ALT-1 How to become a Social Worker
If you are looking for a career with long days, heart rending stories, high levels of frustration, and the possibility of huge emotional rewards, becoming a social worker will meet and exceed your expectations. If you are looking to resolve your own long standing issues and purge the skeletons from your childhood closets, you need to run from this profession because your answer is not here.
Social work is not about self-inspection or a replacement for badly needed personal counselling. Social work ishelping others. You can choose to help children, people with special needs, senior citizens, people struggling with uncurable diseases, or just to be there for families in need. In order to enter social work, you do not actually have to set yourself on an educational track. You just need to find a place where you can help people and start doing it.
However, if your plan is to climb the ladder in the field of social work, you will need the educational credentials and state certifications to do it. It is important that you determine early in your undergraduate education what type of social work interests you most. Some high schools have paid social workers. You may want to do social work in a nursing home or hospital. Your real interest may be family service type of work. Even some high school counselors are more of a social worker than a counselor.
Having determined the direction that you are heading, it is time to prepare yourself educationally for that position. Plan from the beginning to continue your education through at least a masters degree. Nearly all worthwhile positions in social work require a master in social work or above.
If you are heading into the public school system, you may have to earn a teaching degree first. Some public schools require counselors to have two or more years of classroom experience before moving up. Make sure that you like children and teens before choosing this direction for your career.
If you want employment in health care as a social worker, you will need course work that includes health care related issues. Even some training in the laws that regulate that field would be wise. Depending where you head in the health care spectrum, you may need some pediatric training for children or geriatric training for long term care.
It might also be a good idea to check with the state licensing board and find out what educational and experience conditions are required for licensure. Some licenses only require that you meet the educational needs. Other types of licenses add on requirements of a certain number of hours or years spent working in the field. If you are adding some form of license to be able to counsel families and individuals, the requirements can become even more significant.
