Social workers are a crucial component to community health, and in the midst of their work, they can be found helping others in a wide variety of locations and environments. Where exactly do social workers work? Here’s the scoop.
Schools
Schools are a prime work location for many social workers today. Here, the social worker can help provide resources and support for any number of the virtually countless social issues that may come up and affect students. Not only does the worker work directly with students here, but they also work directly with teachers, school administrators, parents, and other professionals. Additionally, school social work positions can be found in all levels of academia, from elementary school to college.
Mental Health Clinics
Mental health clinics are another venue offering high demand to social work professionals today. These clinics typically operate as a point of consultation and basic treatment and as a common first step before mental health hospitalization may become needed for the patient. In this environment, social workers work with patients, their families, and other on-site staff to help remediate patient mental health issues while also determining potential future needs of the patient.
Senior Care Operations
Senior care operations are organizations such as retirement homes and communities, special elderly care facilities, senior home-care operations, and even hospices. In this mode of social work, special attention is given to the particular effects of aging as well as the family and social dynamics that evolve with those effects. Ultimately, the goal of the social worker here is to help assure that seniors under their watch are happy, healthy, and in a good overall situation for a deserving and dignified future path.
Social Service Agencies
Social service agencies are yet another venue where social workers are commonly found. These agencies are essentially community hubs setup to provide help and resources to those in the surrounding community in a wide variety of ways. In this setting, there are often a number of social workers, sometimes individually specialized in particular areas of social work. Social work duties in this setting may involve resource distribution to those in need, plenty of case management, child protective services, community education and outreach efforts, and more.
BLS Figures
A closer look at some of the social work jobs in their various environs can be gleaned from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on social worker work environments. As of the most recent research, what are considered to be child, family, and school social workers comprise the biggest portion of workers here. The next largest group is of those social workers working in healthcare. Behind these are the equally significant albeit less common social workers in mental health, general social work, and “other” areas of demand.
Related Resource: Top 10 Affordable Master of Social Work Online (MSW) Degrees
Social work is an incredibly important service profession. Because of its all-encompassing importance in so many areas of human life and society, this profession will continue to grow exponentially as well as provide a whole range of work environs and service duties for its workers. These are the basics of social work and the places where social workers work most often today.