Knowing how to become a social worker can be the first step in a satisfying and lucrative career. Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions you will make in your life. If chosen well, your career will be a long-lasting commitment, one that will persist for many years and hopefully provide you great satisfaction and fulfillment. There are thousands of career options available. Some of these take lengthy educational and training programs in order to qualify for them, which makes it even more important to start thinking about what career you may want as early as possible. Even if you have been in the workforce for some time, however, it is possible to make a career change that will provide you greater enjoyment.
Pursuing Social Work
Social work is among the most popular of educational pursuits. More college students than ever are committing their educational careers to learning the theories and methodology of this field. So, what is social work?
“Social work” is a broad term that encompasses many functions and capacities. These professionals interact with and help people, whether they be children in difficult home situations, elderly people in assisted living, or administering government benefits to those in need. Becoming a social worker means devoting your life to the assistance of people, and solving sometimes complicated problems.
Social work can be a stressful and emotionally challenging field, so those considering a career in the field should be strong, stable and capable of dealing with intense pressure and tension. Being a social worker isn’t all upsetting, though. It can also be exceptionally rewarding. A large part of making the decision as to whether to pursue this field is considering how to become a social worker. Though necessary qualifications for becoming a social worker vary from state to state, there are some basic steps that must be taken.
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How to Become a Social Worker: Education
The first step in achieving your goal of becoming a social worker is to receive the proper education. Most colleges and universities offer a social work major that provides the appropriate and necessary educational foundation to a social work career.
To become a basic social worker, you must at least earn a Bachelor’s degree. Clinical social work, forensic social work and other more intensive parts of the field require further education. If you wish to be involved in research, medical practices or simply have an occupation with greater responsibility and scope, you must earn a Master’s of social work. Though it is generally possible to earn this degree from the same institution from which you earned your Bachelor’s degree, many students choose to attend social work graduate programs at other, perhaps more prestigious schools. Seeking further education at another institution is also an opportunity to move closer to the area in which you would like to work when you have become licensed.
A study in social work will include all of the basic general education requirements of most any degree: core mathematics, English, science and history. There will also be a strong focus in the social sciences. These include psychology and sociology, both of which deal with human behavior and interaction. Through psychology you will learn about the brain and the individual, perhaps focusing on a particular discipline within the field such as developmental psychology if you hope to be a child social worker, or abnormal psychology if you are considering becoming a clinical social worker. Sociology is a field that deals mainly with the workings of a society and the interactions of the people within it. This study will prepare you to deal with conflict, and understand the behaviors of large groups of people within certain cultures or subcultures based on identity and tradition.
The more complex the relationships and situations a social worker deals with, the more educational experience he has behind him. In addition to the core educational requirements you will need to complete while working toward your degree, you will also need to complete an average of four hundred hours of field experience for a Bachelor’s degree, and nine hundred for a Master’s degree. This experience is much like a residency for a doctoral student and allows students to learn in a hands-on, real-life situation that cannot be adequately instructed in a classroom setting. This experience is supervised, meaning you will be in close contact with someone who can help you with how to become a social worker by giving support and guidance.
How to Become a Social Worker: Licensing
In order to obtain official titles, and practice in most specialty areas of social work, you must be licensed. After you have made a decision as to what particular field of social work that you wish to work in, and completed the educational requirements that are associated with this field, you must complete further licensing qualifications. These vary depending on your locality and the particular occupation you hope to have once licensed. Generally, though, becoming licensed requires up to two years, or three thousand additional hours, of specialty-specific field experience under the supervision of a qualified social worker in your chosen field. Once this is complete you will have earned your license and be fully able to practice and seek employment in whatever capacity you have chosen.
Potential for Advancement
For those who choose to pursue a Master’s of social work and engage in intensive on-the-job work training, there is potential for advancement. Becoming a director or high-level worker within an agency requires hard work that can only be accomplished through years of dedication. Putting in the effort, though, can ensure that you will have a career of which you are proud and from which you receive fulfillment. Another opportunity for advancement is to begin a private practice. In some situations social workers are qualified to act as counselors similar to psychologists. These are especially useful for people who have experienced abuse or traumatic situations. In these situations it may not be necessary to explore these people’s psychological make-up or do in-depth analysis, but it may be useful to healing for them to be able to speak with someone compassionate and with knowledge and experience to back them up.
If you have the passion for helping people and want a career that enables you to do this while also supporting yourself, finding out how to become a social worker is an intelligent step toward achieving your goals.
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