An exploration of intuition for social work practice and education

Summary.

Intuition, the “first awareness,” is present before thought engages and is always at our service. Although intuition is rarely a specific focus in the social work literature, it is receiving increasing attention in many fields. It is time for intuition to be investigated for its possible contribution to the field of social work. This article discusses an evolving context for intuition found in the literature on the spiritual dimension in social work practice, transpersonal theory, and practice wisdom. It also reports the results of an exploratory investigation of social work students’ attitude toward intuition. They were highly positive about the existence of intuition and the importance of studying the intuitive capacity of the human being in order to enhance social work practice.