Celebrating Our Social Workers Who Improve Lives Every Day

Driven by the desire to improve people’s lives, social workers make a profound impact on countless individuals every day. With more than 182,000 healthcare social workers in the United States, we take a special moment during Social Work Month to recognize and celebrate the significance of social workers who support the health and well-being of our members, patients and communities.

Role of social workers in healthcare
Social workers help people at their most vulnerable moments to overcome barriers to health and health-related needs. Whether working with patients at a CenterWell Senior Primary Care center as part of an integrated healthcare team or supporting members at critical moments in their health journey, such as after hospitalization, our social workers empower individuals with focus on health education, behavioral health support and social determinants of health.

Healthcare social workers frequently provide individuals and families with psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute or terminal illnesses. They provide patients with information and counseling, research resources and offer referrals to other services. They may also provide case and care management to promote health, prevent disease and address barriers to care and better health outcomes.

Social services at Humana and CenterWell
Our social services community is made up of a diverse group of licensed and non-licensed social service employees that include social workers, professional counselors, mental health therapists, marriage and family therapists, addiction professionals, community health workers, behavioral health professionals and social services support professionals. 

Within Humana and CenterWell, we have over 2000 social services professionals, including 700 licensed social workers who serve in a variety of roles as part of our clinical teams. For example, we have social workers in:

• CenterWell Senior Primary Care offices supporting mostly our senior population, coordinating both resources to address social need and behavioral health needs.
• CenterWell Home Health roles making home visits in collaboration with interdisciplinary care teams to ensure our patients have the support and resources to keep them safe at home.
• Humana’s care management providing support in the homes and telephonically. Social workers may coordinate benefits of long-term care plans, support military families, or coordinate comprehensive medical, social, and behavioral health needs.  
• Quality Improvement roles to support quality audits and quality reviews.
• Strategy and leadership roles in many areas to include The Chief Nursing Organization, Medicaid Behavioral Health team, Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Value Based Leadership.

Supporting our social workers
We are committed to supporting and empowering all our clinicians, including social workers. The job requires great patience, empathy, knowledge and strong communication and interpersonal skills. We work hard to create a culture and community that values, engages and supports our social workers and clinicians while addressing their challenges and focusing their professional growth.

A significant challenge of being a social worker is interacting daily with vulnerable people who may be in crisis or distress, and we make sure that nobody feels alone while doing so. One way we connect is through a monthly newsletter sent to our social services community to inform about activities and initiatives to promote connections, support recognition, encourage well-being and enhance professional growth and development. 

We offer monthly growth and development sessions on topics related to career and leadership growth, and we offer continuing education courses for our clinicians to maintain compliance with renewing licenses. We also partner with the education benefits team to share resources and information to support our social workers with a focus on building skills and advancing knowledge to help them take next steps on their career journeys.

Thank you, social workers
This time serves as a reminder of the countless hours and immeasurable dedication our clinicians, especially social workers, devote to improving the lives of people and the communities they serve.