Social Work

Plan, direct, or coordinate the activities of a social service program or community outreach organization. Oversee the program or organization's budget and policies regarding participant involvement, program requirements, and benefits. Work may involve directing social workers, counselors, or probation officers.

• Establish and oversee administrative procedures to meet objectives set by boards of directors or senior management.
• Direct activities of professional and technical staff members and volunteers.
• Evaluate the work of staff and volunteers to ensure that programs are of appropriate quality and that resources are used effectively.

Teach courses in social work. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.

Provide individuals, families, and groups with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses. Services include advising family caregivers. Provide patients with information and counseling, and make referrals for other services. May also provide case and care management or interventions designed to promote health, prevent disease, and address barriers to access to healthcare.

• Advocate for clients or patients to resolve crises.
• Educate clients about end-of-life symptoms and options to assist them in making informed decisions.
• Collaborate with other professionals to evaluate patients' medical or physical condition and to assess client needs.

Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems. Apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders.

• Encourage individuals and family members to develop and use skills and strategies for confronting their problems in a constructive manner.
• Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors.
• Develop and implement individualized treatment plans addressing family relationship problems, destructive patterns of behavior, and other personal issues.

Provide social services to assist in rehabilitation of law offenders in custody or on probation or parole. Make recommendations for actions involving formulation of rehabilitation plan and treatment of offender, including conditional release and education and employment stipulations.

• Prepare and maintain case folder for each assigned inmate or offender.
• Gather information about offenders' backgrounds by talking to offenders, their families and friends, and other people who have relevant information.
• Interview probationers and parolees regularly to evaluate their progress in accomplishing goals and maintaining the terms specified in their probation contracts and rehabilitation plans.

Assess and treat individuals with mental, emotional, or substance abuse problems, including abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs. Activities may include individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education.

• Counsel clients in individual or group sessions to assist them in dealing with substance abuse, mental or physical illness, poverty, unemployment, or physical abuse.
• Collaborate with counselors, physicians, or nurses to plan or coordinate treatment, drawing on social work experience and patient needs.
• Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals.

Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.

• Maintain case history records and prepare reports.
• Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.
• Serve as liaisons between students, homes, schools, family services, child guidance clinics, courts, protective services, doctors, and other contacts to help children who face problems, such as disabilities, abuse, or poverty.