Any social workers here?

[twosweetgirls]

I’m seriously considering college again, this time for my Masters in Social Work. And truth be told, it’s scaring the pants off of me. Scary because I’m 40 years old, a 12-years-married mother of Twosweetgirls, and already earned my BA in communications.

Back In 1991! But my “a-ha” moment came several weeks ago, while assisting a loved one with a depressive illness in the hospital setting. And since then, going back for my MSW has been at the fore of pretty much every thought.

So this is really addressed to two kinds of responses: those of you who have been assisted by a social worker, and those of you who ARE social workers.

If you’ve been assisted by a social worker, may I ask what your experiences were? What was the circumstance(s) around which you needed the help of a social worker? Was it positive or negative? Are you currently being assisted by a social worker, and how?

If you ARE a social worker, do you have your BSW or MSW? What’s the area of service in which you work (elderly, mental illness, adoptions, GLBT, schools, etc)? What do you like the best about your profession? What do you like the least? Did you leave the social work arena to do something different, and why? Did you go back for your MSW after having done something else previously?

Any advice, ANY at all, would be most welcome. This 40-year-old Mommy is scared mindless about this endeavor, yet strangely excited at the same time. TIA!

 

[Feanor2]

YES! I am a social worker! I love being a social worker! I am taking my clinical examination in April. Wish me luck.

 

[Feanor2]

Oh yeah, please PM me and I can give you my impressions of the field. I don’t want to got into the field so much of CAF as I know that many in the GOP don’t like social workers despite the priceless work work we give.

By the way I am a practicing Catholic so I can share some of the issues in that realm too.

I have a MSW and hopefully a LCSW in April!

 

[twosweetgirls]

That’s great! Something that occured to me was that being a social worker very much “jives” with the Catholic beliefs in peace and social justice.

Sure hope to hear from others. . .

 

[littlepreo]

My wife and I have been working with a social worker lately. My wife’s dad is mentally ill (schizophrenia) and his social worker has been helping us and him. He is currently staying at a veterans home, but he needs a higher degree of care that they are unable to provide. Rather than just kick him out, the social worker has been very helpful in transferring him to another facility. She has meet with us a couple times and we’ve had a few conference calls with her too. I really appreciate that she is able to help us (and him) because it’s a very complicated process to figure out social security, pension payments, medicaid, veterans benefits, and other sources of funding. In fact, she informed us about a trust fund that he is eligible for which will help cover his additional costs. Without this, we may not have been able to afford it. Overall, the social worker hasn’t interacted too much with my wife’s dad, but she is mostly helping with paperwork and helping him find a new place with better care. I think social workers do a lot of paper work… but its important!

Hope this helps,
mike