Social Workers, come in! Need advice!

Deleted..might post again soon!

Message edited 2/12/2013 3:20:27 PM.

Re: Social Workers, come in! Need advice!

I'm a social worker and want to be very honest that the field has changed tremendously since I started out in the late 90's. Jobs are VERY hard to come by.

There have been so many budget cuts and a lot of the work is being turned over to case managers and not so much to therapists any more.

Also, what used to be social worker jobs are now being given to "RN case managers" instead. When I get "social work" job listings each week, I think it's a freakin' joke because they all seem to be for nurses instead.

I also wanted to say that I do work with nursing homes a lot in my work, and the social workers there are very often overwhelmed with discharge planning and often nonsense that the nurses/doctors won't do.

If pts do receive counseling in a nursing home setting, it is extremely minimal and usually NOT through the social work department from what I have seen (i.e. per diem psychologists often provide).

Keep in mind too, that nursing homes are for profit institutions, and they often hire people who are NOT Master's level social workers (or even BSWs) and give them the title of "social worker", to save money.

If you would like the information, my agency provides services through a state program that is an alternative to nursing home placement.

From what little you describe, it sounds like your dad may be a potential candidate.

My job as a social worker at my agency is to take people OUT of nursing homes and/or set up services if they are already in the community to prevent institutionalization.

I am being honest too, but whenever anyone asks me if they should go into social work, I tell them don't do it.

I see how overwhelmed the people I work with are these days, just because of lack of resources and even more complex cases related to mental health, substance abuse, pain killers, no housing and no where to send anyone for support.

I wish I could be more optimistic for you about our field, but I can't unfortunately.

If you want to help people, maybe look into nursing.

They are overwhelmed too, don't get me wrong, but at least they seem to make more money and often have great benefits ;).