Regional Guidance for ASEAN Member States on Strengthening the Role of Social Workers and the Wider Social Service Workforce in the Health Sector

Social workers, and the wider social service workforce, do not only operate in the social welfare system. They can play a critical role across sectors, in order to reach the most vulnerable individuals and communities with support and services. This ASEAN Guidance is intended to support policy makers, managers and members of the social service workforce in ASEAN Member States (AMS) to consider the ways in which professional social workers, and the wider social service workforce (abbreviated in this Guidance as ‘SSW’), can be most effectively deployed, and strengthened in their roles, in the health sector, including mental health, in both hospitals, and other specialist clinical settings, and in the community.

The Guidance also sets out how such cross-sectoral deployment can lead to enhanced and more sustained positive outcomes for target populations, in terms of both health and social welfare outcomes, by addressing underlying psycho-social factors which can contribute to improvements in health promotion and prevention, as well as treatment and recovery, and by integrating social workers and the wider social service workforce into the delivery of both health and social services, and wider health and social welfare systems.