Professionals working in the field of clinical social work counsel and therapeutically treat patients in various fields of health care and social services.

The Greek word »klíne« traditionally referred to the bed or the den; »klínike téchne« represented the »healing arts of bedridden patients«. In science and medicine, the use of the term »clinical« was later extended to broadly encompass the therapeutic treatment of humans, and was no longer linked to images of the sickbed and the hospital. Thus, clinical social work emphasizes an approach of psycho-social assistance to medicine regardless of the setting.

Based on a bio-psycho-social basic understanding of health, disorder, illness, and disability, clinical social work focuses on sophisticated psycho-social diagnostics, counseling and treatment in the context of the clients' lifeworlds, and on social clinical oriented approaches to influence the clients' micro-, meso-, and macrosystems.

Clinical social workers work in settings that provide psychological and social counseling and social therapy. They provide social services and assistance by working in family, youth, and children's welfare services; in community psychiatry, hospitals and specialty clinics; in addiction counseling; in different aspects of rehabilitation; in elderly care; and in certain areas of assistance for former offenders.

The concept of the »clinical« thus emphasizes a focus on approaches characterized by direct contact with clients in a social therapy context, both in institutional frameworks and especially in the clients' immediate life worlds.