You feel driven to make a difference and are passionate about supporting and empowering your community. Many professional paths allow you to serve, but few fields are quite as impactful or as meaningful as social work. This is a wonderful practice that attracts some of the world’s most empathetic and hardworking professionals, who feel a strong call to help others.
The rewards of social work can be considerable, but it is important to understand that this is a highly demanding field. Social workers need an elevated skill set that includes everything from cultural awareness to conflict resolution and even trauma-informed practice.
Without these skills, and without the ability to navigate and leverage local resources, social workers cannot be truly effective in their mission to support individuals and families in need. Getting licensed is also essential as it demonstrates competence as a social worker and a strong commitment to ethical standards and professional best practices.
Before you embark on this challenging, yet exciting journey, you’ll want to determine a few things. Do you need a degree to be a social worker, and, if pursuing a degree, how long does it take to become a social worker? We will answer these questions below while revealing how to get a degree in social work, and how to make the most of your social work training.
What Is Social Work?
At its most basic level, social work brings structure to the crucial work of helping people overcome challenges in their communities and in their personal lives. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) defines this as a “profession devoted to helping people function the best they can in their environment.”
The Core Principles of Social Work
NASW’s Code of Ethics reveals several fundamental values and related principles intended to “guide the professional conduct of social workers.”
- Service
- Social Justice
- Dignity and Worth
- Importance of Human Relationships
- Integrity
- Competence
What Does a Social Worker Do?
No two days look exactly alike for social workers. These professionals are continually challenged and encouraged to grow as they work with new clients and collaborate with other professionals. Still, numerous patterns and routines shape social workers’ day-to-day efforts, allowing them to make the most of their often-limited time and resources.
- Assessment: Forming the foundation for how social workers understand their clients and the concerns they face, assessments provide a structured approach to gathering important details while also evaluating clients’ support systems and revealing key risks and vulnerabilities. This information can then shape objectives and interventions.
- Case management: Individualized care and coordination of services are priorities in the field of social work, and these can be facilitated through strategic case management. This is a collaborative process in which social workers outline available interventions or resources while also coordinating care across several relevant agencies and organizations.
- Counseling and support: Although they do not serve the same function as licensed counselors, social workers often leverage counseling techniques as they help individuals or groups address key challenges. Counseling may also be required during crises and, in general, social workers can be expected to listen to, respect, and empower their clients.
- Advocacy: Social workers can be powerful advocates for their clients, giving them a voice that they may otherwise lack. This involves not only taking proactive steps to support individual clients, but also influencing policies that stand to benefit broader communities of clients.
- Crisis intervention: Emergency situations may call for sensitive, but decisive care, with social workers often leading the charge. This may begin with assessments, which reveal crisis severity and immediate risks. These can then be mitigated through safety planning. From there, social workers may be involved in crisis counseling, with the intention of reducing clients’ distress. Social workers can refer these clients to relevant resources such as emergency shelters or treatment programs.
- Documentation & reporting: Strict documentation is essential in social work, especially from an ethical and even a legal standpoint. Through careful documentation, social workers can reveal that they have fully complied with relevant rules, regulations, and best practices. This also promotes continuity of care, especially when several professionals and agencies provide services for clients. While documentation practices can differ among social workers, this typically involves case notes, standardized assessment tools, and comprehensive records.
Where Do Social Workers Work?
Social work is a diverse field that spans a myriad of settings and organizations. Public-sector positions are plentiful, although social workers are also in high demand among non-profits and even some corporate employers. Common settings include:
- Schools: Committed to guiding and supporting children and adolescents, school social workers serve as powerful liaisons between families, educators, and communities. They offer diverse services within the school setting, including crisis interventions, contributions to individualized education plans (IEPs), and counseling for students. They also collaborate with teachers, administrators, and outside agencies.
- Hospitals and medical centers: Sometimes referred to as medical social workers, those employed in hospitals or other healthcare facilities are heavily involved in patient admissions and discharge, although they may coordinate care if patients require numerous services over an extended period. Their goal is to help patients understand and make the most of available resources that can improve their health, well-being, and general quality of life.
- Mental health and substance abuse centers: Individuals suffering with mental health disorders or substance abuse may require extensive support from multiple programs or agencies. Social workers coordinate these services and play a vital role in performing assessments, plus ensuring that individualized treatment plans align with patients’ unique needs and goals. They may intervene during crises involving relapses or overdoses to help patients receive emergency care and get back on the path to recovery.
- Child welfare and family services agencies: Advocating on behalf of vulnerable children and families facing difficult living situations or other crises, social workers can play a key role in helping these children achieve a sense of stability while also paving the path to long-term care and well-being. These roles may call for extensive investigations when child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment are suspected.
- Government agencies: Several federal and state agencies employ social workers, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and Child Protective Services (CPS). Their roles can vary dramatically within these agencies, but social work ensures that relevant programs are administered properly.
- Community mental health centers: Meant to provide easy access to mental health services and resources, community mental health centers rely on social workers to ensure that clients receive the help and support they require as they navigate both mental health disorders and complex public services.
- Nonprofit organizations: Some nonprofits rely on social workers to help them fulfill core objectives while serving specific individuals or communities. Additionally, some social workers, employed by the agencies or centers described above, collaborate extensively with nonprofits.
- Senior centers and services for the aging: Many resources are available to seniors, but often, those who can benefit most from these options are unaware of them or struggle to navigate these opportunities. Social workers provide critical services to help enhance the independence, autonomy, and well-being of senior clients.
- Military bases and veterans affairs offices: Providing multifaceted support for service members, veterans, and their families, social workers employed at military bases or offices of veteran affairs often work closely with clients who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other mental health concerns.
- Corporate settings: Many corporate initiatives call for support and guidance from skilled social workers. These roles satisfy social workers’ desire to make a difference but may also offer strong earnings and benefits.
What Degree Do You Need to Be a Social Worker?
A bachelor’s degree serves as the minimum academic barrier to entry in the social work field. That said, plenty of employers demonstrate a strong preference for hiring social workers who have trained at the graduate level.
Still, a targeted bachelor’s degree can provide a strong start, exposing aspiring social workers to necessary concepts while also serving as an excellent networking vehicle. Challenging coursework also prepares students for the rigors of future graduate programs.
If you’re ready to further advance your career, the Master of Science in Counseling could provide a wonderful next step, especially as an increasing share of social work and related positions call for graduate-level credentials. This can also help you leverage senior-level opportunities and advocate more effectively for clients and communities in need.
What Can You Do With a Social Work Degree?
There are multiple paths worth taking upon obtaining a Bachelor of Social Work degree, but this rarely spells the end of the social work academic journey. Aspiring social workers seek licensure, and generally, a master’s degree is required to become a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW).
Although a master’s is a wise idea for aspiring LCSWs, there are many other roles available to those trained at the bachelor’s level, including several of the corporate options highlighted above. Should you choose to pursue your master’s, you may be pleased to discover that your bachelor’s gives you an edge. Common positions held by those with social work training include:
- Community outreach coordinator
- Community engagement coordinator
- Clinical supervisor
- Corporate social responsibility manager
- Social impact manager
How to Become a Social Worker Through Baker College
Are you ready to take the next step on the path to becoming a social worker? Look to Baker College for guidance as you embark on your social work journey. We offer multiple degree programs and learning opportunities for those who feel driven to serve.
We are also pleased to provide a range of support services, including everything from counseling to mentorship programs and career services to get you started on a powerful professional trajectory. Contact us today to learn more about our Bachelor of Science in Social Work program.