Welcome to the Social Work Degree Center! We hope to help you find everything you want to know about Social Work Degrees! From undergraduate to PhD, we will help you prepare for a career in social work!
Here you can learn:
- How to apply and get accepted into accredited programs
- How to become a Licensed Social Worker
- What Social Work is
- How to select the best school to meet your educational needs
- How to establish the educational foundation necessary to launch a career in social work
- What careers do you qualify for upon graduating with your social work degree
- How to find social work programs both undergraduate and MSW which enhance employability and refine your skills while maximizing your time and financial investments
- How to source scholarships and other means of covering tuition costs
…and much more!
Clinical Social Work
As its name suggests, clinical social work is a healthcare profession focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of psychological disturbances. Clinical social workers design therapeutic interventions that help clients change maladaptive behavior or cope with unalterable situations. They’re mental health practitioners who apply strengths-based approaches to strengthen clients’ functioning.
Jobs in Clinical Social Work involve treating anxiety, PTSD, alcoholism, eating disorders, and also autism. It’s estimated that there are 173,860 clinical social workers in the United States earning an average yearly salary of $62,310. Practicing in clinical social work will require an accredited MSW degree and state licensing as an LCSW.
Clinical social work is a large division offering diverse areas of specialization for treating people who aren’t healthy mentally. So, every type of clinical social worker establishes a trust relationship for evaluating and resolving issues that affect client health. For example, some popular clinical specialties are:
- Substance abuse social worker: Focus on leading clients through withdrawal and recovery from drug addiction.
- Trauma social worker: Care for individuals who’re suffering lasting effects from violence, disaster, and grief.
- Oncology social worker: Devoted to addressing the emotional impact and stress of cancer diagnoses.
- Geriatric social worker: Guide elderly adults through aging, especially those with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Palliative care social worker: Relieve physical and emotional pain for hospice patients facing terminal illness.
- HIV/AIDS social worker: Advocate for individuals and families affected by these immune deficiency syndromes.
Non-Clinical Social Work
Non-clinical social work is literally the opposite; it’s concerned with helping healthy clients navigate everyday issues outside the healthcare arena. Most non-clinical jobs are at private, nonprofit, and charitable organizations rather than medical facilities. Therefore, becoming a non-clinical social worker equates to fighting to eliminate key societal problems like discrimination and homelessness.
Furthermore, non-clinical social work can take place at the micro, mezzo, and also macro-level to influence interventions across entire troubled communities. These careers have fewer education constraints, so holding a BSW degree could be sufficient. Non-clinical social workers make slightly less than clinical professionals with an average annual wage of $54,880.
Unlike clinical social work, this division removes roadblocks for clients whose basic physical or emotional needs aren’t being met due to injustice. Several specialization areas are available for non-clinical social workers to leave lasting marks on citizens’ lives. For instance, popular non-clinical careers are:
- Military social worker: Attend to the unique needs of Armed Forces veterans returning to civilian life.
- School social worker: Create plans to improve K-12 students’ academic, social, and career development.
- Child welfare social worker: Protect children from situations of abuse and neglect for positive home life.
- Occupational social worker: Help workers resolve problems impacting their job search and performance.
- Corrections social worker: Rehabilitate criminals and foster a successful transition back into society.
- Community social worker: Establish social service programs to give needed resources to marginalized peoples.
Choosing the Right Career Avenue
Social work is the ideal career path for compassionate individuals who want to relieve suffering and also make a difference in others’ lives. Few recognize how truly diverse the social work field is though. Social workers can work in clinical facilities like hospitals, hospices, mental health clinics, and rehabs as well as non-clinical offices like social service agencies, schools, nonprofits, and governments.
Choosing the right professional placement in social work will require introspection on your overall goals. So, do you want to work with children, refugees, the sick, senior citizens, or other populations? Now that you know the difference between clinical vs. non-clinical social work, you can make an informed career move.
