What it means to be a dual professional - Guest Post by Kenrica Sands (Dec '18)

Kenrica Sands, MSW/MPH Student (Dec '18)

Functional, versatile, inconspicuous (as in other professions may not understand your purpose), and innovative accurately describe a dual professional, also referred to as an interdisciplinary professional. This individual simultaneously identifies in two different disciplines - public health and social work. This dual identity affords an individual the opportunity to develop and enrich skills in two different fields that share a common principle - prevention. “Prevention, by definition, enhances human well-being by preventing major problems of living” (McCave & Rishel, 2011). A dual professional embodies a multi-method approach to combating social health challenges such as “globalization, increased migration, natural and manmade disasters, persistent chronic diseases, and resulting health disparities” that affect domestic and international populations (Ruth, 2008). Further, both “professions values and goals, such as reducing health disparities among oppressed and vulnerable populations, are consistent with a preventative approach to practice” - the beautiful commitment that marries the two professions (McCave & Rishel, 2011).

One can visually relate a dual professional to wearing a skort. The professional may appear as having one skill set and pedagogy but truly there is another set of skills and pedagogy unseen. Dual professionals have the advantage of wearing multiple hats at once or switching hats when necessary. These individuals have mobility, flexibility, and opportunity to impact lives on a micro and macro scale. In regards to the academic jargon around dual professionals, one can attest to “ public health social work as [being] based on an epidemiologic approach to preventing, addressing, and solving social health problems” (Ruth, 2008) . In academia, a dual professional embodying public health and social work has greater functionality and skillset that equips them with a different perspective when approaching various social health problems. Professionally, this individual has the capacity to work in multiple service arenas such as federal, state, and local. The individual also has both leadership and teamwork skills required to work on multidisciplinary teams. Dual professionals withhold a special characteristic of being able to serve in different ways on a team from collecting and synthesizing data to conducting bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessments. These dual professionals make for great team members that bring a unique quality and drive that brings forth justice socially, economically, and
environmentally.

I believe that dual professionals, more specifically public health social work professionals, are unique tools that many people do not understand how to use. Dual professionals are trained and equipped to work towards eliminating inequities and bringing homeostasis to communities in efforts to increase quality of life. As this field grows, innovative approaches will be the cutting edge sword fighting back systems of oppression and discrimination.

- Kenrica Sands, MSW/MPH student, expected graduation December 2018

Visit Kenrica's LinkedIn profile.

References
McCave, E. & Rishel, C. (2011). Prevention as an explicit part of the social work profession: a systematic investigation. Advances in Social Work. 12(2), 226-240.
Ruth, et al. (2008). Public health and social work: Training dual professionals for the contemporary workplace. Encyclopedia of Social Work. 20, 1-11.