Child, Family, and School Social Workers

Child, family, and school social workers offer assistance to children and youth as well as to their parents
and guardians. Many are in child welfare. They work with families where there has been abuse, or where
there is serious mental or physical illness. They may help parents find resources they need so that the
children can stay in the home or return to the home. Sometimes this is not feasible; then they have a hand
in finding other placements.

child family school social worker

Social workers also work with children who are in stable home environments. They respond to crises in
the classroom and assess and counsel school children who are experiencing stress, acting out, and/ or
being targeted by bullies; some conduct groups targeted toward prevention. They also conduct trainings,
make referrals, and serve on interdisciplinary teams.

Social workers also provide support and therapy to children who have experienced traumas, losses, or
extra-familial abuse. They work with youth who are experienced serious problems.

Work settings are varied. Some social workers have offices in public elementary or secondary schools;
they may be stationed at one school or have responsibilities at several. Other social workers work for
governmental organizations, residential care facilities, adoption agencies or other social service agencies.
Their job duties may take them out into the community. They may, for example, visit the homes of parents
or prospective guardians. There are times they need to testify in court.

Community Social Workers

Community social workers help communities function. Some work directly with individuals, conducting
needs assessments and making referrals to resources in the community. Others assess needs on a larger
scale. They may plan and administer programs.

community

One type of community social work practice is community organization. Social workers may be community
builders or community organizers. They may be employed by various nonprofits and grassroots
organizations to raise funds, write grants, drum up support, plan infrastructure. Dr. Mizrahi of the Hunter
College School of Social Work (CUNY) has written that many people don’t realize they can work on these
sorts of projects as a living (not just in their spare time). A social work degree is not a requirement for
community organizing, but does provide a direct path into the field. Jane Addams, Mirzahi notes, could
be considered a community organizer.

Service transcends borders. Social workers may work for international organizations and even travel to
distant lands. There is a particular need for social workers when traditional support structures fail in the
wake of war or natural disaster. Social workers not only help people with immediate needs, but set up
systems that will endure after they leave. The situations they encounter can be heartbreaking: children
who have become mute or otherwise regressed because of atrocities they have witnessed, adults who
think they are seeing the results of witchcraft… or that there is simply no help to be offered.
Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Worker

The Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Worker is a specialization within the Social Work field that
focuses on working with the terminally ill and their families. Palliative care and Hospice is the team based
approach to helping the dying and their families. This usually consists of some combination of counseling
spiritual as well as secular in approach along with medical care and doctor prescribed pain medication.
The goal of Hospice and Palliative Care is to limit suffering and alleviate the pain of the terminally ill. Social
workers who specialize in this field take a Social Work approach and background into this field by attaining
additional accreditation through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) or a similar certifying
body. Working with the rest of the Hospice team the Social Worker helps to create a safe environment
that allows dying to be a dignified transition while working to relieve the physical and emotional pain of
the dying patient and attend to the psychological and emotional needs of their family.

Medical and Healthcare Social Workers

Medical conditions affect far more than the body. They can result in an onslaught of emotional, financial,
and social needs.

diverse team of medical professionalsSocial workers are adept at helping people meet these sorts of
needs – and so we find social workers in many locations where healthcare services are delivered. They
are known as medical and healthcare social workers. They may serve as case managers, patient
navigators, and therapists in medical settings.

The largest percentage of healthcare social workers work in hospital settings. A growing number of
healthcare social workers are working in outpatient healthcare settings or nursing/rehabilitation facilities.

Covered in This Article:

Medical and Hospital Social Worker Education

Medical and Hospital Social Worker Licensing and Certification

Medical and Hosptial Social Worker Salary and Career Outlook

Medical Social Work Resources

In hospital settings, medical social workers may handle discharge planning and also review new
admissions for issues that need addressing. They may help patients locate various resources within their
communities. In these settings, they may work any hour of the day or night.
A hospital social worker may have a caseload of patients with widely varying needs. Some will need to
weigh the risks and benefits of different healthcare options. Some will need help writing advanced
directives or making end of life planning.

Social workers in outpatient clinic settings coordinate care for patients who are expected to need a
continuum of services. When children have complex health needs, the medical and health social worker
may work with the whole family to ensure that are understood and can be provided for by the family.

In addition to handling the regular routines, a medical social worker needs to handle crises as they arrive.
This may involve offering counseling or therapy. Social workers in medical settings sometimes treat or
even diagnose psychological conditions.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

Mental health and substance abuse social workers work with clients who have mental conditions and/or
addictions. Often it is an “and” – in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, rates of substance abuse are well
above the norm. Trauma disordered individuals also turn frequently to alcohol and other drugs of abuse.
Social workers, with their knowledge of humans systems, can be especially effective at addressing co-
occurring disorders.

substance abuse social worker

Master’s trained clinical social workers provide psychotherapy. They also act as case managers for
individuals with complex needs. In hospital settings, they act as discharge planners: navigating systems so
that people have the resources and support when they leave the hospital. In an age of ever more effective
pharmacological interventions – and ever increasing medical costs – people are often stabilized quickly.
There can be incentive to push them right on out the door. But without long-term intervention, relapse is
unavoidable. Even with it, setbacks happen.

Social workers uncover hidden problems and implement solutions. Some provide outreach to aging
parents who have spent a good portion of their lives caring for grown children with mental illnesses. Some
implement – and advocate for – Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment. Integrated treatment models are
important because services have often been denied to people who needed them because they had a
concurrent diagnosis that the facility did not feel equipped to handle.

Sometimes concurrent conditions have gone completely unrecognized. This is likely to happen when one
of the conditions is mental disability. According to Social Work Today, mental illness often goes
unrecognized in intellectually disabled populations. Again, social work can be part of the solution.
Mental health and substance abuse social workers can be found in hospitals, residential treatment
centers, social service organizations, and health clinics. Some go into private practice providing
psychotherapy and counseling. They must draw from a wide knowledge background.

Military and Veterans Affairs Social Workers and How to Become One

The challenges of functioning in a military family… they’re nothing new. In All Those Secrets of the World,
children’s author Jane Yolen told a story based on the day her father left for World War II and the day he
returned. When the father was deployed, the younger child was a baby. When he returned, the child was
old enough to shout at the apparent stranger to get away from his mama.

Military social workers support military families when men or women are deployed and also when they
return. Young children frequently act out when a parent leaves. Family members of all ages fear that the
person won’t come back. There are role adjustments to be made. When the person does return, there is
another adjustment process. Teenagers may feel they don’t really know their parent.

MILITARY SOCIAL WORKERS SUPPORT MILITARY FAMILIES WHEN MEN OR WOMEN ARE DEPLOYED AND
ALSO WHEN THEY RETURN.

Of course it’s often the case, when the serviceperson isn’t traveling to a war zone, that the whole family
moves. This creates its own set of challenges: children who struggle to form lasting friendships, spouses
who have little opportunity to develop their own careers. Social workers offer therapy and counseling to
the whole family.

But then there’s war itself – one of life’s greatest traumas. Some social workers are stationed with troops,
helping them process loss or trauma. There are also issues like substance abuse that must be addressed.
Many people do abuse substances, even without the stresses of active duty, but in the military, it can be
more difficult to ask for help.

Assisting Veterans

Military social work is entwined with veterans social work. The transition back to civilian life is especially
difficult for those who have been injured in the line of duty or who suffer from trauma disorders or
unresolved grief. Social workers help veterans with many concerns. They assist them in applying for
benefits from the VA or other organizations. They may also help them find housing assistance. Those who
have complex mental or psychiatric needs may have a case manager who is with them long term.
Social workers assist veterans with a variety of life issues, including those that are not directly related to
time spent in the service. Support is still available, even years down the line. Veterans may get help from
social workers when it's time for long term planning: advanced directives, long term care.

But even that’s not the whole potential scope of practice. Military social work is not limited to direct
practice. Social workers are also advocates on a macro level: for instance, working to extend benefits to
same sex partners.

Psychiatric Social Workers and How to Become One

Psychiatric social workers provide mental health services to individuals with high needs. They may
perform psychotherapy and even diagnose mental illness.

Duties vary according to work setting. Social workers in inpatient settings often have primary
responsibility for putting together the discharge plan. This is not something that is filled out right before
discharge – it’s an ongoing process during much of the time the person is hospitalized. The goal is
ambitious: that the person will have the resources to function optimally within the community. Hospital
stays are shorter than they were in the past, but patients sometimes need to transition to a residential
care center or a day program.

child family school social worker

Social workers who are employed at psychiatric hospitals also do psychosocial assessments and provide
therapy. They are in frequent contact with the family members of patients. They meet with other
members of the mental health team (psychiatrists, nurse practitioners etc.) to discuss patient care. If the
patient is involved in any legal procedures, the social worker may have a role in information gathering.

Psychiatric social workers may also be employed in outpatient centers, working with juveniles and adults.
They perform psychotherapy and assessments, educate the patient and his or her family, and make
referrals as necessary. Mental health therapies include more than just talk. Social workers may, for
example, employ Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing with young trauma survivors.

Master’s level social workers serve as case managers for individuals who have severe needs, those who
may require periodic hospitalization as well as intensive use of community resources. Clients may include
those with schizophrenia and those with complex sets of co-occurring conditions.

Governmental agencies and residential care facilities are among the other employment options for
psychiatric social workers. Some eventually go into private practice as psychotherapists.
Education Requirements for Psychiatric Social Workers

Although bachelor’s level social workers may provide some services, they will not do psychotherapy;
psychiatric social work is a master’s level profession. Those interested in this career should enroll in social
work programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Ideally, they will select programs with
a clinical focus and a clinical fieldwork experience – the state may or may not make clinical focus a formal
requirement for the highest level of licensing. There are typically many opportunities for specialization in
the second year of a master’s program.