Registered Social Work Services- What Does This Mean?

A social worker supports individuals, youth, and families by helping them navigate emotional challenges, social stressors, and complex systems such as mental health, addictions, housing, FSCD, and Children’s Services. Social workers also provide counselling within their scope of practice, offering emotional support, problem-solving, skill-building, and guidance during difficult moments. They advocate for clients, connect them with appropriate resources, and work from a trauma-informed, strengths-based lens to promote safety, stability, resilience, and meaningful change. 

All services at Rivet Support Services are provided by a Registered Social Worker (BSW, RSW) in accordance with the Alberta College of Social Worker's (ACSW) standards to ensure safe, ethical, and accountable practice.

While both social workers and psychologists can provide counseling, social workers bring a broader, more holistic focus to their practice. Social workers combine solution focused counselling with advocacy, system navigation, resource coordination, and support for the social, environmental, and relational factors that impact a person’s well-being. Their work addresses the whole context of a client’s life — including family dynamics, community supports, safety, housing, and structural barriers.

Counseling psychologists, on the other hand, primarily focus on mental and emotional health from an individual perspective. Their work centers on assessing and addressing psychological concerns, emotional difficulties, and behavioral patterns through therapeutic interventions rooted in psychological theory. 

In other words, Psychologists focus on diagnosing and treating mental health conditions, while social workers look at the bigger picture—providing counselling while also addressing the life factors and systems that contribute to a person’s challenges.