Answering the Call: What Crisis Work Reveals About Public Health and Social Work

I’ve spent the last two years answering calls from people in crisis — some experiencing suicidal ideation and others simply needing someone to talk to in a moment of loneliness. Many callers to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline are reaching out from parts of the state where mental health resources are scarce and severe mental health concerns remain. It’s likely they would benefit much more from consistent, in-person therapy and strong community support, but those resources may not be readily available where they live. 

Experiences like these have shown me that the support someone needs often extends beyond what any single helping profession can provide. As a social work graduate student interning at a public health organization (while continuing to answer calls on the crisis line), I’ve come to see just how much these two fields depend on one another. This is most plain to see through the values of each profession. Social work and public health share many of the same values: equity, access and a commitment to serving those most impacted by systemic barriers. When the two professions come together, we can respond to crises more fully, more compassionately and more effectively.  

This blog reflects on what I’ve learned at the intersection of these professions and how I’ll take that learning forward as I enter the workforce. 

Social Work and Public Health: Interconnected Fields

In technical terms, social work is a practice-based profession that promotes social change and development, social cohesion and the empowerment and liberation of people. While social workers are no strangers to wearing many different professional hats (Figure 1), it is the values of the profession — justice, equity and integrity — that define the work. To me, social work is a dynamic and continually evolving practice rooted in historical context, guided by evidence-based research and grounded in unconditional positive regard for individuals and communities. 

Figure 1:  Where Do Social Workers Work?

Social work and public health are interconnected fields that share a foundational commitment to evidence-based practice and research aimed at improving well-being at both the individual and community levels. While public health emphasizes disease prevention, health promotion and policy development, social work focuses on social justice, empowerment and advocacy for vulnerable and marginalized communities. At their core, both disciplines seek to dismantle systemic inequities and strive to build healthier, more equitable societies. 

The partnership between these two disciplines is not new by any means. Social workers have been involved in public health initiatives for more than a century. In its earliest forms, social work sought to address public health concerns surrounding issues such as poverty and sanitation. During the Progressive Era, social workers were embedded in public health efforts to address issues such as maternal mortality and child labor. These early collaborations helped lay the groundwork for programs such as the Children’s Bureau. Advocacy efforts from social workers during the Great Depression helped shape policies on maternal and infant health. In 1985, the first dual Master of Social Work (MSW) and Master of Public Health (MPH) programs were launched, solidifying the formal integration of public health and social work education (Figure 2). 

Figure 2. Timeline of Partnerships Between Social Work and Public Health 

Complementary Frameworks Promote Health and Well-Being

These two professions remain shaped by distinct, but complementary frameworks. The 13 Grand Challenges of Social Work (Figure 3) ask us to develop an understanding of the challenges faced by the most vulnerable populations and to identify the systemic gaps and social barriers that demand attention. The 10 Essential Public Health Services (Figure 4) focus on improving and protecting community health through assessment, policy development and assurance to design and implement effective population-based interventions.  Together, they form a powerful roadmap for promoting health equity and social justice. 

Figure 3.  The 13 Grand Challenges of Social Work 

Figure 4.  The 10 Essential Public Health Services 

While thinking about how these two frameworks intersect in my crisis work, a few examples come to mind. For example, one of the Grand Challenges of Social Work is to “ensure healthy development for all youth.” The 10 Essential Public Health Services address this challenge by asking professionals to “assess and monitor population health status, factors that influence health, and community needs and assets.” As crisis counselors, we often take a more direct approach with youth callers in which we help them identify a safe adult, ensure their current location is safe and offer to follow up with them the following day. However, the nature of crisis work doesn’t allow for much more intervention than that. In collaboration with public health, youth experiencing suicidal ideation or other mental health crises could benefit from a more robust safety net of professionals to catch them so they don’t slip through the cracks after the initial crisis is over.  

Addressing Challenges Through Improved Collaboration

Despite this alignment, I’ve also noticed the differences between social work and public health. One of the clearest differences is in how the two fields approach assessment. Public health professionals often use tools such as needs assessments and health impact assessments to gather data and track population-level needs. These tools are essential for planning, resource allocation and policy development, but they don’t always capture what is unfolding in the middle of a crisis call.  

On the crisis line, there is no time for formal intake tools. We rely on a caller’s tone, language and urgency to guide our response. We use frameworks such as person-in-environment and biopsychosocial assessments to understand all the external and internal factors that influence the individual. These assessments are flexible and narrative, but because they don’t always align with structured data systems, our insights are harder to integrate into public health practice. Relationship-based assessment, knowing how to listen and what to ask, can be just as informative as a checklist, but it is not easily captured in the kinds of standardized tools used in public health settings. While many public health professionals also are invested in person-centered care, creating shared frameworks that combine the structure of public health tools with the depth of social work assessments could improve both communication and collaboration. 

A challenge social workers often experience is a lack of clarity around our role in interdisciplinary teams. I have noticed that professionals and patients alike often do not fully understand what we’re trained to do. Most commonly, we’re seen as therapists. Sometimes as case managers. Sometimes as advocates. The truth is that we can fill all these roles and more, depending on the context. Social workers provide a unique perspective to public health due to our relationship-based assessments and in-depth Code of Ethics. Hospitals, schools, legislative bodies, community health centers and other organizations benefit every day from the careful, holistic approach social workers provide.  But when our role is not well understood, it is easy for our voices to be left out of care planning or decision making. Promoting role clarity through interprofessional training, onboarding and cross-discipline collaboration could make a meaningful difference. 

Siloed systems also complicate collaboration. In crisis work, I often speak to callers who fall between the cracks. They might qualify for services through one agency but not another. For example, some callers can access clinical assessments through local crisis centers, while others in more remote areas can’t due to service deserts or eligibility rules. Additionally, privacy concerns may limit our ability to make referrals. Solutions could include more coordinated referrals procedures that maintain confidentiality while streamlining services.  

Part of the challenge also stems from historically limited interdisciplinary education, though this is beginning to change. Joint programs, shared coursework and integrated field placements are becoming more common in social work and public health education. Before starting this internship, I had very little exposure to public health frameworks, and many of the public health professionals I’ve met say the same about social work. Expanding interprofessional education across institutions or through simulations, joint seminars or cross-training placements would better prepare students to understand each other’s roles and work together more effectively from the start. 

I am also a strong advocate for social work leadership being more present in public health spaces. Social workers bring additional expertise in systems thinking, trauma-informed care and community engagement. We are trained to see both the individual and the system and can easily move between them with the rapport we build with individuals and communities.  By responding to the individual, social workers develop a deep understanding of how systems succeed or fail in real time, something that data can’t always show. This insight can sharpen public health strategies and ground them in practical, lived realities. Many public health professionals share this dual lens, and together we are better positioned to design systems that reflect lived experience and create meaningful change. Elevating social work leadership is not just a matter of professional recognition. Including social workers in strategic planning, policy development and leadership roles can help create more equitable and responsive public health programs. 

Working in both public health and crisis intervention has shown me how much stronger our systems could be if we worked together more intentionally. Every time I pick up a call from someone in distress, I’m reminded that no one profession alone can meet the depth of what people are carrying. But by inviting social work perspectives into public health spaces, and vice versa, we can build systems that are more coordinated, more compassionate and more capable of meeting people where they are, allowing for both immediate responses and long-term stability.