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Social Service: Helping Others

In the past, "social work" referred to anyone's charitable efforts. Today, the title is usually reserved for those who have formal training and licenses, but the motivation is the same: to help people and strengthen one's community.

Ultimately, social workers are advocates. They provide a voice for the people who need the most help and are the least heard. Social workers counsel people who are mentally ill, and help the poor find jobs and other social services. They work with children who are struggling in school or who come from broken homes. They prod lawmakers to fund rehabilitation programs and to maintain current social programs.

Despite popular perception, not all social workers are employed by the government to help people on welfare or to relocate abused children. In fact, fewer than half of all social workers are government employees.

In addition to government health and human service agencies, social workers are employed by schools, private social service agencies, and health care organizations such as clinics, counseling centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations. In fact, mental health counselors and those who help patients return home from the hospital represent two of the largest segments of the profession.

Of course, social workers must be civic-minded individuals with a superb ability to listen and to empathize with an extremely diverse group of people. They must also be tough-many people who want to make a difference don't have the stomach to deal with deeply troubled clients.

In addition, social workers must endure the rigors of formal education and extensive state licensing requirements. A master's degree in social work is required for an increasing number of positions. Analytical skills can help, too, since lawmakers and insurance companies demand studies and statistics to prove that social programs are working.

For several reasons, social work opportunities will expand significantly in the coming years. Among other factors, baby boomers are entering old age, and methods of caring for mentally and physically ill people are changing.
Due to the rise of HMOs, the health care industry is providing many of the new opportunities. Increasingly, health care organizations operating under strict HMO reimbursement guidelines are using social workers to help cut costs. The trend is especially apparent in the field of mental health counseling, since social workers offer cheaper psychotherapeutic services than fully licensed psychiatrists or psychologists. In addition, the desire to move patients out of hospitals more quickly has increased the demand for social workers who can help patients find community-based recovery services.

Schools are also hiring more social workers, especially because of the trend toward integrating special education students into mainstream classrooms.
While jobs in private and governmental social services will also expand, many city-based social workers-especially those without master's degrees-will find surprisingly strong competition for open positions. Since cities have a lot of social-work training programs and many social workers are drawn to urban problems, the supply of social workers often

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