In the various conceptualisations of scope and content, community work assumes different forms, including the promotion of social work initiatives, nurturing of community organisations, and provision of geographical services and community advocacy. In this study, the thoughts of external supervisors and social workers in outlying islands of Taiwan were gathered to determine whether the aforementioned conceptualisations solely stem from different project tasks and whether they collectively align with the principles of social work. To elucidate the fundamental underpinnings of initiating community work on outlying islands and offer insights into possible interventions, narratives of collaborative effort between external supervisors and social workers on outlying islands were collected, including same-island and island-hopping experiences across distinct job roles. In addition, factors contributing to mechanisms of development and supervision aimed at training community workers were investigated to enhance the professional quality of community work.