you are so right! I am currently in a long sick leave due to excessive work load, unrealistic expectations, and even verbal/emotional mistreatment at work. I am a pschiatric social worker at a large agency in Los Angeles. I want to come back to work because it is my passion but I will be taking better care of myself in the future. thanks you for your video.
I am a mental health clinician, but my degree is not in social work, it's MFT. I work w/ SMI population in an underserved community and due to the nature of this population, a lot of case management is involved so I do both therapy + case management. I truly have a passion working w/ this population, but it's hard to dodge challenges existing in the mental health system. What's important is that you need a supportive group of people at work (co-workers, supervisors, etc.) in order to keep you motivated in what you do. Unfortunately, the management at my work place is getting worse day by day. The management team's interest isn't in improving the quality of care and services to clients, but filling their own pockets w/ $$ from the agency. It's really discouraging to work my best knowing that I work so hard to "support" the "people upstairs." Also, my job requires me to work w/ tons of medical professionals. The psychiatrists at my work place are fine, they understand our work, but PCP from outpatient medical clinics are still not catching up w/ the whole integrative healthcare approach. It's frustrating. Many times, I feel like I'm stuck in a grey area and no one has answers for issues existing in the failing healthcare and mental health system. And lastly, mental health clinicians and social workers really deserve to get paid more. I'm sure some places pay them well, but in general, they are underpaid.
Thanks for your insightful comment, Enchanteralle. Yea it is generally an underpaid, underappreciated profession. It's a bit crazy that we get into this field knowing that beforehand. It gets hard at times, and frustrating especially when you have co-workers and managers who don't get it, and also with society that stigmatizes our clients and the situations they're in (stigma against mental health would be a particularly sore thorn for you), but I hope that upside is that we usually find it to be very rewarding, fulfilling, and necessary work.
In the UK it's a real mess. They send social workers with the nurse, and in the UK social workers don't even need a qualification if they have been in the business long enough. If it was just clinicians and psychiatrists, the grey area you talk about might be less of a problem. As it stands the press have uncovered no end of stupid dangerous behaviour by social workers, but the civil service closes ranks when challenged: they won't even answer Sunshine requests in a timely or accurate manner.
Actually the grey area isn't b/t psychiatrists and clinicians. In fact, like I previously stated, psychiatrists have more understanding of our roles than other professionals, who we have contact w/ at our jobs because we work w/ so many different collateral parties. I'm sure social workers' roles are different in every country and I too agree that there's a lot of issues in the system across the globe.
I have no familiarity at all with how it is in UK but still I find it hard to believe that some social workers can practice without qualifications. Britain is practically the birthplace of American social work after all. But then again, I could be wrong because perhaps they place such value and importance on experience there that certification and accreditation could be overlooked in certain cases.
Yes, and to a large extent the experience is more important than qualifications, but in addition they tend to employ young females who just don't have the life experience, and the whole thing is a disaster. P.S. Don't forget we left to found America because of the mindless bureaucracy which has now spread around the world.
I think you are spot on with the type of social work jobs that can burn you out and I'm speaking from experience. I think I would like end of life care. I have always had a healthy perspective on death my whole life.
Great video, I learned a lot. In my job as a client care coordinator we call the end of care patients "hospice cases". I think that's the word commonly used.
Thx for the comment. It's def something to be mindful about in this profession. In my experience though, the concept of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma was taught in my school. At one point we had a session where the entire class discussed it at length for a good hour or so. I'd imagine many other social work schools teach about this topic as well, or is that not the case?
Yeah, that's a very challenging field as well and I expect that field to have really high burnout rate as well. Props to you for having stuck it out for 3 months so far. I hope you don't lose heart. Keep doing the awesome work that you do, and if things get too tough, don't be afraid to seek help from your colleagues and supervisors, and try to make sure your life outside work is a fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. One day at a time, you're doing really important work! :)
sorry to hear that. It took me a little over a year for me to find a job after I got my BSW, and it was as a tutor in a non-profit education company, so not even technically a social work job. But I mean, I'm in NYC, where one doesn't become a social worker without at least an MSW. That's the case for most big states, like CA, IL, DL, etc. If you're in the mid-western/southern states, you can get social work jobs with a BSW, but still really hard to do so w/o accreditation and yrs of experience
It's important to create a balance between all circumstances of work and personal thoughts and feelings. An ongoing exchange with colleagues and practical methods of dealing with all impressions of such work is important, too. I don't know how e.g. "psychotherapists" deal with it in their profession within the US. But many of them in Germany go on vacation several times a year. Such methods could protect your soul and confirm yourself with respect to "Why I'm doing it and why is it important?"
Yea that's problematic if those schools don't discuss it. It is an important issue, and that's really awesome that you coach the people in the helping profession. You're definitely doing really important and awesome work. And thanks for the comment. :)
I think "end of life field" is a good field, but one must be in touch to their own healthy view of death and dying. It is a wonderful field that is not for everyone and with the right philosophy of life, "burn out" does not happen. You also help the family of the client.
lol, well, I'm actually glad for that because I believe this really isn't a profession you should get into unless you're that passionate and dedicated about it, and know fully what it can entail.
Hi David I am going to college next year and I am thinking about going into social work. If I do I want to help homeless people and/or people with learning disabilities. What types of social work have the lowest burn out rate (or none at all if that's possible?) I am also also thinking about becoming a psychologist. I just having trouble deciding. Also before you attended college did you read on the subject of social work? Is so what books and articles helped you?
So what concentration did you go for? Which school? Please share your experiences in the actual program and what career path are you on? Greatly appreciated! Thanks for video
I work in child protection services. I'm burned out. I'm leaving due to the stress of being hated and due to the lack of compassion by the state as they give more tasks for us to do. It's a thankless job. 12 years of this stuff.
I'm guessing you are becoming a social worker yourself? I'm just to graduate with a bachelor's in sociology and am seriously thinking of doing the same thing myself. There wasn't a social work degree option here by the time I changed my mind, but I hope I can be marketable for someone for social work along with some volunteer experience...?
+Nicole K if you pursue a social work degree, you don't necessarily need to do volunteer work, as social work major requires 600 hours of internship per year, for two years. and you can enroll into MSW program as long as you have a Bachelor's Degree in anything. and me, yep, am now currently a social worker for a supportive housing program that provides support and advocacy to tenants who have survived chronic homelessness, disability, and trauma.
In the U.S. can you get an MSW right away like that? I only ask because in Canada we need 3 years in the field for most Universities to accept you to an MSW program.
wait, you're saying that in Canada to even get into a university for MSW, you need 3 years exp. in the field? That sounds pretty extreme. In the U.S. getting into the MSW program isn't that hard. Just have a Bachelor's Degree (preferably in a related field like Psychology or sociology), write a great essay explaining why you want to become a social worker, and for some (but not all), make great impressions in an interview, and you could get into a MSW program. The program itself requires certain amount of hours per year in the field though. So no one's going to graduate with MSW without field experience. In the U.S. MSWs are usually 2-year programs. There are 3-year options but those are for people who do less intensive social work education programs. Is Canada really that different from this accreditation process?
Every MSW program in Canada I've reviewed wants at least 2 years in the field before you can get your MSW and most jobs require an MSW so it's kind of a catch-22. That being said due to the level of competition many require up to 5 years experience and at least an A- average if you want to stand a fighting chance. You do require a BSW in many cases but a Bachelor's in a related field, like psychology, can get you in but I think it requires more hours. Conversely allot of the MSW programs are only 1 year long full time, but without a BSW i think it's usually 2. To get the career I want I need 3 years clinical before getting an MSW, but an MSW is required to be a LCSW. That's some Alice in Wonderland shit right there. I dunno I might just have to do my grad school in the states, I know another guy who did that, and apparently there are many more clinical schools down there than up here. But that's the sitch as I understand it.
Blamehoffman2501 The program itself is experience-building though. If you have a BSW, that means you have at least 1 year field experience because BSW requires a year of internship at least. I graduated NYU with a BSW and NYU required 1.5 years of internship. But if you're saying to even get into an MSW, you need 2 years experience, then yeah, that's a rather unfair and extreme, but that's coming from me in U.S. The other stuff you mentioned though are pretty much the same in the U.S. an MSW program will take at least 2 years if you enroll into without a BSW. For people with a BSW, they can get accepted into the Advanced Standing program which is intensive and will have them obtain an MSW in 1 year. Also same is that LCSW requires 3 years of supervised work as an MSW. You can't get an LCSW without first obtaining an MSW. I think it makes sense though, because LCSW is a powerful accreditation that allows you to open up your own private practice.
***** I have a hard time believing that there is a requirement of 2-3 years work experience before entering an MSW (with a BSW). I say this (as a Canadian) based on my research into MSW programs at Canadian Universities (mainly ones in Ontario). MSW programs in Ontario accept people from multiple academic backgrounds, whether its social work, psychology, political science or biology etc. etc. How does someone who has a degree in History or Biology enter an MSW degree with 3 years social work experience? It would seem that it would rule out anyone without a degree in some type of social service/social work related course of study. The only thing I have seen is that if you enter an MSW with a BSW, you will have advanced standing. I've also seen MSW programs that require working social workers with a BSW who want to study for their MSW on weekends or in other modular formats to have 3 years experience, but that's it.
Ben Lorenowicz Yea, I have a really hard time believing it too because that'd be asking for too much and it'd just be really unfair. What you're describing is pretty much how social work education programs in US works and I think that makes sense. It'd be very weird for the two countries to have such drastic differences in how social work education works.
I have bachelors in Political Science, economics and Journalism. I tried opting for MSW as I have volunteering experience and I am working for an organisation right now. But eligibility criteria for MSW is a candidate with bachelors in social work which I don't have. What do you suggest? Because I badly want to go for clinical social work later.
+Ayaka Mori look into different schools. not every school has the same requirements to get a MSW. Some just require you to have related degree or a 4yr degree in general
Hey buddy Good post! When it comes to going to school to get a license to practice social work, you look at funding. When you first start in this field you look at fighting for social justice, but after a few years you begin to look at the money and the time it took to get there. I do want to express to you that psychology is psychology and social work is social work. These are two different philosophies of approach to mental illness. To be a qualified practitioner, it will take you 9 yrs including supervised and solo practicum MSW-AP. Pay your loans before you get burned out :). Good luck to you!!! Take care and be in good health. #icunurse01
Joelle meaning Jehovah is God Well.. I got social worker Position 4 years a go and enrolled in master’s.. now I’m about to finish my thesis this semester :)
you are so right! I am currently in a long sick leave due to excessive work load, unrealistic expectations, and even verbal/emotional mistreatment at work. I am a pschiatric social worker at a large agency in Los Angeles. I want to come back to work because it is my passion but I will be taking better care of myself in the future. thanks you for your video.
Melba Morales I’m also in LA and thinking of pursuing work as an PSW. Any advice?
I am a mental health clinician, but my degree is not in social work, it's MFT. I work w/ SMI population in an underserved community and due to the nature of this population, a lot of case management is involved so I do both therapy + case management. I truly have a passion working w/ this population, but it's hard to dodge challenges existing in the mental health system. What's important is that you need a supportive group of people at work (co-workers, supervisors, etc.) in order to keep you motivated in what you do. Unfortunately, the management at my work place is getting worse day by day. The management team's interest isn't in improving the quality of care and services to clients, but filling their own pockets w/ $$ from the agency. It's really discouraging to work my best knowing that I work so hard to "support" the "people upstairs." Also, my job requires me to work w/ tons of medical professionals. The psychiatrists at my work place are fine, they understand our work, but PCP from outpatient medical clinics are still not catching up w/ the whole integrative healthcare approach. It's frustrating. Many times, I feel like I'm stuck in a grey area and no one has answers for issues existing in the failing healthcare and mental health system. And lastly, mental health clinicians and social workers really deserve to get paid more. I'm sure some places pay them well, but in general, they are underpaid.
Thanks for your insightful comment, Enchanteralle.
Yea it is generally an underpaid, underappreciated profession. It's a bit crazy that we get into this field knowing that beforehand. It gets hard at times, and frustrating especially when you have co-workers and managers who don't get it, and also with society that stigmatizes our clients and the situations they're in (stigma against mental health would be a particularly sore thorn for you), but I hope that upside is that we usually find it to be very rewarding, fulfilling, and necessary work.
In the UK it's a real mess. They send social workers with the nurse, and in the UK social workers don't even need a qualification if they have been in the business long enough. If it was just clinicians and psychiatrists, the grey area you talk about might be less of a problem. As it stands the press have uncovered no end of stupid dangerous behaviour by social workers, but the civil service closes ranks when challenged: they won't even answer Sunshine requests in a timely or accurate manner.
Actually the grey area isn't b/t psychiatrists and clinicians. In fact, like I previously stated, psychiatrists have more understanding of our roles than other professionals, who we have contact w/ at our jobs because we work w/ so many different collateral parties. I'm sure social workers' roles are different in every country and I too agree that there's a lot of issues in the system across the globe.
I have no familiarity at all with how it is in UK but still I find it hard to believe that some social workers can practice without qualifications. Britain is practically the birthplace of American social work after all. But then again, I could be wrong because perhaps they place such value and importance on experience there that certification and accreditation could be overlooked in certain cases.
Yes, and to a large extent the experience is more important than qualifications, but in addition they tend to employ young females who just don't have the life experience, and the whole thing is a disaster.
P.S. Don't forget we left to found America because of the mindless bureaucracy which has now spread around the world.
I think you are spot on with the type of social work jobs that can burn you out and I'm speaking from experience. I think I would like end of life care. I have always had a healthy perspective on death my whole life.
Thumbs up. Thanks for sharing the video's on social work. They have been helpful. You have covered many topics that I had questions about.
Social workers that work at the Veteran's hospital make a really good salary.
Great video, I learned a lot. In my job as a client care coordinator we call the end of care patients "hospice cases". I think that's the word commonly used.
Thx for the comment. It's def something to be mindful about in this profession.
In my experience though, the concept of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma was taught in my school. At one point we had a session where the entire class discussed it at length for a good hour or so. I'd imagine many other social work schools teach about this topic as well, or is that not the case?
Yeah, that's a very challenging field as well and I expect that field to have really high burnout rate as well.
Props to you for having stuck it out for 3 months so far. I hope you don't lose heart. Keep doing the awesome work that you do, and if things get too tough, don't be afraid to seek help from your colleagues and supervisors, and try to make sure your life outside work is a fun, relaxing, and enjoyable. One day at a time, you're doing really important work! :)
In Alberta, Canada, the average pay for a social worker is nearly 70k a year. If I lived in the u.s. I wouldn't bother with it.
sorry to hear that. It took me a little over a year for me to find a job after I got my BSW, and it was as a tutor in a non-profit education company, so not even technically a social work job.
But I mean, I'm in NYC, where one doesn't become a social worker without at least an MSW. That's the case for most big states, like CA, IL, DL, etc. If you're in the mid-western/southern states, you can get social work jobs with a BSW, but still really hard to do so w/o accreditation and yrs of experience
Great Video
It's important to create a balance between all circumstances of work and personal thoughts and feelings. An ongoing exchange with colleagues and practical methods of dealing with all impressions of such work is important, too. I don't know how e.g. "psychotherapists" deal with it in their profession within the US. But many of them in Germany go on vacation several times a year. Such methods could protect your soul and confirm yourself with respect to "Why I'm doing it and why is it important?"
Yea that's problematic if those schools don't discuss it. It is an important issue, and that's really awesome that you coach the people in the helping profession. You're definitely doing really important and awesome work. And thanks for the comment. :)
I think "end of life field" is a good field, but one must be in touch to their own healthy view of death and dying. It is a wonderful field that is not for everyone and with the right philosophy of life, "burn out" does not happen. You also help the family of the client.
These videos are very informative but almost enough to make you change your mind
lol, well, I'm actually glad for that because I believe this really isn't a profession you should get into unless you're that passionate and dedicated about it, and know fully what it can entail.
Hi David I am going to college next year and I am thinking about going into social work. If I do I want to help homeless people and/or people with learning disabilities. What types of social work have the lowest burn out rate (or none at all if that's possible?)
I am also also thinking about becoming a psychologist. I just having trouble deciding.
Also before you attended college did you read on the subject of social work? Is so what books and articles helped you?
So what concentration did you go for? Which school? Please share your experiences in the actual program and what career path are you on? Greatly appreciated! Thanks for video
Social work is a serious calling. Nurses can be nurses but anyone goes to nursing calling or not.
I work in child protection services. I'm burned out. I'm leaving due to the stress of being hated and due to the lack of compassion by the state as they give more tasks for us to do. It's a thankless job. 12 years of this stuff.
I'm guessing you are becoming a social worker yourself? I'm just to graduate with a bachelor's in sociology and am seriously thinking of doing the same thing myself. There wasn't a social work degree option here by the time I changed my mind, but I hope I can be marketable for someone for social work along with some volunteer experience...?
+Nicole K if you pursue a social work degree, you don't necessarily need to do volunteer work, as social work major requires 600 hours of internship per year, for two years. and you can enroll into MSW program as long as you have a Bachelor's Degree in anything.
and me, yep, am now currently a social worker for a supportive housing program that provides support and advocacy to tenants who have survived chronic homelessness, disability, and trauma.
That kind of sound like something I was thinking of doing, helping find homes. How long have you been doing it and how do you like it?
In the U.S. can you get an MSW right away like that? I only ask because in Canada we need 3 years in the field for most Universities to accept you to an MSW program.
wait, you're saying that in Canada to even get into a university for MSW, you need 3 years exp. in the field? That sounds pretty extreme.
In the U.S. getting into the MSW program isn't that hard. Just have a Bachelor's Degree (preferably in a related field like Psychology or sociology), write a great essay explaining why you want to become a social worker, and for some (but not all), make great impressions in an interview, and you could get into a MSW program.
The program itself requires certain amount of hours per year in the field though. So no one's going to graduate with MSW without field experience. In the U.S. MSWs are usually 2-year programs. There are 3-year options but those are for people who do less intensive social work education programs.
Is Canada really that different from this accreditation process?
Every MSW program in Canada I've reviewed wants at least 2 years in the field before you can get your MSW and most jobs require an MSW so it's kind of a catch-22. That being said due to the level of competition many require up to 5 years experience and at least an A- average if you want to stand a fighting chance. You do require a BSW in many cases but a Bachelor's in a related field, like psychology, can get you in but I think it requires more hours.
Conversely allot of the MSW programs are only 1 year long full time, but without a BSW i think it's usually 2. To get the career I want I need 3 years clinical before getting an MSW, but an MSW is required to be a LCSW. That's some Alice in Wonderland shit right there.
I dunno I might just have to do my grad school in the states, I know another guy who did that, and apparently there are many more clinical schools down there than up here.
But that's the sitch as I understand it.
Blamehoffman2501 The program itself is experience-building though. If you have a BSW, that means you have at least 1 year field experience because BSW requires a year of internship at least. I graduated NYU with a BSW and NYU required 1.5 years of internship.
But if you're saying to even get into an MSW, you need 2 years experience, then yeah, that's a rather unfair and extreme, but that's coming from me in U.S.
The other stuff you mentioned though are pretty much the same in the U.S. an MSW program will take at least 2 years if you enroll into without a BSW. For people with a BSW, they can get accepted into the Advanced Standing program which is intensive and will have them obtain an MSW in 1 year. Also same is that LCSW requires 3 years of supervised work as an MSW. You can't get an LCSW without first obtaining an MSW. I think it makes sense though, because LCSW is a powerful accreditation that allows you to open up your own private practice.
***** I have a hard time believing that there is a requirement of 2-3 years work experience before entering an MSW (with a BSW). I say this (as a Canadian) based on my research into MSW programs at Canadian Universities (mainly ones in Ontario). MSW programs in Ontario accept people from multiple academic backgrounds, whether its social work, psychology, political science or biology etc. etc. How does someone who has a degree in History or Biology enter an MSW degree with 3 years social work experience? It would seem that it would rule out anyone without a degree in some type of social service/social work related course of study. The only thing I have seen is that if you enter an MSW with a BSW, you will have advanced standing. I've also seen MSW programs that require working social workers with a BSW who want to study for their MSW on weekends or in other modular formats to have 3 years experience, but that's it.
Ben Lorenowicz Yea, I have a really hard time believing it too because that'd be asking for too much and it'd just be really unfair. What you're describing is pretty much how social work education programs in US works and I think that makes sense. It'd be very weird for the two countries to have such drastic differences in how social work education works.
Great video!
I am wondering the proportion of men and women studying or working on social work ?
Ailei Zhao I'm in my 3rd year and there's (on average) 1 male for every 30 females (at my school)
I have bachelors in Political Science, economics and Journalism. I tried opting for MSW as I have volunteering experience and I am working for an organisation right now. But eligibility criteria for MSW is a candidate with bachelors in social work which I don't have. What do you suggest? Because I badly want to go for clinical social work later.
+Ayaka Mori look into different schools. not every school has the same requirements to get a MSW. Some just require you to have related degree or a 4yr degree in general
Hey buddy Good post! When it comes to going to school to get a license to practice social work, you look at funding. When you first start in this field you look at fighting for social justice, but after a few years you begin to look at the money and the time it took to get there. I do want to express to you that psychology is psychology and social work is social work. These are two different philosophies of approach to mental illness. To be a qualified practitioner, it will take you 9 yrs including supervised and solo practicum MSW-AP. Pay your loans before you get burned out :). Good luck to you!!! Take care and be in good health. #icunurse01
I'm a social worker, I got my bachelor 7 Months a go and I still cant find any freaking job... I'm really disappointed -.-...
Joelle meaning Jehovah is God
Well.. I got social worker Position 4 years a go and enrolled in master’s.. now I’m about to finish my thesis this semester :)