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E/N Part: I was adopted as a newborn. Two supportive parents, good home, no major complaints. They gave me all the chances, I wasted them playing around in college not taking it serious. Joined the military and after I got out helped raise my nephew for a year and a half while living at home going through cancer treatment. Children in lovely situations infuriate me thus I want to work for DFCS. I had a chance and blew it, now I have a second chance. I realize I cant change the world but if I can help a kid out and get them in a better situation then I'm good. School part: When I left college I had a HORRIBLE GPA, embarrassingly low 1.2 (I said I was playing around). I got accepted to a college but their BS in social work program requires a 2.5. I would exhaust all of my GI Bill benefits just getting my GPA up high enough to APPLY. No guarantee I could even get in. So my adviser recommended I switch majors to Sociology. After speaking with a few local social workers via email a good portion mentioned they had degrees in Psych/Sociology but a MSW in social work. I can finish my sociology degree, raise my GPA and hopefully get an entry level job with DFCS. Ive read of a state program that they are considering bringing back that will pay for your grad school if you agree to work for them X amount of years. Also I would have some GI Bill still left to pay for MSW. I figured it would be better to start at an entry level position and then get some experience and go back for MSW. Side plan would be use my veteran status and get a job with the VA. How lovely my separation from the Navy was (basically "Sign here.... K...bye") is a secondary point and I wouldn't mind working with veterans and helping. If anyone is a social worker, how does this sound ?
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Apr 1, 2015 20:22
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 18:30 |
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Have you looked into erasing your previous grades? I think some colleges let you get rid of entire semesters/years, or sometimes if you re-take those classes at those colleges the new grades overwrite the old ones.
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Apr 1, 2015 20:26
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It was never mentioned. I assumed it was a no because it was the same university I had previously made those grades at. Its a good university, it "grew" and became more official while I was gone because it merged with a local medical college and other stuff. I never considered another school because I wanted to stay close to my family and especially now because my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor (he's doing good as of now) and I wanted to help with family things.
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Apr 1, 2015 21:39
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I'm a clinical social worker in Maryland, I have an MSW and had to take an extra exam two years later in order to do the actual job I wanted, which is direct individual therapy. Depending on what you want to do you may or may not need a masters degree. If you want to do any clinical counseling or want to get into management you'll need an MSW for sure. I had a BA in English and a BA in psychology before I went to get my MSW, so changing the degree won't be an issue as long as you take the required courses for admittance to the MSW program. I had to take an extra class in Lifespan Development at a community college to get into my program, which was irritating but no great loss. About half of the people I went to school with for my masters were people for whom social work was a second career or a step up the ladder in their current job. So your plan is absolutely doable! The only issues are making sure that the "we'll pay for your college if you work x years" thing is accurate, and making sure that your local DFCS and VA aren't having hiring freezes.
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Apr 1, 2015 22:20
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thunderdome winner
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Chernobyl Princess posted:I'm a clinical social worker in Maryland, I have an MSW and had to take an extra exam two years later in order to do the actual job I wanted, which is direct individual therapy. Depending on what you want to do you may or may not need a masters degree. If you want to do any clinical counseling or want to get into management you'll need an MSW for sure. I had a BA in English and a BA in psychology before I went to get my MSW, so changing the degree won't be an issue as long as you take the required courses for admittance to the MSW program. I had to take an extra class in Lifespan Development at a community college to get into my program, which was irritating but no great loss. Awesome, thanks for this. The "work for us for x years" thing is not active at the moment but hoping they''ll bring it back in the future. There was a bill proposed mid march where some congresswomen were pushing for more social workers (http://www.socialworkreinvestment.org/SWRI/default.html) which I think is a good sign. I've heard also from the social workers I'd spoken with they need more males in the field. Also, care to tell me about the whole process ? I've heard about licensing and certifications but as far as I know is you "need them" When talking with the social workers from various fields I found a common thing they said was "leave work at work". I am well aware that wanting to go into child services I am going to see some hosed up things. I read at least one article a week locally of some horrible abuse cases in my area. Do you find it hard to not bring home with you any bad things you encounter ? Bro Nerd Alpha fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Apr 2, 2015 |
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Apr 2, 2015 15:42
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The process differs slightly state by state, but as I recall it's pretty similar everywhere except California, which is weird. I applied for grad school at University of Maryland in 2010. It's a two year full time program, and you have one internship per year. My first internship was at a public mental health facility that served primarily forensic cases, mostly crimes of homelessness, but every so often someone who had committed a violent crime would show up. It was... not my favorite environment, mostly because hospital social workers are at the very bottom of the food chain in terms of respect. Mostly paperwork, very little client interaction, and a lot of potential danger from the clients themselves. The second internship was at a private practice, which I liked much better, and I still work there today. After you pass grad school, you'll take your licensing exam to become whatever your state calls a Licensed Graduate Social Worker. A lot of people stop there, especially if you're not intending to go into private practice. If you want to do private practive and accept insurance, you will need to become a Licensed Certified Social Worker - Clinical. If your office doesn't do insurance but does provide a pay bump, you don't have to take the Clinical specification, and then you're just an LCSW. States will vary on what they require before you can take the LCSW-C exam, in Maryland it was at least two years in a supervised direct service setting, 144 supervision hours, and something like 1600 client hours. In terms of not taking it home with me... I had a lot of trouble with that at the hospital, where I was trying desperately to connect to people who were either too damaged to make a connection with me or just straight up not interested in making a connection. You will not connect with every client, and that's okay! There are going to be people you like working with and people you loathe working with. That's normal. You just sort of ride it out. I found it helpful to remind myself that this is a job, not a calling. Thinking of it as a calling makes failure feel far more intense, like you haven't just failed your client or yourself, but you've somehow failed the universe. Also, understanding that there's a two-way street here. You can't shoulder the entire therapeutic load. Your clients have responsibilities as well, and if they can't manage them, it doesn't necessarily mean that YOU are at fault. I also find that having a bit of a commute from work to home to be helpful, it gives me time to talk to the air, voice my opinions of my day without fear of someone judging me (except for all those people in traffic wondering about the crazy lady yakking to herself), and put the heavy stuff away. Also, having a good supervisor who will back you up when things get hard is an absolute necessity. Nothing causes burnout like a lovely supervisor.
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Apr 2, 2015 19:38
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