SocialWork.Career

Social work is built to respond to what's happening right now, but what if the profession spent more time preparing for what's coming next? That's the work of a social work futurist: using tools from strategic foresight to scan for early signals of change, map out multiple possible futures, and help practitioners and agencies get ready before disruption arrives instead of after. In this interview, Jimmy A. Young, PhD, MSW, MPA, a social work professor and founding member of the Social Work Futures Lab, makes the case that foresight belongs in social work education and supervision. He also addresses what AI is likely to automate versus what it can't touch, and shares seven practical habits any social worker can start building today. TL;DR A social work futurist would say that social work is already a futures-oriented profession. Assessment, intervention, and policy practice all involve anticipating what's ahead; it just doesn't usually name that skill explicitly. AI won't … [Read More...] about Social Work Futurist: Strategic Foresight for the Future of Social Work