Any social workers out there?

[Tallison]

If so, what are the best/worst things about the role. I'm seriously considering returning to school. Some have said an MSN in P-MH nursing (I'm an RN) would yield more/better paying job opportunities, but the research I see going on in social work departments is just some of the most interesting and progressive out there and I think would really complement my health care skills/background. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[The empressof all]

1. If money is a consideration

You'll make far more with a Masters in P-nursing or even going for you ARNP so you can prescribe.

I think it also depends on where you live and what you ultimately see yourself doing. An MSW is great but I think with your nursing background to build upon there is nothing that you could do with MSW that you couldn't do with an MSN. In fact the MSN would open far more doors.

If you just want the academics involved with social work and policy it's a great degree. But so is Masters in Public Administration if you want to do policy work.

[Tallison]

3. That's what I keep hearing

that from a clinical perspective, the P-MH CNS opens more doors. The irony to this is that a social work education is so much more holistic than the more or less straight bio model of a nursing curriculum. What do I envision eventually doing? A little bit each of the following: medical case management, in-hospital psych liason consultation for medically ill patients, group work w/a focus on women's issues, grief, and addiction. I currently do ICU case management, which is about 60% social work (a lot of hospice discussion, terminal vent weanings, sell-your-house to finance the nursing home discussions), half of my colleagues are social workers and really effective at the work, but get this: our department has stopped hiring CM social workers. All future ones must be RNs. I could go into details, but will spare you. Basically, my boss, and RN, said, you place an ad for social workers, they fall out of the trees. RNs are what they want because they make more thorough case presentations to the insurance companies for reimbursement purposes, and that's what keeps the hospital open.

Policy does interest me, but I'm a horrible public speaker which I'm sure handicaps one's prospects in that field. Re: MPA programs, are they like MBAs for non-profit groups?

[crispini]

5. Public speaking....

that, you can learn. Try Toastmasters, for example. It's mostly a matter of doing it so much that you aren't afraid of the audience anymore. :)

[Tallison]

8. Toastmasters terrifies me

Does this make me nuts or normal? :shrug:

[Dastard Stepchild]

2. Me :)

Well, I am currently about to start my second year in my grad program. If you'd like to chat or ask specific questions, drop me a PM. :)

[Tallison]

4. Are you enjoying the curriculum?

I have such admiration for social workers (as I do for nurses), it's as if I just want to be one - (that's how I wound up becoming a nurse).

It's funny, I'm one of a couple nurses in my case management department considering returning to social work school. The woman who I replaced was a social worker who left to return to nursing school.

So what posessed you to do social work? What were your prior work experiences, and what do you envision doing w/it upon graduation?

[Dastard Stepchild]

6. Some good questions :)

I chose social work not for the most "typical" reasons. :)
I love doing research, and I like reading about policy and social services. In fact, that is where my true passion seems to lie. So, when I was thinking about the ways in which I could "do" research, I considered sociology, women's studies, anthropology, etc. I think the closest match for my areas of interest was sociology, but I wasn't impressed with sociology as a grad degree. In part, because in their research, they, in MY opinion, never got beyond seeing the person as a subject, and not as an individual. I liked the idea of studying people through the framework of social work because I like the ethics and the principles of social work practice. I wanted to study people, but from a different point of view than that of a purely academic sociologist. So now, I am really intrigued by ethnographic social work research, and I am hoping that this is a path that I can continue down... I'll be applying for PhD programs this year.

As for the curriculum, it is very robust. Depending on which school you attend, it may have only a clinical social work concentration, or it may have concentrations in both clinical social work and social service administration. Some schools have programs that allow you to specialize in health/medical social work, and with your background, you may find that an interesting fit. Myself, I am in the Health Policy and Administration program at my school - it's pretty cool. Since I am in the administrative concentration, much of my work this upcoming year revolves around gaining policy and research skills. However, in my first year, I took a mix of admin and clinical classes.

Generally, you will have 2 internships. My first internship was a clinical internship. I met with clients on a weekly basis. It was really fascinating. I worked with adolescents, which is a unique, but exhilarating, challenge. At first, I didn't even know how to enter a room or even begin to ask questions and listen to clients. But it is amazing what one can accomplish in a year - I feel really comfortable with the role of being a clinical social worker. Even though that is not to be my path, I think I will sit for my LSW anyhow so that I could do that work if I so choose to in the future.

My second internship will be in the trauma department of a major urban hospital. This will be more research and administration based, as this is where my interests lie. However, I still expect to have a fair amount of client contact.

My experience before this was limited to research experiences and volunteer roles with various community organizations. For myself, I just knew that I wanted to be doing something to "help." I think that if you ask most people why they are in a social work program, they will tell you that, as cliched as it is, they just could not stand back and refuse to jump into the fray of life to lend a hand. Most of us enter the programs with a steely idealism, though I have met a handful of interesting pragmatists. But for me, too, another reason that I chose social work was that I wanted to be around colleagues that more closely shared my thoughts about the world. We're not all cookies from the same cookie cutter, but we all share enough of a basic philosophy to make it easy to find allies and friends in the social service world.

I could go on and on and on.... :)
Are you thinking of any programs in particular?

[Tallison]

7. You sound so much like me

Social science research is so interesting, and at different points I've considered pursuing graduate work in sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. Medical ethics and women's studies also intrigue me, and I can envision establishing one as a minor concentration. I like your distinction between how the sociologist conceives of the person versus how the social worker does. I pointed out something to this effect in an above post, that social work ethos is much more holistic than that of any strict scientist - social or otherwise - which I think is essential to the relevence and practicality of the research it produces.

I'm looking at the following social work programs (and in particular those w/strong sociology/anthropology/social psych/women's studies/ethics departments in which graduate students can take electives): UNC, U Wisconsin, U Michigan, U Minnesota, U Washington, U Pittsburgh. VCU in Virginia has a good social work program and would offer me in-state tuition, but isn't so strong in its other graduate departments.

Another option would be to pusue a Master's in psychiatric-mental health nursing, which prepares one for clinical work with prescriptive authority and pursue graduate work in a more straight-up academic discipline in, say, anthropology, sociology, social psych, religious studies, or hell, even CRITICAL THEORY! I do love reading, writing, and research; I'm just having such a difficult time narrowing and defining my professional goals and interests. Wish I had several lifetimes in which to do it all, ugh.

I'm so glad you responded to this cry for help. :)

[Dastard Stepchild]

13. I'll have to make a very brief pitch for my school...

University of Chicago. It's excellent.

There. :)

That aside, all of the schools you have listed have very strong social work programs, and you would no doubt benefit from the ability to take a number of classes outside of the social work school. I do that as well, which is one of the reasons why I also really like my program.

I'm not familiar with mental health nursing, but it seems like a pretty solid, very interesting career choice.

Do you find yourself more interested in working with clients in a therapeutic relationship, in running an organization, in creating policy, in doing research... or is it a bit of all of the above? I don't think they are mutually exclusive interests, but you will find that the schools, to some degree, push you to select one of the above interests. They tend to parcel out there students into certain tracks, so it helps to have some idea of what you might like to do with yourself once you graduate.

In other words...
1. Do you want to be hands on? OR
2. Do you want to direct other people's hands? OR
3. Do you want to create rules for how those hands are to be directed? OR
4. Do you want to observe the hands and then write about them?

:)

[Tallison]

17. Oh, lord, how do you finance it?

Are there grants available for MSW programs? I've heard wonderful things about Chicago. It has the top-ranked religious studies program in the country (second is UVA, where I got my BA in religion :) ).

I'm primarily interested in clinical work and research. Policy making intrigues the activist in me - particularly regarding Medicare/Medicaid reform - but not enough for me to construct a career around.

I enjoy hands on clinical work, teaching, and making observations/writing about my "field" experience. Identifying principles compels me far more than establishing rules does. For what it's worth, I tested as an ENTP "type," which seems to fairly accurately describe my disposition.

[Dastard Stepchild]

18. At U of C ....

everyone gets some form of aid from the school itself. One's personal statement carries a lot of weight. I got a 50% tuition remission off of my personal statement, so that helps to finance things. I also applied for some separate scholarships and fellowships, which helped to chip away at the cost. Even after all that, though, I am still taking out loans. But, since I wanted to continue on to my PhD, I felt that it was beneficial to choose U of C - I thought it might make me a stronger candidate for PhD programs. That was my main motivation behind my school choice. Were I to focus mostly on clinical work, I would have more seriously considered other schools. :)

U of C has a really cool dual MDiv/MSW program. Just to let ya know. ;)

I am beginning to see that more clinicians are expressing an interest in doing the clinical work and in conducting research, so I think that most social work schools help students to explore both practice skills and research skills.

[Tallison]

20. About being a stronger PhD program candidate...

You're absolutely right, another reason VCU's program is not at the top of my list. I'm sure the quality of the MSW program carries weight in the PhD admission process.

What is it about the personal statement that determines funding? Is that different from a statement of professional goals and intent?

[chaska]

11. Hi Stephanie. You rock...!

Sorry, my inner problem child escaped momentarily.

[Dastard Stepchild]

14. lol...

It's hard to keep those 'lil buggers under wraps. :)

[dben88]

9. what type of social work?

i am a child protection worker... although based upon what you have been saying(read: nursing), i am guessing that is not the route you want to go.

[Tallison]

10. Definitely not CPS

I don't have nearly good enough boundaries for it, would wind up taking it all personally and embark on a soul-crushing descent into booze and pills. Animal abuse affects me the same way. I can give SPCA money, but walking into one renders me unable to function.

On the other hand, I have found working with severely/chronically/terminally ill patients and addicts (particularly women) very meaningful. It's on these populations I intend to concentrate professionally.

What led you to CPS work? And welcome! :hi:

[MaryBear]

If you go for MSW, you have to get "kid hours"

and that will expose you to what you want to avoid. I went for them only because required for similar reasons, and found I resonate and deal well with population of abused and neglected kids and their adoptive/foster/biological families. Wanted to do case management. Found I love doing clinical therapy. Follow your heart, and what is most convenient!

[Tallison]

15. I "had" to work the child psych

unit as a float psych RN some while ago, as that was the most understaffed in the hospital. I wound up becoming close to a number of kids, and it was really hard to resist expressing personal sentiments to them, to let them hug you (many of these kids hadn't been hugged in months, so often I said "fuck it." It was anguishing. And the parents were often impenetrable. I often left work with a crock pot full of feelings that I just wanted to numb. Needless to say, there were others on that unit who were more effective than I was, and I'm happy to leave the work to them.

For whatever reason, I'm effective with addicts and dying people. And here I pursued nursing with the original intention of becoming a midwife... Good God, what course will life take next?

Maybe working with kids in a different context would benefit me. I'm open to new experiences. Thanks much for the feedback :).

[Dastard Stepchild]

19. You had a requirement to work with children in your program?

That's interesting. We don't have such a requirement.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[dben88]

16. oops...

someone fell asleep immediately after posting. and thank you for the welcome.

i am not entirely sure what led me into the child protection field. after 6 years in it, i am even less able to form a response to this question. yes, the work is grueling and often times absolutely horrific. however, being able to make meaningful and positive changes in a child's life override any of that. (i know that sounds unbelievably trite, but there is truth to it). you would also get to work with your fair share of addicts.

as for working with terminally ill patients... i have no idea how anyone has the strength to do that. more power to you...