The gap between the rich and the poor continues to grow in America. As poverty and unemployment continue to rise, so too do other chronic social ills like substance abuse, mental illness, and violence. Civilizations are often measured by how they tend to these problems. And social workers are on the front lines, working for solutions to society's ills and giving of their time and energy to provide resources and life improvements to these most vulnerable members of our communities.
If you feel a strong desire to make a difference in your community and in the life of someone in need, than perhaps a career in social work is the right fit for you. The following course will walk you through the steps to become a licensed social worker.
Introduction To Social Work The People
The first step toward becoming a social worker is obtaining a bachelors degree in social work. The BSW will open the door to both further education (like a Masters in Social Work or a Doctorate in Social Work) and to entry level job opportunities as a social worker. The following sources will provide an overview of the Bachelor of Social Work degree, how much you should expect to spend to obtain one, and which schools are ranked as the best for this field.
If after completing your BSW you are interested to pursue further education, the next step is to obtain a Masters of Social Work degree. The MSW opens up the possibility of moving into higher paying and more long-term social work careers. It also will allow you to move into entry level administrative and managerial roles. There are both good online and tradition MSW programs, so make sure to look for a program that best fits your goals and life needs. The following sources will provide a sense of what you can expect to earn with a MSW, what new career options are available with this degree, which schools are considered the best, and which are the best online options.
Though it is not necessary in order to have a successful career in social work, there are some social work jobs that require a doctorate. There are two paths the doctorate can take: the Doctorate of Social Work (DSW) and the PhD. The DSW is aimed at practitioners and will open up further career opportunities working in the field of social work. The PhD is a research degree and will prepare you to become train the next generation of social workers. The following sources outline these two degrees in more depth, outline the costs and time involved in these degrees, and should help you begin to determine if this level of education is right for you.
The final step in becoming a social worker is to find your first job. As with any job, it is important to know how to find listings, build professional networks, craft resumes and cover letters, and perform well in your interviews. The following sources outline these points specifically for social workers. Smith College has provided a robust document (PDF) that outlines several tips for social workers seeking their first job, and Inter Match posts routinely posts entry-level jobs for social workers.
Complete the Master of Social Work online program at Baylor University in as few as 12 months. Serve populations in Texas and around the world while ethically integrating faith and social work practice. No GRE required.
Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being.[1][2] Social work practice draws from areas, such as psychology, sociology, health, political science, community development, law, and economics to engage with systems and policies, conduct assessments, develop interventions, and enhance social functioning and responsibility. The ultimate goal of social work is the improvement of people's lives and the achievement of social justice.
Social work practice is often divided into three levels. Micro-work involves working directly with individuals and families, such as providing individual counseling/therapy or assisting a family in accessing services. Mezzo-work involves working with groups and communities, such as conducting group therapy or providing services for community agencies. Macro-work involves fostering change on a larger scale through advocacy, social policy, research development, non-profit and public service administration, or working with government agencies.[3] Starting in the 1980s, a few universities began social work management programmes, to prepare students for the management of social and human service organizations, in addition to classical social work education.[4]
The social work profession[5] developed in the 19th century, with some of its roots in voluntary philanthropy and in grassroots organizing.[6] However, responses to social needs had existed long before then, primarily from public almshouses, private charities and religious organizations. The effects of the Industrial Revolution and of the Great Depression of the 1930s placed pressure on social work to become a more defined discipline as social workers responded to the child welfare concerns related to widespread poverty and reliance on child labor in industrial settings.[7][need quotation to verify][8][9]
Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities, and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance well-being.[10]
Social work is a profession concerned with helping individuals, families, groups and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. It aims to help people develop their skills and their ability to use their resources and those of the community to resolve problems. Social work is concerned with individual and personal problems but also with broader social issues such as poverty, unemployment, and domestic violence.[11]
Social work practice consists of the professional application of social principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve social and health services, and participating in legislative processes. The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social and economic, and cultural institutions; and the interaction of all these factors.[12]
Social workers work with individuals and families to help improve outcomes in their lives. This may be helping to protect vulnerable people from harm or abuse or supporting people to live independently. Social workers support people, act as advocates and direct people to the services they may require. Social workers often work in multi-disciplinary teams alongside health and education professionals.[13]
This was accompanied by a less easily defined movement; the development of institutions to deal with the entire range of social problems. All had their most rapid growth during the nineteenth century, and laid the foundation basis for modern social work, both in theory and in practice.[17]
Professional social work originated in 19th century England, and had its roots in the social and economic upheaval wrought by the Industrial Revolution, in particular, the societal struggle to deal with the resultant mass urban-based poverty and its related problems. Because poverty was the main focus of early social work, it was intricately linked with the idea of charity work.[17]
Other important historical figures that shaped the growth of the social work profession are Jane Addams, who founded the Hull House in Chicago and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931; Mary Ellen Richmond, who wrote Social Diagnosis, one of the first social workbooks to incorporate law, medicine, psychiatry, psychology, and history; and William Beveridge, who created the social welfare state, framing the debate on social work within the context of social welfare provision.
During the 1840s, Dorothea Lynde Dix, a retired Boston teacher who is considered the founder of the Mental Health Movement, began a crusade that would change the way people with mental disorders were viewed and treated. Dix was not a social worker; the profession was not established until after she died in 1887. However, her life and work were embraced by early psychiatric social workers, and she is considered one of the pioneers of psychiatric social work along with Elizabeth Horton, who in 1907 was the first psychiatric social worker in the New York hospital system, and others.[18][19]
The early twentieth century was a time of progressive change in attitudes towards mental illness. The Community Mental Health Centers Act was passed in 1963. This policy encouraged the deinstitutionalisation of people with mental illness. Later, the mental health consumer movement came by 1980s. A consumer was defined as a person who has received or is currently receiving services for a psychiatric condition. People with mental disorders and their families became advocates for better care. Building public understanding and awareness through consumer advocacy helped bring mental illness and its treatment into mainstream medicine and social services.[20] The 2000s saw the managed care movement, which aimed at a health care delivery system to eliminate unnecessary and inappropriate care to reduce costs, and the recovery movement, which by principle acknowledges that many people with serious mental illness spontaneously recover and others recover and improve with proper treatment.[21]
Mental health services, is a loose network of services ranging from highly structured inpatient psychiatric units to informal support groups, where psychiatric social workers indulges in the diverse approaches in multiple settings along with other paraprofessional workers.[citation needed] 2ff7e9595c
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