Anyone familiar with Social Work??? Please answer?

Hey guys! I am wanting to major in social work. I am hoping I am amking the right decision. I want to councel others.. one on one or even in groups... I am mainly into the mental health field. I have depression/anxiety/bi polar and have wanted all my life to help others who go through what i go through. that is my number one passion. I can feel it in my blood. I was goin to major in psychology but I decided that it would be diff to get a job with that and plus the stuff was too scientific and even though I enjoy learning about how people think and all the mental illness's it goes way deeper than that. Plus social work would give me a option of diff things I can do. I hear it is a very versitile degree. Anyways, I was going to minor in counseling but should I minor in counseling psychology since my main interest is on the individual instead of people as a whole. I know social work is people as a whole but I picked social work mainly because I can do what I want to do with that degree.

Anyone familiar with Social Work??? Please answer?
It is very rare for there to be a counseling psychology minor at the BA level (generally you can't get a BA in counseling psych - this is usually a MA level degree). If you are interested in mental illness you would would be best to major in either psychology or biology (possibly through nursing) (as mental illness and mental illness treatment has a strong biological component and understanding this would be helpful to you and your clients.





In general the important thing in your social work program is to be sure to take elective courses that related to mental health (in our program we offer such an elective). Also be sure to do your internship in a mental health context.





Crown is not fully correct. BSW social workers do lots of individual work...they just don't do individual "therapy" or "clinical" work.





DA
Reply:You can work with people with a B.S. in social Work. If you want to do one on one (individual sessions, then you will need a Masters degree (MSW). a minor in psychology would give you more of a foundation in human and abnormal behavior, development psychology, etc. which are needed. Please know that some positions require a license to do therapy, particular to do private practice after the MSW. As a part of the educational requirements of the degree are 2 field placements, more like internships. Nothing that you need to be concerned about because the school/college set these up for you. Lisensure requires two additional years of supervision ...post-MSW.


The field remains open. It is a wonderful profession. If you are interested in versitility, then social work would provide you (in my opinion) with the greatest range. If counseling/mental health is your main interest then a cousneling, psychology or social work degree can offer you what you want.


You stated that you have diagnoses of depression, anxiety and bipolar disorders. If you are not currently in treatment, I would encourage you to consider getting treatment for yourself before entering the profession. This would include talking through or working through your reasons for choosing the profession. Having these diagnoses are not problems in themselves. One of the major paradigms of any helping progression is something called professional use of self. You want to know your issues, what your motivation is for choosing the profession and have a handle on them so as to not impose them on your clients/patients. This actually helps you to do the kind of work you seem to really want to do for your clients. It helps you to stay healthy and continue to be a stable helping professional.


I hope this helps. Best of luck!!!

root canal