Summary Ongoing racism, structural inequity, dehumanizing institutional bureaucracies, unresponsive service delivery systems, and gaps in services for emerging needs are just some of the pervasive challenges in need of social work leadership. The multidisciplinary nature of social work practice also requires value-based leadership processes on multiple ecological levels to address the challenges inherent within social delivery systems. Social work encourages all social workers to lead these change efforts, but research on front-line social work leadership is lacking. Constructionist conceptualizations of leadership as social influence processes provide a unit of analysis to examine front-line leadership. A secondary analysis of qualitative data examining social work practice that promotes well-being and social justice revealed leadership processes in multiple social work practice settings. Findings Front-line social workers demonstrate three overarching leadership processes in their practice: challenging injustice and changing mindsets, conduit for change, and organizing resources and relationships. Applications Conceptualizing leadership as social influence processes identifies and acknowledges the leadership of front-line social workers, expanding the profession’s capacity to collectively articulate and initiate change with a range of social problems and systemic challenges in organizations and communities.

Much of the literature on teaching qualitative research consists of instructional philosophies or descriptions of classroom activities. Little has been written about the actual experience of a qualitative research course, especially from the students' perspective. Writing about a course without the voices of those being taught would be like critiquing a meal only by speaking with those who cooked it: we might know what was intended but not what was experienced. Thus, this collaborative paper, written from the perspectives of both instructor and students, offers a unique multilensed view of a course on qualitative social work research. Doctoral students from diverse backgrounds describe their struggles, frustrations, and moments of illumination as they engaged with this new paradigm of knowledge. Because no teaching module will affect all students in the same way, their reflections also explore the role of culture and individual history in shaping response to qualitative methods. Theories of adult learning are suggested as a way to assist the process of adjustment to what are, for many, unsettling new concepts. Students' experiences are then compared with the existing literature. The paper concludes with applications of qualitative research for social justice and human rights.

For over a century the social work profession has had a dual purpose, to promote both human well-being and social justice, but we have not found research that explores how social workers understand and work toward both purposes across multiple practice roles and settings. Authors of this article conducted qualitative research to examine how 18 social workers in various roles and settings understand and implement both purposes in their practice. Instead of a dual purpose, participants described a unifying purpose: a "just sense of well-being" that transcends role and setting. Valuing the dignity and worth of all human beings frames and fuels their work toward a just sense of well-being through three interactive themes: challenging injustice on every level; constructing justice through relationship and resource organizing; and constructing justice through the creation of accepting environments where professionals, clients, and community members can reflect and question, and change mind-sets and actions. Participants provided an array of possibilities for action with clients, professionals, and public leaders within organizations and communities. The implication here is that social workers are charged to reinvigorate purpose and values back into practice with value-based assessment thinking that frames possibilities for action across methods and settings.