Social Worker

Job Opportunities

Job opportunities for a social worker is expected to grow between 18% to 26% by 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Labor:

• Competition for social worker jobs is expected in cities, however, opportunities should be good in rural areas
• Job prospects may be best for a social worker with a background in gerontology and substance abuse treatment.
• As hospitals continue to limit the length of patient stays, the demand for social workers in hospitals will grow more slowly than in other areas.
• Because hospitals are releasing patients earlier than in the past, social worker employment in home health care services is growing.
• The expanding senior population will spur demand for a social worker that can work with the elderly in nursing homes, long-term care facilities, hospices, and senior-living communities.
• Strong demand is expected for substance abuse social workers as correctional systems increasingly add substance abuse treatment to inmate sentencing or probation.
• Employment in government agencies may grow due to increasing needs for public welfare, family services, and child protection services.
• Employment of school social workers also is expected to grow as expanded efforts to respond to continued emphasis on integrating disabled children into the general school population.

Basic job responsibilities

The basic job responsibilities of a social worker may include:

• helping people function the best way they can in their environment, deal with their relationships, and solve personal and family problems.
• seeing clients who face a life-threatening disease or a social problem, such as inadequate housing, unemployment, a serious illness, a disability, or substance abuse.
• assisting families that have serious domestic conflicts, sometimes involving child or spousal abuse.

Other job responsibilities may include:

• working evenings and weekends to meet with clients, attend community meetings, and handle emergencies.
• traveling locally to visit clients, meet with service providers, or attend meetings.
• working in a satisfying, yet emotionally draining environment.
• dealing with pressure due to understaffing and large caseloads.
• working on teams with clinical specialists, registered nurses, and health aides.

Work Environment

A social worker can be found in different work environments:

• schools
• prisons
• hospitals
• individual and family services agencies
• state or local governments
• substance abuse treatment centers

A social worker can specialize in different areas:

A child, family or school social worker—

• provides social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families.
• maximizes the family well-being and academic functioning of children.
• assists single parents, arranges adoptions, or helps find foster homes for neglected, abandoned, or abused children.
• addresses such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy and advises teachers on how to cope with problem students.
• teaches workshops to classes.
• specializes in services for senior citizens, running support groups for family caregivers or for the adult children of aging parents.
• helps workers cope with job-related pressures or with personal problems that affect the quality of their work.

A child, family and school social worker is also called:

• child welfare social worker
• family services social worker
• child protective services social worker
• occupational social worker
• gerontology social worker

A medical and public health social worker—

• provides persons, families, or vulnerable populations with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses.
• advises family caregivers, counsel patients, and help plan for patients' needs after discharge by arranging for at-home services.
• works on interdisciplinary teams that evaluate certain kinds of patients.
• assesses and treats individuals with mental illness or substance abuse problems.
• provides individual and group therapy, outreach, crisis intervention, social rehabilitation, and training in skills of everyday living.
• helps plan for supportive services to ease patients' return to the community.

Another type of social worker is:

• a social work planner:
  • develops programs to address such issues as child abuse, homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, and violence.
  • researches and analyzes policies, programs, and regulations.
  • identifies social problems and suggest legislative and other solutions.
  • helps raise funds or writes grants to support these programs.

Requirements

• A bachelor's degree in social work (BSW) degree is the most common minimum requirement to qualify for a job as a social worker.
• A master's degree in social work (MSW) is typically required for to be a social worker in health settings, and public and private agencies.
• Supervisory, administrative, and staff training social worker jobs usually require master's degree.
• College and university teaching positions and most research appointments normally require a doctorate in social work (DSW or Ph.D.).
• All States and the District of Columbia have licensing, certification, or registration requirements regarding social work practice and the use of professional titles.
• A social worker should be emotionally mature, objective, and sensitive to people and their problems.