Expanding the Environment in Social Work: The Case for Including Environmental Hazards Content

Abstract

Toxic chemicals and other hazardous substances and conditions in the physical environment threaten the health, mental health and social well-being of human beings. Increasingly, individuals, families and communities interact with a physical environment lacking in nutritive capacity and contributing to or causing serious dysfunction. This article examines efforts in the profession to define the physical environment, and presents an outline of four curriculum modules to integrate environmental hazards content into the foundation preparation of social workers.