In my master thesis, I focus on the role of social work in the 2023 floods. I wanted to find out how social workers organised their work during the floods, how they responded to people's needs and what skills they used in doing so. In my master thesis I first introduced the concepts used in social work in natural and other disasters. Using the literature, I introduced the concepts of vulnerability and resilience, which are key to understanding people's responses in times of emergency. I further introduced the range of emergencies and the causes of their occurrence, while attempting to describe the role of social work within individual natural and other disasters. In the theoretical introduction, I also presented Slovenian legislation in the field of protection and rescue, with a focus on the legal framework for assisting people affected by floods. Finally, I described the social work response. I carried out qualitative research. I interviewed social workers and a social worker. Through the interviews, I learned about how they responded during the floods, what was weighing on them, how they coped with the stresses and what knowledge supported them in their work. I also got an insight into the needs of those affected by the floods and the consequences they are still facing today. Based on the responses, I have made suggestions for improving the response in the future and guidelines for designing a model of social work in emergencies. The results showed that social workers were not prepared for emergencies, but that they tried to organise and support people in an ad hoc way, depending on the organisation in which they were working.
Guidelines and a work plan for social work response in emergency situations should be developed. At the same time, the need to integrate social work into national protection and assistance plans became apparent.
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