I can confirm your observations. I was a social worker myself in the past twelve years or so. I was fully aware of the position, which, if I put my mind to it, would have brought me a never-ending stream of new clients. Vanity is a feeling not to be underestimated, following what is called "wanting to be needed". Dependencies guarantee you the job. I was therefore happy when there were clients who never came back after a few times and hoped they had made it out of their misery. Wanting to make oneself superfluous can be a pursuit and is basically less job-threatening than one assumes. There are still enough people left looking for support here and there.

I distasted it when I saw colleagues who perceived their clients as small and helpless and never thought that it might have something to do with themselves that the clients did not make it out of the help system.