Mental Health Social Worker: A Day in the Life

[Tom Ray]

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Hi all,

I'm at a point in my life where I need to choose a career path and stick with it. I got my B.A. in Psychology and am planning on attending grad school. I have been seriously considering mental health social work, but I've heard some fairly negative comments about it.

I was wondering if there are any mental health social workers who would be willing to share a bit about their experience in the field... what have been some of the positive/negatives... what a typical day might look like.. etc.

I think the information could be very useful to many of us.

Thanks!!

 

[wigflip]

Hi all,

I'm at a point in my life where I need to choose a career path and stick with it. I got my B.A. in Psychology and am planning on attending grad school. I have been seriously considering mental health social work, but I've heard some fairly negative comments about it.

I'm curious--what have you heard that's negative?

When I proudly announced that I was going to get my MSW everyone reacted as if I'd just told them I was going to work in slaughterhouse or something. I thought they were terrible snobs. When six, months later, I dropped out of my MSW program, I knew they'd been right all along.

I'd still love to hear what your folks are saying about the field...

 

[Tom Ray]

Wigflip, that's incredibly discouraging to hear.

What made you drop out of your program? Where were you enrolled? What are you doing now?

(As for the negative things I've heard... overworked, underpaid, high stress, too much paperwork, etc. etc. etc.)

 

[wigflip]

Wigflip, that's incredibly discouraging to hear.

What made you drop out of your program? Where were you enrolled? What are you doing now?

(As for the negative things I've heard... overworked, underpaid, high stress, too much paperwork, etc. etc. etc.)

I'll PM you.

 

[BlackSkirtTetra]

Could you PM me, too? I'm considering leaving my MSW program after three months because it seems like the focus is not on clinical work (despite being one of the better clinical programs in the country) and is instead too-broad for my ultimate goal--psychotherapy.

I'm considering re-enrolling at some point in a PhD Clinical Psych program instead. I may still stay in my MSW program and aim for the LCSW, but at this point I'm about 50/50.

 

[Tom Ray]

BTW if you're wondering about the negative comments i've heard....

try http://www.indeed.com/forum/job/social-worker/Career-change/t91210

or any other thread about social work on that site!

 

[mswer]

hi, so I'm actually a second year social work student and im interning in a psychiatry department in a hospital. There is a lot of work to do but it really depends on what you want to do with your life. If you work in an inpatient unit you will do mostly discharge planning and if you work in an outpatient unit then you will get to do some clinical/counseling work. There is a lot of opportunity at a mental health facility but it depends what you want to do.

All the best

 

[jmhschaffer]

Wigflip, I'm a first semester MSW student, and I'd really appreciate if you could also PM me with your experience.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

 

[wigflip]

Wigflip, I'm a first semester MSW student, and I'd really appreciate if you could also PM me with your experience.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

Hey folks,

Am slammed with deadlines now, so I doubt I'll be able to keep up with these threads. PM me if you really want, and I'll try to get back when I get a breather, but the long and short of it was that coming from a very well-regarded psych undergrad program, I really didn't feel that I was getting adequate clinical training in my clinically-focused MSW. I was paying for pedigree and alumni-network, but in my opinion, I would have had to seek out additional post-degree training to practice counseling ethically and competently. In other words, I knew what I was missing. I don't think the folks coming from other undergrad majors like sociology knew, but I did and felt ripped off. And from my perspective, the program didn't live up to the hype about social work as a politically progressive, social justice-oriented profession. In fact, I don't know anyone who identifies that way politically who believes that about contemporary social work. So neither the training nor the climate worked for me. You may feel differently, but trust your gut if it's telling you you've made a mistake, especially if it's a costly boo-boo. It's a low-paying, low-prestige field with a high burnout rate. If you're not loving it now, it probably won't get better.