ABSTRACT
Social work in Latin America has been framed by an ethical-political dimension committed to democracy and change in social structures to ensure social justice. This has put under dispute the possibilities of clinical social work, which has been defined as a reduced understanding of social problems in Latin America. The increasing complexity of people’s lives, related not only to poverty but to the convergence of many difficulties across life’s course, provides a disciplinary opportunity for social workers to innovate in ways to deliver effective tools and skills in coping with violence, addiction, mental health problems, discrimination, and exclusion. Thus, supplementing traditional social work practice in the region, with clinical social work as a specialised area of intervention, seems urgent. This chapter examines the contributions that clinical social work can make to reach social justice in Latin America, specifically in Chile. The discussion focuses on the need for a specialised professional training in clinical social work, one that acknowledges critical social work perspectives in order to avoid reductionism when understanding social problems.
