Winter 2026 Issue

Practice Matters: Interprofessional Practice
By Trish Hayes, MSSW, LCSW, and Ann M. Callahan, PhD, LCSW
Social Work Today
Vol. 26 No. 1 P. 5

It’s More Than a Buzzword

Social workers fill an essential role on interprofessional teams, whether it is to make sure agencies adhere to the guidelines for client-centered meetings, bridge communication and language differences so clients understand consent and confidentiality, or encourage colleagues to use a trauma-informed lens that supports and preserves the inherent dignity and worth of clients. Interprofessional practice is vital to extending our range and amplifying our voices, especially when the airwaves and our screens are cluttered with rhetoric.

Interprofessional practice is not new, but it is important that we spend time renewing our commitment to interprofessional practice and employing strategies that maximize our impact as the need for social workers grows. Articles are written and trainings developed to “dismantle the silos,” but without a clear definition of interprofessional practice or guidelines for application, social workers will be less likely to mobilize teams with and on behalf of clients.

Defining a New Practice Specialty
Often, the literature on interprofessional practice addresses the efficacy of interprofessional education. While social workers operate as interprofessional team members, little is known about how social workers engage in interprofessional practice.1 Callahan & Higgins suggest: “Interprofessional social workers intervene with interprofessional team members, and the interprofessional team as a whole, to ensure conditions support effective social work practice. Interprofessional social work practice is universal, as it applies to all levels and areas of practice … They draw from the strengths and resources of team collaborations with and on behalf of diverse clients and constituencies in a manner that enhances individual and collective well-being. Interprofessional social workers, ultimately, ensure interprofessional teams and related partnerships operate in a manner that is congruent with social work’s values as reflected by ethical, culturally inclusive, and evidence-based practices.”1

This view of interprofessional practice defines a new specialization offered at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU). In 2024, the EKU Master of Social Work (MSW) program became the first program in the country to receive Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation for an interprofessional social work practice concentration.

The mission of EKU’s MSW program is to prepare students to be social workers who can mobilize the power of interprofessional teams in a manner that promotes social welfare, respect for human rights, and social, economic, and environmental justice.2 Course curriculum is structured so that students recognize what makes social workers unique compared with other professionals, and, in the process, identify how they can draw from their expertise as interprofessional social workers to enhance teamwork through collective partnerships across clients and practice settings.

Centrality of Collaboration
Interprofessional social workers blend the strengths of many disciplines to form an effective service delivery system. This allows interprofessional social workers to build on interprofessional collaboration as an essential practice approach that joins the art of social work with the science of social work, guided by social work values and ethics. Iachini et al reference professional-to-professional engagement as central to interprofessional collaboration, which is defined as “an effective interpersonal process that facilitates the achievement of goals that cannot be reached when individual professionals act on their own.”3,4

Benefits of Collaboration
Interprofessional social workers focus on building partnerships that span systems with the goal of aligning services that address the needs of a particular client through relevant community systems. This requires systems—family, educational, social service, mental health, vocational, recreational—to maintain interagency collaboration that removes barriers to services and eliminates the issues of turf protection.

Interprofessional social workers facilitate a dynamic view of concerns as well as creative solutions, resources, and system remediation. Education on professional roles positively influence interprofessional collaboration when collaborators can articulate and implement the values, knowledge, and skills of one’s own profession as well as the relevance of other professionals’ expertise.5 Benefits include improved access to services, consistency of services, and communication with and among service providers.

How to Engage in Collaboration
To be an effective interprofessional social worker, it is important to value both the process and outcomes of interprofessional collaboration.6 Process involves a synthesis of different perspectives to clarify complex problems. Outcomes involve the development of solutions that go beyond an individual vision to a collective resolve. This aligns with the foundational social work view of systems as being more than the sum of their individual parts.

Based on research and practice, the following are recommendations for social workers who aspire to enhance their capacity for interprofessional practice.7 These recommendations are to recognize professional expertise, own professional responsibility, assert professional identity, engage in professional self-care, be an advocate, apply current evidence, and seek continuing education.

Recognize Professional Expertise
Do you catch yourself saying “I’m just the social worker,” thus discounting the value of our profession? To effectively collaborate and lead collaborative efforts, we need to have a strong and positive professional identity as a social worker. Professional self-worth says: we are a profession supported by the social sciences and research; we expertly use the “art” of social work to enhance client interaction and change efforts; we are uniquely guided by a codified value system and extensive code of ethics. We must be comfortable claiming “I am a social worker.”

Social work is a profession with inherent worth and a unique skill set that stands alone. It is not necessary for us to add any qualifying remarks to establish the value of our profession. Within our unique skill set is an enhanced ability to build collaborative and functional interprofessional teams that reflect the stated value system of the social work profession. At the heart of our work to build collaboration is a commitment to making a positive impact for the client; it is never about me. Social workers are skilled at group process, managing conflict, creative problem solving, active listening, and establishing empathetic relationships. We are experts at moving from a win-lose to a win-win paradigm.

Own Professional Responsibility
We need to begin with a clear appreciation of how we are and what we are as social workers. We, as social workers, are distinguished not by our theory base, our practice skills, or our work setting, since we stand firm on any number of evidence-based theories; utilize a variety of skills with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and the community; and are present in work settings ranging from legal, health, and education to community organizing, legislative efforts, employment, and disability, among many.

As described by Selamu & Singhe, the profession of social work is distinguished by our “respect for the equality, worth, and dignity of all people,” with a focus on “meeting human needs and developing human potential” that reflect “humanitarian and democratic ideals.”8 We are distinguished by our holistic focus that values the individual within their system, never separating them from who they are as they interact within their own world. It is important for us to cling to that historical base, even as we interact with other professions that do not have an explicit or strong commitment to these values.

Assert Professional Identity
It is crucial we maintain our professional identity by recognizing it and seeing how we are like the other helping professions, while acknowledging and celebrating how we are uniquely different and thus uniquely qualified to participate and facilitate meaningful change. When we identify how we are different and claim those differences as professional differences that add value, we develop and respect our own professional boundaries. We also respect the boundaries of others and of ourselves. Try saying: “I am not a [fill in the blank], because I am a social worker. I use any number of theories and engagement, assessment, and intervention skills with a commitment to the value of the individual and the client’s well-being. I value a person-in-environment perspective using strength-based skills and honoring client rights to self-determination.”

Engage in Professional Self-Care
Professional self-care grows from a solid commitment to the belief that I am not JUST a social worker—but that I am a professional social worker. This implies and requires that we are committed to adult learning within a multidisciplinary framework to add to our knowledge and skills but always approached from the lens of the social worker. Self-care is best preserved by using professional consultation, whether formal or informal, to reinforce social work professional growth, self-reflection, and attention to our personhood and identity.

Be an Advocate
Collaboration inherently includes advocacy both within the collaboration itself but also as connected to the goals of the collaboration. As we advocate, we are compelled to speak to the client, speak for and with the client, and speak about the client. And within this structure it is critical that we respect those involved in the efforts, be authentically available, ask and learn, and communicate clearly.

The NASW Code of Ethics specifically speaks to advocacy as an ethical mandate.9 “Advocate within and outside agencies for adequate resources to meet clients’ needs,” and assure that the “resource allocation procedures are open and fair to all clients.” With this overarching call to advocacy as an ethical obligation, we need to clarify for ourselves the “why.” The focus of advocacy is included as an obligation to the client so that they get the correct services or results. It is part of our obligation to the agency. And, importantly, it is an obligation to our profession. Advocacy efforts require knowledge.

Apply Current Evidence
We need knowledge based on current research and best practice. This informs our efforts so that we know what we are advocating for or against and why. Strategies for advocacy are also nuanced. Knowing the agency and the policies of the agency allows us to effectively advocate for clients. We can assertively push the agency to adhere to their own policies. We will not be popular in the room, but if the agency has policies in place, then those policies are there because they reflect best practice, presumably. When agencies detour from policy because they are unaware or simply cannot be bothered, we are positioned to remind them that best practice and ethical social work requires us to spend the time and energy to do it correctly.

Seek Continuing Education
Social work relies on sharing unique and exceptional perspectives, theories, and skills in the process of building collaborations and may require professional growth and reliance on the capacity to develop interprofessional partnerships. While generalist social workers are prepared to apply multidisciplinary theoretical frameworks and rely on interprofessional collaboration when working with clients in practice settings, interprofessional social workers build on generalist education across micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Interprofessional education opportunities are available through EKU as well as other CSWE-accredited social work programs and practice settings across the country.10,11

Conclusion
Social workers are on the frontlines in a variety of settings—welfare, health, educational, legal—to address a range of complex problems. As members of interprofessional teams, social workers can enhance their effectiveness through collaboration. Specialized knowledge in interprofessional practice can further enhance a social worker’s capacity to ensure team processes and outcomes, as well as support effective social work practice with clients and team members.1

Like a plumber, we clean out systems. We make systems function efficiently and effectively. We do this by eliminating barriers, plugging leaks, and using the correct tools. And we do this with a clear commitment to a client’s welfare. Oftentimes, we are the client’s only advocate in the room; However, on an interprofessional team, we are not alone.

Our perspective, our preparation, our approach is unique—we do not just find a solution to a problem, we work with clients and need our interprofessional partners to enhance lives.

— Trish Hayes, MSSW, LCSW, is the MSW practicum coordinator and faculty lecturer for the Master of Social Work program at Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the NASW Tennessee chapter board of directors and is the middle branch chair. She has over 35 years of direct practice with justice involved youth, has supervised numerous interns at her former agency, and provided training material and presentations to stakeholders across the state. She provides supervision to social workers who are pursuing advanced licensure.

— Ann M. Callahan, PhD, LCSW, is a professor and founding director of the Master of Social Work Program at Eastern Kentucky University. She has over 20 years of social work-related experience. Callahan’s work focuses on spiritually sensitive social work in hospice, palliative, and long term care. This includes the book Spirituality and Hospice Social Work, published by Columbia Press.

References
1. Callahan AM, Higgins D. Interprofessional social work practice: a call for a new specialization. J Soc Work Educ. 2023;59(Suppl. 1):S5-S22.

2. Callahan AM. MSW student handbook [Unpublished manuscript]. Department of Social Work, Eastern Kentucky University; 2020.

3. Iachini AL, Bronstein LR, Mellin E, eds. A Guide for Interprofessional Collaboration. CSWE Press; 2018.

4. Bronstein LR. A model for interdisciplinary collaboration. Soc Work. 2003;48(3):298-306.

5. Best S, Beech C, Robbé IJ, Williams S. Interprofessional teamwork: the role of professional identity and signature pedagogy—a mixed methods study. J Health Organ Manag. 2021;35(5):561-578.

6. Gardner DB. Ten lessons in collaboration. Online J Issues Nurs. 2005;10(1):2.

7. Hayes T. Collaboration… Lessons learned for effective engagement and obtaining outcomes [Presentation]. National Association of Social Workers, Middle Tennessee Chapter, virtual. April 16, 2025.

8. Selamu LG, Singhe MS. Ethical Grounding of Social Work Practices. In: Sandu A, Frunza A, eds. Ethical Issues in Social Work Practice. IGI Global Scientific Publishing; 2018:34-46. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-3090-9.ch004

9. NASW code of ethics. National Association of Social Workers website. https://www.socialworkers.org/about/ethics/code-of-ethics/code-of-ethics-english. Updated November 13, 2025.

10. Master of social work. Eastern Kentucky University website. https://www.eku.edu/class/social-work/master-of-social-work/. Updated November 14, 2025. Accessed January 21, 2026.

11. Advancing interprofessional education. Council on Social Work Education website. https://www.cswe.org/centers-initiatives/advancing-interprofessional-education/#Partnerships. Updated November 14, 2025. Accessed January 21, 2026.