It has been recognised each year since 1983 as an opportunity to raise awareness of the vital work of social workers and the contribution they make to a fairer and just society.

Social Work Clinical Lead of the North West Hospital and Health Service’s Social Work Department Chrissie Lynn said her team provides a social work service across all wards and Outpatients at Mount Isa Hospital.

“Social workers will intervene in response to grief and loss, trauma, crisis intervention, domestic and family violence and sexual assault, changes in lifestyle, legal planning, discharge planning, Aged Care planning, nursing home placement and pre-admission counselling as well as end of life support,” Ms Lynn said.

“Our social workers also help our patients navigate Centrelink, Housing, Public guardianship, Public Trustee, and help with referral to external agencies.

“Social Work touches on all aspects of a patient’s care and is integral to enhancing their journey to wellness.”

The NWHHS’s Director of Cultural Capability and Engagement, Christine Mann said the role of social workers in this year’s theme of Promoting Community and Environmental Sustainability is the work done around supporting communities in natural disaster preparedness and recovery.

“Also some social workers do a lot around environmental activism and climate change,” Ms Mann said.

“Within Australia it’s an opportunity to look back and learn from the resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their connection to the land on which we all live and work.

“They were the first experts in promoting community and environmental sustainability with their footprint here dating back more than 50,000 years without the environmental damage we are seeing now. So there is sharing of knowledge there in environmental preservations that we can learn from,” Ms Mann said.

Ms Mann, who has worked for 18 years in social work, has recently taken on a new part-time position of Allied Health Clinical Lead, Social Work with the Mount Isa Centre for Rural and Remote Health (MICRRH) to contribute to engaging students and graduates to do their placements in the North West and support social work students who live here locally.

“I would love to encourage more people into this career, which can lead graduates into a wide range of areas within health but also in areas such as aged care, child protection, family violence, youth work and drug and alcohol work,” Ms Mann said.

“Social workers are also becoming more prominent in the private sector and leadership courses within the public sector, drawing on their transferable skills around understanding human behaviour, motivation and interpersonal relationships, as well as workforce challenges.

“The issues in peoples’ lives are often broader issues, and I like that social workers work to affect change in those broader issues that are more systemic,” she said.