What Can You Do With Higher Education In Social Work

Social work is a diverse field. There is much you can do with a major in social work, primarily if you pursue higher education in the subject. As a social worker, your work is all about helping communities get better. People need help for different aspects of their life including checking into rehab, financial assistance, counseling, etc. When you study more than the subject, you open yourself to more opportunities.

What Can You Do With Higher Education In Social Work

These opportunities can help you set your career in motion. You can choose to work with elders, children, and even women. In more specialized cases, you can work with the LGBTQ community to help get their rights. So, if you’re looking for careers you can pursue with higher education in social work, here are some options for you:

High-Intensity Therapist

You can work as a high-intensity therapist to help clients deal with their situations. Some high-intensity treatments include image rescripting and even exposure therapy. Since you’ll work in a highly regulated and professional environment, you will need to manage at least several cases at a time.

That is why you must be ready for the workload. Before you get into clinical social work, enroll and complete your masters in social work online while you acquire the necessary experience for licensure. You get better with exposure and even gain substantial expertise to help you work with clients. If you feel a client needs more help, you can get them admitted into psychiatry.

Higher Education In Social Work
Higher Education In Social Work

School Social Work

School social work helps you work with children in different grades, including elementary and high school kids. You can choose the kind of school you want to work with and figure out how it will help your career. You will have to assess students and judge their academic progress.

If you see patterns and trends of a child struggling, you can figure out what the child is going through and help them cope. If you feel like the child is going through behavioral and emotional problems, you can help the child. The profession requires you to know enough about schooling and children enough to help students.

Community Social Worker

Many issues prevail in society. These include problems like infectious diseases, drug issues, and even alcoholism. There may also be cases of domestic violence and even negligence of children. In all these cases, you work as a community social worker and help you work on solutions to help people live healthier and safer lives.

You may help them connect with appropriate resources and even give them the right amount of help. You may also help some community members check into rehab or trauma centers if you feel like they need it. However, most of the decisions you’ll make will come from an informed place, so don’t make choices that can hurt the community.

Psychiatric Social Workers

Psychiatric social work is the type of social work that involves supporting, providing, and administering therapy. You look after patients who have severe cases of mental illness and may need medical intervention. You work with doctors and nurses to ensure the patient is well taken care of and getting the help they need. As a social worker, you study patients and their cases.

You decide how complex the issue is and if they need help more than therapy. You also advocate for ways to ensure that when a patient gets restrained, they’re safe and not harmful to anyone. These involve a better understanding of psychiatry, so ensure you know what you’re doing to help patients. Unless you’re a medical student, you should never try recommending or working with patients using drugs; instead, stay holistic.

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Private Practice Social Worker

If you become a private practice social worker, you can offer clinical and nonclinical services through your practice. You will work as an independent social worker and help clients and their families when they come to you for help. Your work involves providing counseling and psychotherapy to anyone who needs it.

Clinical therapy involves treatment via psychological methods. Nonclinical treatment involves education and even conflict resolution if necessary. This is why it would help if you have experience. Cases can range from mild to complex, and they can get out of control unless you know how to handle all types of cases.

Pediatric Social Worker

As a pediatric social worker, you will work with children and their families to help them deal with medical adversities. Your work will be more holistic such as using techniques outside of conventional medicine to support these families. It’s not uncommon for children to be reluctant to seek help. So as a counselor, you can find better and more affordable alternatives such as yourself.

However, suppose the child’s condition is deteriorating rapidly. In that case, you can look into hospitals and healthcare facilities to take care of them. Social work is not solo work; you work with many institutes and professionals to make sure you can care for the population.

Wrap up

Social work is not an easy profession, but it can be a rewarding one. There is much for you to explore and engage with as you pursue higher education in your career. Your work may lead you to work with children, adults, or institutes of varying degrees. By acquiring education, you will be able to develop the necessary skills and know-how to help people. You will find yourself working in schools, psychiatric institutes, and even running your private practice.