Rethinking Social Work: Social Workers Well-Being and Sustainable Practice

The field of organizational psychology provides critical insights into how work environments, team processes, and leadership shape job performance and well-being. In social work organizations—including public services, NGOs, community agencies, and school-based services—workers often navigate high emotional demands, role ambiguity, chronic exposure to trauma, and systemic inequities. While organizational psychology has advanced our understanding of workplace well-being and effectiveness, social work settings remain underrepresented in the field, despite offering a uniquely rich context for studying leadership, team dynamics, ethical practice, and sustainable performance under challenging conditions. Persistent challenges such as burnout, turnover, and workforce inequity in human services underline the need for organizational psychology frameworks that better reflect the realities of social work practice, and for stronger dialogue between the two disciplines.This Research Topic aims to position social work organizations at the heart of organizational psychology by examining how structures, cultures, and daily practices shape both worker well-being and service delivery. Objectives include: (1) examining how leadership, supervision, and team functioning influence psychological safety, resilience, and retention; (2) investigating how organizational development, learning cultures, and policy or funding change affect professional identity, ethical decision-making, and innovation; and (3) connecting organizational conditions to outcomes such as engagement, burnout prevention, vocational fulfillment, and quality of care. We particularly welcome work that explores how organizational interventions and digital/hybrid work arrangements can support sustainable practice, and how inclusion and justice are expressed through workplace policies and relationships. The aim is to generate actionable knowledge to inform healthier, fairer, and more sustainable social work environments.Given the focus on organizational and work-related processes in social work, this Research Topic welcomes a range of empirical and conceptual contributions. Research may address any context of social work employment, but should not focus solely on clinical or policy outcomes. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Workplace well-being, work engagement, and burnout prevention among social workers• Leadership, supervision, and psychological safety in social work agencies• The impact of policy, funding, hybrid/digital service delivery, and emerging work forms on organizational behavior• Learning cultures, professional development, and feedback practices within social work organizations• Vocational identity, meaning at work, and values in different organizational climates• Evidence-informed and/or technology-supported interventions for resilience, engagement, and ethical practice• Inequalities, inclusion, and power dynamics in social work workplaces, and implications for SDG-related objectives Topic editors: Dana Rad, LOREDANA ILEANA VISCU, Selwyn Stanley Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/76471/rethinking-social-work-social-workers-well-being-and-sustainable-practice