitate equality of outcomes. In this time marked by a pandemic, we are becoming more aware of the importance of futuring for social work. Social work’s response to the COVID-19 crisis is critical now and in the future. This article attempts to bring attention to ways social work as an idea, as a project, as an institution, and as a profession might respond and change due to what is happening (COVID-19 pandemic) and grow in dealing with future challenges. It makes contribution to social work’s response to COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. It suggests that the success of social work is very much dependent on social work educators, researchers and practitioners recognising the current challenges as opportunities, and responding in ways that advance social work profession’s theories, models, and practice framework