Naval Hospital Brem-erton recognized March as National Social Work Month with a command observation March 11. In conjunction with the National Association of Social Workers, this year’s theme is “Social Workers Change Futures.”

Navy social workers use a variety of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, law, and medicine to solve social problems. Case work is a lot of their responsibilities and involves close cooperation with service members and/or their families who are under mental, physical, or social stressors.

In times of crisis, social workers are often contacted to alleviate a potential dysfunctional situation or high risk situation.

“As Navy social workers, we are here to take care of Sailors and their families,” said Lt. Jo Ann Martinez, Social Work Case Management department head. Martinez, along with Bruce Robertson, Laural Butler-Taylor, and Rangell Wallen, form NHB’s social work team.

The National Association of Social Workers describes the primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.

Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to and address problems in living.

“Our profession is diverse,” Martinez said. “We borrow from the other disciplines to develop a comprehensive psychosocial assessment.  Much of our work involves operating in the ‘gray’ when we deal with a multitude of complex multifaceted problems.  Our theoretical background in systems theory enables us to work within the dynamic of any family or organizational system to bring together a better collective sum of all parts.”

The social work mission is rooted in a set of core values that are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationship, integrity and competence.

The core values are considered unique to the profession and the principles must be balanced with the context and complexity of human experience. In the Navy, social workers have to be independently licensed Masters level clinicians for employment.

NHB’s social workers are also involved in academia and behavioral health. Robertson spearheads the biofeedback and virtual reality technology to augment traditional psychotherapy to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.