MSW career possible with Glossophobia?

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mike8082

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Hi Folks,

The title may sound silly, but it's the best way I could put it. I've suffered from anxiety most of my life, but have lived a pretty normal life in spite of it. I've been working full time in IT for 10 years. I'm looking for a career that will allow me to help people through depression/anxiety and times that are mentally tough. My stumbling block has always been my crushing anticipation anxiety I get on the rare occasion that I need to speak to people in a group setting. I've tried toast masters, books, meds you name it. It's helped, but I'd feel best in a career where I could work 1 on 1 with folks, or with a family.

Would I be able to find a job with an MSW that would allow me to work with small families, or 1 on 1 with people? I feel like I could really relate to people suffering from mental struggles. I feel like my decade worth of trouble shooting, and breaking large problems down into small more manageable ones would be an aid to me as well.

What do you think?

I really appreciate your input :)

Mike

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Just to note... As you can see by my join date I've been thinking about making a change for quite some time lol. Thanks again! Just don't want people to think I'm a troll or something hehe :)

Mike
 
Fear of public speaking is extremely common and treatable (with CBT which wasn't mentioned above) so I see no reason why you couldn't become a social worker or anything else you want. I personally have a significant amount of anxiety about speaking and have been using systematic desensitization for years to help with that. Fortunately, it has been a natural process as far as the gradually increased exposure (raising hand in class > class presentations > small group presentation > assistant teaching > teaching a whole class > speaking at a small community meeting > bigger meeting). I just spoke in front of about 500 people a few weeks ago. That was the biggest yet. I was scared but had a track record of successful experiences and a variety of adaptive coping strategies to utilize.
 
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