A community and social service worker: Helping society to help itself

People who are genuinely concerned for the less fortunate in their communities and are able to cope with sensitive issues effortlessly, should pursue a social service career. Social service workers assist their community to help itself. They help and deal with people of all ages who find themselves in tricky life’s situations, for instance, adoption, hospice care, trauma and so forth.

The majority of social workers spend their time in community based social service offices where those who need their services can visit and be sorted out. If not, they may travel to visit their local clients at their homes, meet the other community service providers, or attend a community based meeting. Typically, if there are not in their usual offices working, they may be meeting with their clients in any one of the numerous social service offices within their localities.

Basically, a full time social worker works for 40 full time hours per week. However, this may be extendable depending on the client’s individual requirements. So, don’t be surprised when see them working during the evenings or weekends – they have to attend to the needs of their clients, handle emergencies, or attend community meetings without minding the time or day of the week as a general rule. Furthermore, those who work for organizations such as voluntary non-profit making agencies have to work overtime in order to meet the needs of their clients irrespective of the time of day or night. Approximately 20% of social workers work for such organizations and are members of a social worker’s union. Although this type of a work is highly fulfilling to those who do it, it can be quite challenging due to a string of reasons, for example large caseloads and understaffing. Consequently, this results to high burnout rate that is both detrimental to the social workers and their clients.

In order for social workers to be efficient and effective in their work, they are required to be dedicated, discreet, compassionate and objective. They must be able to deal with sensitive issues effortlessly as they handle delicate matters that affect their clients on a day to day basis. They are supposed to work independently, thus they must have exceptional interpersonal and communication skills so as to maintain and develop a good working relationship with their clients and fellow social workers as well.

For a person to be termed as a qualified social service worker, they must be educated up to a university level and have acquired a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in social science. Basically, a social science university program offers the students with tools and knowledge on how to develop and deliver social service that empowers the community as a whole. As a rule, these programs emphasize total respect for human beings, their rights, diversity, social justice and social responsibility. Generally, a bachelor’s degree program prepares the potential social service worker for a direct social services position, for instance, a caseworker. A master’s degree program permits a graduate to work as a specialist in their preferred social service concentration.

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