Whether you have just graduated from high school, have just completed a bachelor’s degree in another subject, or else are an older professional who is looking for a fresh, new, and exciting change of career, then you could not be in a better place.
Social work is one of the most incredibly rewarding, though not without its daily challenges, careers that you could possibly hope to embark upon and is an area of healthcare and community wellbeing that is growing and expanding at an exponential rate every single year.
With that being said, continue reading for a detailed guide on how to become a social worker.
What Does a Social Worker Do?
Essentially, although social work is a multi-faceted and all-encompassing role, at its heart is a personal desire and a professional obligation to actively help, assist, and improve an individual’s life, as well as the lives of families, children, and on a wider scale, local communities as a whole.
Social workers often work with marginalized areas of society and act as a voice for those who do not seem to be able to stand up for their opinion and their needs. As a result, every single day in the working life of a social worker varies greatly; however, there are more than a few common roles, duties, and responsibilities that social workers are usually tasked with.
Such roles and responsibilities include, but are categorically in no way limited to:
- Becoming an advocate for individuals and groups
- The provision of counseling for individuals
- The conducting of initial assessments of situations
- The determining of individual targets and goals
- Communicating assessments to other support workers and family members
- The provision of crisis intervention when needed (substance abuse, to name an example)
- The referral of individuals to indicated and appropriate treatment centers
- Complying steadfastly to all data protection laws and all other legalities
Skills Required to Be a Competent Social Worker
There is a multitude of qualities, skillsets, and general personality traits that make for a successful, engaged, and mutually benefiting social worker, be that in the local community or a specialist social work setting.
Compassion and empathy are one of, if not the, most important personality traits that someone who wants to be a social worker invariably must possess, as well as excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Connecting with people forms the foundations of a good social worker, so if you are able to show professional and personal evidence of times gone by where you were an integral part of helping either an individual or a group of people, this will invariably stand you in good stead.
Other skills that are necessary to become a professional and qualified social worker include excellent time management skills, critical thinking abilities, exceedingly strong organizational skills, and an inclination to be somewhat service orientated.
Compartmentalization Is Key
As social work is such an emotive and involved career, it is important that you either already know or quickly learn how to maintain a healthy and stable professional to personal life and an overall strong work/life balance. This can also be referred to as the ability to compartmentalize.
Expected Salary of a Professional & Qualified Social Worker
Although from state to state, as indeed from country to country, the average expected salary of a professional and qualified social worker can vary significantly, you can expect to start on around thirty-five thousand dollars, moving to fifty thousand over the years of professional work. At the top end of social worker salaries, you could expect to eventually be earning between seventy-eight and eighty-two thousand dollars per annum.
The Concept of Social Justice
Social justice is essentially the fair and equal division and diversification of privileges, wealth, and opportunities amongst a society or community. Social justice forms the fundamental working ethic of social work, and its foundations are cemented into the day-to-day practices of professionals.
How to Become a Professional Social Worker
Before you learn how to become a professional social worker, it would be prudent to point out that the work can sometimes be particularly grueling and can take a considerable toll on your emotional health and wellbeing. However, the rewards and return on helping a plethora of different people every single time counteract the emotional toll, and you will certainly be afforded a huge level of job satisfaction should you choose to pursue a career in social work.
To become a social worker in this country, it is necessary to successfully acquire a bachelor’s, undergraduate degree in social work and one that is wholly approved and verified by the Health and Care Professions Council. After your undergraduate studies, it is strongly advisable to go on to pursue an msw degree online to fully equip you with everything you need to have the highest positive effect on both individuals and the local community as a whole.
Benefits of Becoming a Social Worker
As with other careers within the health and social care sector, there are a wide host of advantages to dedicating your professional life to a career as a social worker.
Social work is a growing field of study and practice. Therefore there are more and more roles and opportunities for qualified social workers being created across the length and breadth of the country every single year. Additionally, in some cases, as social work is part and parcel of the healthcare sector, some social workers are also afforded the luxury of having their previous student loan debts paid off for them.
Generally, social workers share a key set of core values and are usually empathic, compassionate, and more or less entirely selfless people who really feel not just that they want to make a difference to other people’s lives, but moreover, that they can.
Social work is an incredibly versatile field and allows the individual to pursue specific areas of interest within the framework of social care, such as mental health, military members and veteran health, community matters, children and family care, and many, many more.
