Social Work Career Degrees and Options

This post is brought to you by Social Work at UNE.

Selecting the type of career field that you want to go into could be one of the toughest decisions you'll ever make. If you think you might enjoy a career that allows you to work with other people and help them, then a career as a social worker just might be the right one for you. There are numerous institutions where you can obtain a degree in the field, such as UNE's social worker degree. With a degree, there are various different areas of social work that you can choose to focus on.

Just as with any other type of degree, different levels of education will allow you to practice in different fields of social work. For instance, with a Bachelor of Social Work degree, you can choose to practice in the following job fields:

• Case consultant
• Child protective services worker
• Child life specialist
• Court-appointed special advocate
• Criminal justice social worker
• Gerontology social worker

With a Master of Social Work degree, you can choose to practice social work in the following areas:

• Clinical
• Psychiatric
• School
• Employee assistance program
• AIDS and HIV services

With a Doctorate of Social Work degree, you can go on further to become one of the following:

• Social work professor
• Head of a social work practice
• Policy advocate
• Policy advisor

The amount of time that it takes you to obtain a career in the area of social work you desire depends greatly upon what type of degree is required for the career choice you've made. Generally, bachelor's programs require four years of schooling, and master's programs take an additional two. Doctorate programs mandate an additional two to four years after completion of a master's program. There are certain amounts of supervised work experience that you must obtain as well. For instance, accredited bachelor's programs for social workers require 400 hours of supervised field experience, and accredited master's programs mandate 900 hours of supervised experience.

Regardless of the type of social worker career that you want to enter, doing so is possible with the appropriate education, training and experience. Careers in the social work industry seem to be on the rise, so for people looking for a stable career field to go into, this might be a good choice filled with ample opportunities.