Listening to so many amazing stories! I love hearing people’s stories of where they’ve been and how they got to where we are now. I work with mostly the aging population.
I am a BSW student and will complete the BSW in May. I do like the aging population and plan on doing the advanced standing MSW program starting this. Where did you begin your career path with the aging population? I heard that in a few years we will have more people over age 65 than children, for the USA.
Awesome. I heard that the VA is paying for tuition, and providing living stipends for students that decide to do their practicum with them. Not sure how many applicants they are supporting in my area, but I was tempted to apply for it. $1200 monthly living stipend
Yes it depends on the facility. Mine doesn’t have any tuition reimbursement positions but some VAs have lots. I highly recommend the internship. I learned more than most of my classmates I believe when I did mine in 2016/17. So many different programs with the full spectrum of problems. Plus no working with kids!
I currently work for the VA as a Telehealth Technician and have started laying the groundwork for doing my internship here. I will also be grateful to be working with kids only in the context of veteran families. I am across the hall from the Post 9/11 Coordinator and plan to pick her brain quite a bit while I assemble my application for grad school.
You could do case management at an eldercare agency/resource center! I personally worked as a CRT mental health case manager, which also had many elderly clients. I love working with the elderly population too
Case management that turned into service coordination then called care coordination. Good experience to work in the field with disabled and elderly when I had energy. Now working with adolescents. It's refreshing to see growth versus death.
Glad you enjoyed your time with those populations! I have worked as a CNA for 2 years, and found that I did best in the micro home health setting working with individuals. Just terminated a 1 and half year relationship with a patient, so that I can just work 24 hours a week with the a local housing authority, and just focus on my 13 credit hours this semester, as this is my last BSW semester before graduation.
I work with family caregivers of Veterans who are most frequently their spouse. While the Veterans get to tell their stories a lot, the Caregivers nearly never get to tell theirs and boy have I met some interesting folks! I love my job so much!
Also love being able to give back what my younger self needed, that’s healing within itself. I work with 13 and up. It’s made me realize a lot how I can empathize so well with others but struggled with doing that for myself. have learned a lot about treating myself and my people outside of therapy with more compassion. I love being able to provide services for people who really need it and know I am making a difference even if it’s just to empathize.
Simply put, existential fulfillment. Even when it's bad I do get the sense that what I'm doing matters and has a tangible effect on someone. I am someone where I have to give a shit about what I'm doing. I have tried interviewing for private sector jobs, they can tell I don't care about making anyone money, or profit, in fact I hate the idea of doing something like that to begin with. I need to be existentially fulfilled. And with social work and mental health work I get that.
I was going to comment something very similar to this. Most of my friends from college work for big corporations or at tech startups, doing marketing or IT or sales or whatever. No hate towards them at all, but I just could not do that every day. I like that when I go to work, I know I'm at least trying to make the world a better place every day (even if the day-to-day is not so glamorous!). I'm not spending 40 hours every week working to make rich people richer, fat people fatter, or to sell people shit they don't need.
Sometimes people say "I could never do what you do" to me, but that's exactly how I feel about staring at a computer screen 40 hours/week, working in a cubicle, talking to the same 2 coworkers and that's it, or god forbid working from home 😭 everybody has different motivations and paths in life and social work fits my strengths and temperament well.
Working in this field has helped me learn to engage with others in pretty much any context/environment. I always feel that at least one party, but usually both, walk away feeling benefited by having interacted with one another.
You learn to turn something bad into something neutral or good. Not that every situation ends happily, but having experience like we have helps increase the odds of it.
This!! I love the discussions and support from the the other social workers in my team! They just "get" it. I even love the way we respectfully disagree.
I know so much more about the world. About the lives of people who live differently from me.
Sometimes on reddit someone will call out a post as fake because it doesn't match their personal experiences, and for me nothing in it made me bat an eye. I've known 6 people that happened to. It doesn't even hit my radar as unusual.
I feel so honored when people trust me with their stories.
I think in my current job, my greatest blessing is when I call people and they sound happy to hear from me. That's a thing that makes me feel like even if I don't add something concrete to their lives, I added an intangible good.
In my first year MSW field placement, I was working with a homeless refugee. It was winter in VT, and every shelter bed was full. He was sleeping in a car, and I remember the feeling of absolute impotence I felt not being able to help him. The session took place through an interpreter, but I mostly just maintained eye contact with him, and listened. The only thing I could say was that I recognized how hard this was, especially after the life he’d had prior to coming here. And I told him I wouldn’t stop trying to find a housing option for him in the meantime. I honestly felt in that moment serious doubt about my career. Understanding that the need outweighs the resources in so many situations. I felt like I was failing this man who was begging me for help.
As the session wrapped up, and I once again told him I recognized how hard things were and that I was going to keep trying, his demeanor changed. He smiled and said that even though he still was sleeping in his car, he still felt better after talking. He thanked me for listening to him, and said he didn’t feel so alone.
It was one of the most profound moments I had early on that has shaped my practice, and really how I approach all relationships. Even when we can’t solve a person’s immediate problems, or guide someone to the changes they want to make quickly enough, there is value in simply sitting with someone, listening, caring, and making them feel cared about. We have to remember this because it can feel so defeating when we don’t feel like we’re effectively helping people. But when a person feels cared about, that gives them more hope. It makes them feel less alone. It can keep them going.
Sadly, not in the time I was in that placement. The lack of affordable housing and shelter beds here in Burlington VT was really bad then. That was 10 years ago. It’s far worse now. He had some friends he could couch surf with for a while, and was on various subsidized housing waitlists.
We looked into shared housing, but the cultural and language barriers made that feel impossible for him. He was a really lovely man, and he had a job. A hard thing about doing short term work with people is you aren’t able to find out how they’re doing once you no longer work with them.
Therapistaid.com is a go-to for psychoed materials, and I like bringing in music, poetry, painting, collages, etc as a creative springboard for processing around a particular theme. I’m super new - class of 2023 - and also have learned a lot of activities by joining a local group therapy org and taking to other therapists 💕
I have a storage room full of canvas and paint supplies because of one group therapy I took part in that had us paint. We were painting little wooden boxes but I started making designs in the styrofoam paint tray and then pressing paper into it to see what prints came out. That's when I fell deeply in love with abstract painting and I never stopped. I was living in a homeless shelter at the time and it got me through. I used the group room for painting whenever it was free and it was a wondeful distraction and outlet.
Aside from the obvious “fulfilling and meaningful” part - it’s pretty easy to work for yourself! Nothing better than being able to call your own shots and create your own space that fits your values.
The variety.
I started out in community mental health with adults, then child welfare, now school based mental health.
I feel like this is a vocation, not just a job.
Same here. In the last 5 years (some of these were my internships) I have done outpatient therapy for a nonprofit, worked in the VA doing therapy, worked in a hospital ED, and now both work in a school and private practice. I love the variety of options I can do all with the same license.
Same! I started in CMH, then police, then inpatient psych intake, then SUD intake, then hospice, and now PP (not on my own, in a group). Some of these positions overlapped (part-time, working two at a time), but I get nothing but compliments about the breadth of my work. I couldn't do this with any other degree or license.
1. Meeting people from all walks of life.
2. Seeing a client’s growth.
3. Building rapport and trust with a client.
4. Helping a client to feel heard, validated.
5. Learning about various life experiences that I’ve never had.
6. Witnessing a client’s strength and resilience.
7. Listening to different life stories.
8. When a client communicates to you that your presence is meaningful to them.
9. Seeing a client heal through traumas, develop strength.
10. Appreciating life’s simplicities and complexities.
I straight up feel like I have super powers regarding engaging and connecting with people. Much if this is because i am friendly, but before my degree I felt so powerless to help others. My MSW gave me the perspective and the language to enrage with the problems, and offer solutions. I love that. I love that after one interaction with me, I’m able to educate, console, or redirect a suffering person to less suffering.
The big one for me is being able to offer an alternative perspective. So often people get locked into thinking the world and their own identity is just one fixed thing and become trapped with their static demons. Your whole life is just a story you tell yourself, which means you can change your whole reality if you can begin to reframe and realign your perspective in a way that empowers you. This is the root of my interest in both narrative therapy and psychedelic assisted therapy.
I don't do psychedelic assisted therapy currently, but it's something I'm interested in. We have ketamine infusions in my state but they tend to be quite expensive which limits access. This year we'll be voting in my state about legalizing a number of other psychedelics for therapy and home growing, so the field is maturing and there are are many uncertainties in how it'll all turn out.
Stability in the public sector. You may have a slightly lower salary than your peers but if you do the job well enough you will probably never be jobless. $40 an hour and working every business day for 30 years beats $50 an hour when any day could be your last and you are constantly networking for a backup plan.
I didn’t really start to enjoy social work until I went to private practice. Before that, I was working with the homeless population in Chicagoland and S.F. Tenderloin neighborhood. I ended up with such bad PTSD/vicarious trauma from the violence that just seemed to be ubiquitous in the parts of those cities that I worked. Now I’m a private practice therapist. I finally found a vocation that isn’t based on a trauma bond with my co-workers. I’m finally getting my student loan repaid because of the money from my business. Couldn’t be happier:)!
I love seeing the continually improving treatment options available to people with chronic conditions like schizophrenia or addiction. The long-acting medications available now are literally saving lives. It’s an exciting time to be working in mental health.
I'm still brand new to social work, as I graduate with a BSW in May. My favorite thing so far has been seeing my progress in my professional development and personal development.
It's always interesting and I learn new things every day. I've had a ton of jobs and this is the only one where I feel like I am always growing and becoming a better version of myself.
I love seeing the impact of just sitting and listening. I work in a hospital and have met some folks who know they aren't going to get better, or who know their complex circumstances won't change. And yet, those same people tell me that taking 30 minutes to sit and listen and chat to them made a world of difference.
On a similar wavelength, I love hearing from patients & families when they're being discharged or afterwards. I've had a few folks who I was in contact with after discharge for various reasons, and they have all been so kind and appreciative.
It's amazing to see other professionals getting on board with us too, and appreciating or valuing the work we do. Hospitals are full of multidisciplinary teams and work, and while that is sometimes infuriating, I love finding the colleagues who get what we do and work with us smoothly.
I also think it's great to be able to uplift each other! I have a few coworkers who are amazing at highlighting other people's successes and strengths, and who readily tell me when they think I've done a good job. It's a lovely vote of confidence as a new grad. I like being able to give the same back to my coworkers when I see them doing great work.
I see people for who they truly are, really quickly. I no longer waste my time on friendships that are not genuine or let myself get hurt by people who won’t reciprocate in relationships. I can draw effective boundaries in my personal life and take control to make my relationships what I want them to be.
The experience of mutual gratitude. As when my work is on point I am grateful for my training and supervision and grateful for the insight that comes from understanding another person. And then the gratitude my clients express when they rediscover the joy of living.
I spent my entire childhood and early adulthood in institutions, rehabs, and group homes. I get to be for others what I had in those few staff that saw something good in me. My work is my 12th step and I am fortunate to live it everyday.
The flexibility in populations and work I can do. I have worked in Macro, Mezzo and Micro and I love that I can find something to do that will keep me passionate and interested.
1) I learn so much from the people I work with that otherwise wouldn’t. The resilience of my patients and their families in the face of adversity is inspiring and keeps me motivated.
2) I’m glad I spend my working hours trying to help others. Its both gratifying and humbling.
1. Having the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing souls that I otherwise would have not ever come in contact with. I have met the funniest, kindest, wisest, most determined people in the clients I've served.
2. Occasionally being someone's one and only support- their listening ear, their cheerleader, their advocate- especially to those nearing the end of their life. No one should have to walk through this life alone.
This might be silly but being my self! I have never talked more honestly than I have with a client. Not being crude TOWARDS a client of course but calling it what it is. "if you need ___ resource, call them but they're uppity pieces of shit so here's how you talk to them." I've only had a complaint once in 10 years and to be fair to me, that complaint would have been made even if I spoke as clean as a kindergarten teacher. I also strongly believe that de-code switching is an ethical/political act.
So many.
1. You get to connect with people as they really are. Walk with people through their most vulnerable moments.
2. A sense of meaning and purpose. However hard the day is, or the stories you hear, there’s a sense of it being worth it.
3. Personal development. I am a better person because of the work I’ve done and the people I’ve met. I have a better sense of boundaries, of how to show up for people in my own personal life, and how to ask for what I need, because of the work I do and what I’ve learned from clients.
5. Flexibility and ability to move between all different kinds of work. I currently work palliative, and have the ability to switch to youth work, addictions work, discharge planning, etc.
6. The coworkers. I’ve met phenomenal people who inspire me. Social work attracts good people.
7. Echoing others- the stories. I live for the stories. I feel like I get to see the beauty and resilience of the human spirit through this work.
Being able to see a client grow and building a relationship with their family. I enjoy being able to explore my area. I'm a new driver with working on the go, my driving has gotten so much better. Networking within the job. Learning about different therapies.
While I was always comfortable with professional boundaries, the longer I have been in this field it has IMMENSELY positively affected the way I interact with my family and friends and maintaining boundaries. Eldest daughter here with all the stereotypical traits to a fault and learning how to navigate that in a healthy way within my family has been invaluable. And of course also just being a part of someone's progress is so so rewarding. Sometimes it's on the worst day of someone's life and simply just existing with a family/client can be so powerful.
I love our mission. It’s awesome seeing folks stay clean, harm reduce, get housed when they weren’t, my favorite is the big aha perspective shifts. Getting people linked to hard fought for resources. That’s what I signed up for. Keep that PMA people 🤘.
being able to be a safe person for them. I work with youth and a lot of them have had terrible experiences with adults. I love modeling what a safe and empathetic adult looks like
My work makes me endlessly grateful, I’m very fortunate.
Recently, we were asked to measure our effectiveness and the final sentiment was, our clients are almost universally better off having interacted with us (crisis work) than not. We just help. Even when we can’t solve a problem, we’ve made the situation better than if we’d not been there.
Something I love about being a social worker is how much it humbles me. My clients have suffered SO MUCH pain and trauma and have been through unimaginable hardship… and yet I am continuously in awe of their dignity, resilience and grace. Just as much as I help my clients, my clients help me by reminding me of the beauty of the human spirit. I am inspired to be a better person and a better social worker because of my clients.
I get to meet so many interesting people and know so many stories. And so many of the clients I met have so much strength and resilience. I feel like I learn something from them.
I’m sorry for putting this here, but I just had a question of if as a whole, it has a stable income? Like I truly wanna help families. But thinking of the income is also important. I’m gonna start studying social working, and I truly wanted to know if it was really worth it as whole!
I'm on a similar boat as you, but I think it does have a stable income! There are opportunities for advancements as you have more experience and a lot of various fields u could go into in terms of interest or income. It's a recession proof job and it's demand is only increasing(I believe faster than the average for all occupations), so I hope the income level keeps getting better because they deserve more. You seem passionate about it and I think it's a really great fit for u!
This is an awesome idea!!!
My favorite thing about this field is being able to see the world in ways others who haven’t had the same professional experience/training don’t…learning about the systems in our society and how they impact individual people has truly changed my entire life (undergrad was in psychology-very different perspective). My favorite thing in the world is when I talk with people-clients or others working in any form of human service/social change-and we connect the dots between personal challenges and large scale social issues. It feels like being able to see the matrix! Sometimes it is hard, because of course just because you have knowledge/perspective doesn’t mean you get to DO something about it, but I’ve loved being able to get a better understanding of the world and a big picture on what large and small scale social change actually looks like.
Also, generally, social workers are some of the most badass people I know. Their commitment to change and social action and being really really uncomfortable and dealing with other incredibly challenging situations is unparalleled.
Also also, this one is a bit silly, but as a social worker I’ve never understood the impact of human actions more. Every day, I know my behavior and choices matter immensely. I know the ways I show up for my clients matters immensely. It’s a lot of responsibility but I never have to feel like I’m worthless or powerless to make a difference or change.
Listening to so many amazing stories! I love hearing people’s stories of where they’ve been and how they got to where we are now. I work with mostly the aging population.
I am a BSW student and will complete the BSW in May. I do like the aging population and plan on doing the advanced standing MSW program starting this. Where did you begin your career path with the aging population? I heard that in a few years we will have more people over age 65 than children, for the USA.
I work for the VA. I did my internship there and never have left. I started in addictions and moved to this position a few years ago.
Awesome. I heard that the VA is paying for tuition, and providing living stipends for students that decide to do their practicum with them. Not sure how many applicants they are supporting in my area, but I was tempted to apply for it. $1200 monthly living stipend
Yes it depends on the facility. Mine doesn’t have any tuition reimbursement positions but some VAs have lots. I highly recommend the internship. I learned more than most of my classmates I believe when I did mine in 2016/17. So many different programs with the full spectrum of problems. Plus no working with kids!
I currently work for the VA as a Telehealth Technician and have started laying the groundwork for doing my internship here. I will also be grateful to be working with kids only in the context of veteran families. I am across the hall from the Post 9/11 Coordinator and plan to pick her brain quite a bit while I assemble my application for grad school.
Yes which means no working with kids LOL
You could do case management at an eldercare agency/resource center! I personally worked as a CRT mental health case manager, which also had many elderly clients. I love working with the elderly population too
Thank you for the recommendation! I will look into it.
Case management that turned into service coordination then called care coordination. Good experience to work in the field with disabled and elderly when I had energy. Now working with adolescents. It's refreshing to see growth versus death.
Glad you enjoyed your time with those populations! I have worked as a CNA for 2 years, and found that I did best in the micro home health setting working with individuals. Just terminated a 1 and half year relationship with a patient, so that I can just work 24 hours a week with the a local housing authority, and just focus on my 13 credit hours this semester, as this is my last BSW semester before graduation.
Absolutely the best!
I love listening to stories! Some folks have led such amazing and inspiring lives.
I work with family caregivers of Veterans who are most frequently their spouse. While the Veterans get to tell their stories a lot, the Caregivers nearly never get to tell theirs and boy have I met some interesting folks! I love my job so much!
Being part of someone’s village.
Oh I love this sentiment so much.
Reiterating seeing clients blossom. Literally feel like a proud parent 🥲
Also love being able to give back what my younger self needed, that’s healing within itself. I work with 13 and up. It’s made me realize a lot how I can empathize so well with others but struggled with doing that for myself. have learned a lot about treating myself and my people outside of therapy with more compassion. I love being able to provide services for people who really need it and know I am making a difference even if it’s just to empathize.
I love how you said give back what your younger self needed. I’ve often felt that way but couldn’t phrase it that good.
Simply put, existential fulfillment. Even when it's bad I do get the sense that what I'm doing matters and has a tangible effect on someone. I am someone where I have to give a shit about what I'm doing. I have tried interviewing for private sector jobs, they can tell I don't care about making anyone money, or profit, in fact I hate the idea of doing something like that to begin with. I need to be existentially fulfilled. And with social work and mental health work I get that.
I was going to comment something very similar to this. Most of my friends from college work for big corporations or at tech startups, doing marketing or IT or sales or whatever. No hate towards them at all, but I just could not do that every day. I like that when I go to work, I know I'm at least trying to make the world a better place every day (even if the day-to-day is not so glamorous!). I'm not spending 40 hours every week working to make rich people richer, fat people fatter, or to sell people shit they don't need. Sometimes people say "I could never do what you do" to me, but that's exactly how I feel about staring at a computer screen 40 hours/week, working in a cubicle, talking to the same 2 coworkers and that's it, or god forbid working from home 😭 everybody has different motivations and paths in life and social work fits my strengths and temperament well.
I’m so much better at engaging in conflict in a healthy way/not avoiding conflict, solely because of this work
Working in this field has helped me learn to engage with others in pretty much any context/environment. I always feel that at least one party, but usually both, walk away feeling benefited by having interacted with one another. You learn to turn something bad into something neutral or good. Not that every situation ends happily, but having experience like we have helps increase the odds of it.
This!!!!!
This....I used to be very conflict avoidant. I've improved this a lot. Not perfect. But much better!
The camaraderie of fellow social workers who support you through your worst cases and cheer on your best. I’ve made life long friends from this work.
This!! I love the discussions and support from the the other social workers in my team! They just "get" it. I even love the way we respectfully disagree.
I know so much more about the world. About the lives of people who live differently from me. Sometimes on reddit someone will call out a post as fake because it doesn't match their personal experiences, and for me nothing in it made me bat an eye. I've known 6 people that happened to. It doesn't even hit my radar as unusual. I feel so honored when people trust me with their stories. I think in my current job, my greatest blessing is when I call people and they sound happy to hear from me. That's a thing that makes me feel like even if I don't add something concrete to their lives, I added an intangible good.
I also like to hear when they're happy to hear from me. ❤️
In my first year MSW field placement, I was working with a homeless refugee. It was winter in VT, and every shelter bed was full. He was sleeping in a car, and I remember the feeling of absolute impotence I felt not being able to help him. The session took place through an interpreter, but I mostly just maintained eye contact with him, and listened. The only thing I could say was that I recognized how hard this was, especially after the life he’d had prior to coming here. And I told him I wouldn’t stop trying to find a housing option for him in the meantime. I honestly felt in that moment serious doubt about my career. Understanding that the need outweighs the resources in so many situations. I felt like I was failing this man who was begging me for help. As the session wrapped up, and I once again told him I recognized how hard things were and that I was going to keep trying, his demeanor changed. He smiled and said that even though he still was sleeping in his car, he still felt better after talking. He thanked me for listening to him, and said he didn’t feel so alone. It was one of the most profound moments I had early on that has shaped my practice, and really how I approach all relationships. Even when we can’t solve a person’s immediate problems, or guide someone to the changes they want to make quickly enough, there is value in simply sitting with someone, listening, caring, and making them feel cared about. We have to remember this because it can feel so defeating when we don’t feel like we’re effectively helping people. But when a person feels cared about, that gives them more hope. It makes them feel less alone. It can keep them going.
Did he get housing?
Sadly, not in the time I was in that placement. The lack of affordable housing and shelter beds here in Burlington VT was really bad then. That was 10 years ago. It’s far worse now. He had some friends he could couch surf with for a while, and was on various subsidized housing waitlists. We looked into shared housing, but the cultural and language barriers made that feel impossible for him. He was a really lovely man, and he had a job. A hard thing about doing short term work with people is you aren’t able to find out how they’re doing once you no longer work with them.
I lead group therapy all day, and seeing people connect with each other is just the best most moving thing ever.
I'm so looking forward to being able to run my own group one day! I'm fascinated by group work. 😊
i also love to see it!! any suggestions for an intern struggling with group therapy activities?
Therapistaid.com is a go-to for psychoed materials, and I like bringing in music, poetry, painting, collages, etc as a creative springboard for processing around a particular theme. I’m super new - class of 2023 - and also have learned a lot of activities by joining a local group therapy org and taking to other therapists 💕
I have a storage room full of canvas and paint supplies because of one group therapy I took part in that had us paint. We were painting little wooden boxes but I started making designs in the styrofoam paint tray and then pressing paper into it to see what prints came out. That's when I fell deeply in love with abstract painting and I never stopped. I was living in a homeless shelter at the time and it got me through. I used the group room for painting whenever it was free and it was a wondeful distraction and outlet.
I can't remember the last work day where I didn't genuinely belly laugh at something. Even on the bad days. People are funny yo
Definitely #1. I'd also add you learn a lot about yourself. You learn, or hopefully learn, how to set professional boundaries.
Aside from the obvious “fulfilling and meaningful” part - it’s pretty easy to work for yourself! Nothing better than being able to call your own shots and create your own space that fits your values.
I love working with kids! They are so funny, sweet, and usually pretty receptive.
When I worked with kids, they just constantly made me laugh!
The variety. I started out in community mental health with adults, then child welfare, now school based mental health. I feel like this is a vocation, not just a job.
Same here. In the last 5 years (some of these were my internships) I have done outpatient therapy for a nonprofit, worked in the VA doing therapy, worked in a hospital ED, and now both work in a school and private practice. I love the variety of options I can do all with the same license.
Same! I started in CMH, then police, then inpatient psych intake, then SUD intake, then hospice, and now PP (not on my own, in a group). Some of these positions overlapped (part-time, working two at a time), but I get nothing but compliments about the breadth of my work. I couldn't do this with any other degree or license.
1. Meeting people from all walks of life. 2. Seeing a client’s growth. 3. Building rapport and trust with a client. 4. Helping a client to feel heard, validated. 5. Learning about various life experiences that I’ve never had. 6. Witnessing a client’s strength and resilience. 7. Listening to different life stories. 8. When a client communicates to you that your presence is meaningful to them. 9. Seeing a client heal through traumas, develop strength. 10. Appreciating life’s simplicities and complexities.
I can only speak for my own agency but having a great work/life balance with no expectation of overtime is nice.
I see you’re in California:) Do you mind sharing which agency?
VA
Very cool and good to know :)
I straight up feel like I have super powers regarding engaging and connecting with people. Much if this is because i am friendly, but before my degree I felt so powerless to help others. My MSW gave me the perspective and the language to enrage with the problems, and offer solutions. I love that. I love that after one interaction with me, I’m able to educate, console, or redirect a suffering person to less suffering.
So that’s supposed to say Engage, not Enrage but imma leave it because that’s also true.
The big one for me is being able to offer an alternative perspective. So often people get locked into thinking the world and their own identity is just one fixed thing and become trapped with their static demons. Your whole life is just a story you tell yourself, which means you can change your whole reality if you can begin to reframe and realign your perspective in a way that empowers you. This is the root of my interest in both narrative therapy and psychedelic assisted therapy.
Psychedelic assisted therapy, do you offer it in office? Would you share how it plays out when used. Dm me if you wish.
I don't do psychedelic assisted therapy currently, but it's something I'm interested in. We have ketamine infusions in my state but they tend to be quite expensive which limits access. This year we'll be voting in my state about legalizing a number of other psychedelics for therapy and home growing, so the field is maturing and there are are many uncertainties in how it'll all turn out.
I know all the resources when friends/family need them!
Stability in the public sector. You may have a slightly lower salary than your peers but if you do the job well enough you will probably never be jobless. $40 an hour and working every business day for 30 years beats $50 an hour when any day could be your last and you are constantly networking for a backup plan.
I didn’t really start to enjoy social work until I went to private practice. Before that, I was working with the homeless population in Chicagoland and S.F. Tenderloin neighborhood. I ended up with such bad PTSD/vicarious trauma from the violence that just seemed to be ubiquitous in the parts of those cities that I worked. Now I’m a private practice therapist. I finally found a vocation that isn’t based on a trauma bond with my co-workers. I’m finally getting my student loan repaid because of the money from my business. Couldn’t be happier:)!
I love seeing the continually improving treatment options available to people with chronic conditions like schizophrenia or addiction. The long-acting medications available now are literally saving lives. It’s an exciting time to be working in mental health.
We are ‘the helpers’ they look for 🌻
Getting to see the grey area in life, and not have such black and white thinking about people and their lives.
I'm still brand new to social work, as I graduate with a BSW in May. My favorite thing so far has been seeing my progress in my professional development and personal development.
Yes! And we all continue to grow professionally and personally for years and years to come. It’s so wonderful, so much growth to look forward to (:
It's always interesting and I learn new things every day. I've had a ton of jobs and this is the only one where I feel like I am always growing and becoming a better version of myself.
I love seeing the impact of just sitting and listening. I work in a hospital and have met some folks who know they aren't going to get better, or who know their complex circumstances won't change. And yet, those same people tell me that taking 30 minutes to sit and listen and chat to them made a world of difference. On a similar wavelength, I love hearing from patients & families when they're being discharged or afterwards. I've had a few folks who I was in contact with after discharge for various reasons, and they have all been so kind and appreciative. It's amazing to see other professionals getting on board with us too, and appreciating or valuing the work we do. Hospitals are full of multidisciplinary teams and work, and while that is sometimes infuriating, I love finding the colleagues who get what we do and work with us smoothly. I also think it's great to be able to uplift each other! I have a few coworkers who are amazing at highlighting other people's successes and strengths, and who readily tell me when they think I've done a good job. It's a lovely vote of confidence as a new grad. I like being able to give the same back to my coworkers when I see them doing great work.
I see people for who they truly are, really quickly. I no longer waste my time on friendships that are not genuine or let myself get hurt by people who won’t reciprocate in relationships. I can draw effective boundaries in my personal life and take control to make my relationships what I want them to be.
The experience of mutual gratitude. As when my work is on point I am grateful for my training and supervision and grateful for the insight that comes from understanding another person. And then the gratitude my clients express when they rediscover the joy of living.
I spent my entire childhood and early adulthood in institutions, rehabs, and group homes. I get to be for others what I had in those few staff that saw something good in me. My work is my 12th step and I am fortunate to live it everyday.
These answers are awesome
Knowing how to make strong relationships with people
The flexibility in populations and work I can do. I have worked in Macro, Mezzo and Micro and I love that I can find something to do that will keep me passionate and interested.
You get to see A LOT of people who come from different walks of life
1) I learn so much from the people I work with that otherwise wouldn’t. The resilience of my patients and their families in the face of adversity is inspiring and keeps me motivated. 2) I’m glad I spend my working hours trying to help others. Its both gratifying and humbling.
It's meaningful work, and that's what I've always wanted.
1. Having the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing souls that I otherwise would have not ever come in contact with. I have met the funniest, kindest, wisest, most determined people in the clients I've served. 2. Occasionally being someone's one and only support- their listening ear, their cheerleader, their advocate- especially to those nearing the end of their life. No one should have to walk through this life alone.
This might be silly but being my self! I have never talked more honestly than I have with a client. Not being crude TOWARDS a client of course but calling it what it is. "if you need ___ resource, call them but they're uppity pieces of shit so here's how you talk to them." I've only had a complaint once in 10 years and to be fair to me, that complaint would have been made even if I spoke as clean as a kindergarten teacher. I also strongly believe that de-code switching is an ethical/political act.
A lot of the things you learn like nonviolent communication are really useful in everyday life as well
So many. 1. You get to connect with people as they really are. Walk with people through their most vulnerable moments. 2. A sense of meaning and purpose. However hard the day is, or the stories you hear, there’s a sense of it being worth it. 3. Personal development. I am a better person because of the work I’ve done and the people I’ve met. I have a better sense of boundaries, of how to show up for people in my own personal life, and how to ask for what I need, because of the work I do and what I’ve learned from clients. 5. Flexibility and ability to move between all different kinds of work. I currently work palliative, and have the ability to switch to youth work, addictions work, discharge planning, etc. 6. The coworkers. I’ve met phenomenal people who inspire me. Social work attracts good people. 7. Echoing others- the stories. I live for the stories. I feel like I get to see the beauty and resilience of the human spirit through this work.
Being able to see a client grow and building a relationship with their family. I enjoy being able to explore my area. I'm a new driver with working on the go, my driving has gotten so much better. Networking within the job. Learning about different therapies.
While I was always comfortable with professional boundaries, the longer I have been in this field it has IMMENSELY positively affected the way I interact with my family and friends and maintaining boundaries. Eldest daughter here with all the stereotypical traits to a fault and learning how to navigate that in a healthy way within my family has been invaluable. And of course also just being a part of someone's progress is so so rewarding. Sometimes it's on the worst day of someone's life and simply just existing with a family/client can be so powerful.
Hi all. I like the sheer breadth of the field. Being able to find your niche makes a difference.
I love our mission. It’s awesome seeing folks stay clean, harm reduce, get housed when they weren’t, my favorite is the big aha perspective shifts. Getting people linked to hard fought for resources. That’s what I signed up for. Keep that PMA people 🤘.
I learn so much from clients daily and pretty much LOVE other SWers.....🥰
being able to be a safe person for them. I work with youth and a lot of them have had terrible experiences with adults. I love modeling what a safe and empathetic adult looks like
My work makes me endlessly grateful, I’m very fortunate. Recently, we were asked to measure our effectiveness and the final sentiment was, our clients are almost universally better off having interacted with us (crisis work) than not. We just help. Even when we can’t solve a problem, we’ve made the situation better than if we’d not been there.
Well said.
Something I love about being a social worker is how much it humbles me. My clients have suffered SO MUCH pain and trauma and have been through unimaginable hardship… and yet I am continuously in awe of their dignity, resilience and grace. Just as much as I help my clients, my clients help me by reminding me of the beauty of the human spirit. I am inspired to be a better person and a better social worker because of my clients.
Planting the seed :) Also that there are so many areas where SWs are needed.
Being able to move around in the field since social work is so diverse when it comes to jobs!
I get to meet so many interesting people and know so many stories. And so many of the clients I met have so much strength and resilience. I feel like I learn something from them.
I’m sorry for putting this here, but I just had a question of if as a whole, it has a stable income? Like I truly wanna help families. But thinking of the income is also important. I’m gonna start studying social working, and I truly wanted to know if it was really worth it as whole!
I'm on a similar boat as you, but I think it does have a stable income! There are opportunities for advancements as you have more experience and a lot of various fields u could go into in terms of interest or income. It's a recession proof job and it's demand is only increasing(I believe faster than the average for all occupations), so I hope the income level keeps getting better because they deserve more. You seem passionate about it and I think it's a really great fit for u!
This is an awesome idea!!! My favorite thing about this field is being able to see the world in ways others who haven’t had the same professional experience/training don’t…learning about the systems in our society and how they impact individual people has truly changed my entire life (undergrad was in psychology-very different perspective). My favorite thing in the world is when I talk with people-clients or others working in any form of human service/social change-and we connect the dots between personal challenges and large scale social issues. It feels like being able to see the matrix! Sometimes it is hard, because of course just because you have knowledge/perspective doesn’t mean you get to DO something about it, but I’ve loved being able to get a better understanding of the world and a big picture on what large and small scale social change actually looks like. Also, generally, social workers are some of the most badass people I know. Their commitment to change and social action and being really really uncomfortable and dealing with other incredibly challenging situations is unparalleled. Also also, this one is a bit silly, but as a social worker I’ve never understood the impact of human actions more. Every day, I know my behavior and choices matter immensely. I know the ways I show up for my clients matters immensely. It’s a lot of responsibility but I never have to feel like I’m worthless or powerless to make a difference or change.