4 essential podcasts for social workers

Staying up to date in fields that are ever-evolving can be challenging.

But the advent of podcasts makes keeping current easier, with the ability to listen whenever you have spare time. Social work is a field that has embraced podcast learning wholeheartedly. 

Here are several podcasts worth exploring in order to learn what’s new in social work, whether you’re just starting out or have been in the field for years.

1. Doin’ the Work: Frontline Stories of Social Change

Host Shimon Cohen, MSW, LCSW, is a clinical instructor of social work who created this podcast to highlight stories of people deeply involved in social change, whether it’s a woman who created an organization to provide jobs to convicted felons or librarians who work with social workers to serve diverse populations of library patrons.

Featured Episode: LGBTQ+ Latinx. In this episode, Cohen talks with Christopher Cuevas, executive director of QLatinx in Orlando, an organization created after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 to strengthen advocacy and support to the central Florida LGBTQ Latinx community.

2. The Social Work Podcast

Host Jonathan Singer, PhD, LCSW, casts a wide net in his series of podcasts, covering everything from addictive disorders and case management to social work ethics and media. To make finding specific topics easier, he has a site map organized by category.

Featured Episode: Under Pressure (Part 2). In this episode, Singer talks with Lisa Damour, PhD, about rape culture, problems with the word “consent,” and the stress, anxiety, and trauma experienced by girls.

3. InSocialWork

This podcast series is produced by the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. The focus is on continuing education and research, and information on emerging trends and best practices in the social work field.

Featured Episode: Exploring the Integration of Social Workers into the Library Setting. In this episode, Carrier Draper, MSW, and Kirk Foster, PhD, discuss how libraries can be reimagined as human services organizations, and how placing social work interns and professionals in libraries can help achieve that goal.

4. NASW Social Work Talk

This is the official podcast of the National Association of Social Workers. It’s designed to explore topics that social workers care about and to hear from experts and pioneers in the field.

Featured Episode: Getting Proactive About Child Immigration. In this episode, Martha Gonzalez-Cortes, senior vice president of community investment at Kalamazoo Community Foundation, talks about the crisis of immigrant children separated from their families and what can be done about it.

Learn more about Capella University’s online social work degree programs.