Exploratory Essay Rough Draft #1

Jasmine Kay Mason

2/28/2020

ENGL 1001 English Composition

Professor Jonathan Maxey     

Social Work Exploratory Essay

      To be able to help people all the time with many different problems is a beautiful thing. As a Social Worker that is your job twenty-four seven. When you get into this line of work you are working with all kinds of populations such as children, adults, families, military veterans, older adults, people who suffer from addiction, mental illness, people with special needs, prisoners, etc. What’s amazing about this line of work is that after you study every population of people, you can specialize in who you want to work with. You help these people get the necessary resources that they need so they can live on their own. While the pay can differ depending on where you work as a social worker, you can earn between $22,000-$45,000 a year. It might seem like it’s not much, but if you’re happy with helping people it’s not a problem at all. You must be kind, caring, understanding, and open-minded. Some fields in social work do require you to travel. You are going to be traveling a lot if you’re working with active duty members of the military. The type of environment that you will work in will also depend on the field that you specialize in. You might be in a prison, a hospital, in an office, and sometimes in another person’s home. The hours depend on the field. You will need prior experience. Within the field there are health benefits. There are so many amazing jobs as a Social Worker.

      When you work as a Social Worker, you can work in different working environments. If you’re working with the military, you’ll always be traveling from base to base. If you’re working in Case Management, another line of Social Work, you might be working in an office and for an organization. Some other examples can include working in any of the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, Lighthouse, Hospitals, Nursing homes, schools, etc. Each facility requires different expertise. For example, if you work in the VA, you’re working with veterans and families of veterans. Each line of work usually requires the same amount of education. A BSW (bachelor’s degree in social work) is what you need to start practicing in you desired field. After a year you will be eligible to test and receive you MSW (master’s degree in social work). Once you get your MSW in your desired practice, you can stay there and work or continue to get your LCSW (license in clinical social work). With the LCSW, you can work as a counselor for family counseling. While all of this is amazing to think about, there are some things to keep in mind. As an MSW or LCSW, you must take mandatory courses that help renew your license. The classes can be taken anytime online or with other social workers before a specific cut off period and you must complete ninety hours. Failure to complete these classes can result in the CSWE revoking your license. Don’t worry it’s easy.

      While the salary for social workers depends on the practice, there have been some problems going on in West Virginia with the CPS Social Worker salary. The starting salary for a CPS worker is $28,000, which doesn’t seem enough to keep many social workers within this field. West Virginia Governor, Jim Justice, vowed to have the best CPS system in the nation. He has even hired 87 CPS workers to help with this cause. He hopes that this can help influence others to join the cause. Due to the shortage CPS workers, the system doesn’t have enough people on the frontline to help get children get out of endangering situations involving drugs, alcohol, and abuse. In 2019 there were about twenty percent of DHHR’s (Department of Health and Human Resources) CPS jobs were vacant. This was a problem back in 2018 as well, the main reason why they couldn’t investigate half of the child abuse cases. This source also talks about how they had a thirty-five-year history of not being able to find qualified CPS workers, which could also be a reason for this issue. The source also states, “…even after the state employee pay raises the past two years, which Hill said was a concern. The language in the original bill would have raised the starting salary to $32,500.” Hopefully, this could help bring in more CPS workers.

      In the line of social work, there are many types of fields you can go into. One of these fields involves working with children in the foster care system. In July of 2019, a trade publication was posted about the Methodist Children’s Home Society. It talks about how this society has become one of the largest foster care providers in the region. They have achieved this by combining Community Social Services to their society. Since this event, they have also begun the process of creating a deal that can help young mothers struggling with substance abuse and transitional living. With combined nonprofit companies working together, they can serve 2,500 children and families a year, including 300 children in direct foster care. It has also been reported that there are no plans for CSS directors to join the Methodist board, since there are 50 remaining employees at CSS. However, CSS President and CEO William “Chuck” Jackson are joining as a strategy offer. “Over the years, (CSS) had just simply not done the work it needed to remain competitive, It came down to a desire to increase our impact … and a recognition that we were not able to be able to do that on our own…” Jackson said. Other than the new partnership, they have also implemented child-abuse-prevention and substance abuse services to help more children in need. This is just a sample of what this field can do. This field has more to offer, and the other fields do too.

      There are many amazing things about social work, but there are some negatives too. There are some negatives with being a clinical social worker such as how it relates to social justice within any type of community. “The tension between clinical social work and social justice is a valuable one that directs our gaze back to our dual focus” (p. 197). Another negative is also the fact that as a clinical social worker, you are on the front lines to some of the social issues such as poverty, mental health, some of which involve topics of cultural differences and racism. While these may seem like negatives there are some positives in being a clinical social worker. The line of clinical social work is widely regarded as the guiding orientation of social work. In this field you are working on the micro or smaller end of social work. You work with families and individuals, and you can work independently in this field too. While the macro or larger scale of social work is mainly focused on changing the environment, clinical social work focuses on the individual and helping them receive the help they need. In the clinical field of social work, you will have a more personal relationship with your clients. You’ll need to learn everything about your client in order to help them find the resources they need.

      Through my research, I didn’t run into to too many problems trying to find the information to answer the questions I had. Even though I found everything that I needed, there were many challenges while trying to find the information. I struggled finding specific information on the salary for social workers. I also struggled finding the what each of the fields of social work did specifically. Overall, this was a very interesting assignment. It felt as though I have found more information about what I really wanted to do, and it helped me narrow down my choices. I would highly suggest finding a field that has the population that you want to work with rather than researching social work in general. Through this assignment I have learned so much about my field and now I feel like learning more.

Works Cited

Varghese, Rani, Rani Varghese, and Hye K. Kang. “Essential Knowledge for Clinical Social Work Practice: Social Work Faculty Perspectives.” Smith College Studies in Social Work, vol. 89, no. 3-4, 2019, pp. 200-219.

“Methodist Children’s Home Society acquires Community Social Services; Deal creates one of region’s largest foster care providers.” Crain’s Detroit Business, vol. 35, no. 30, 29 July 2019, p. 0001. Gale In Context: Biography, https://link-gale-com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/apps/doc/A595175640/BIC?u=ucinc_main&sid=BIC&xid=9915d991. Accessed 23 Feb. 2020.

Stuck, Taylor and Amelia F. Knisely. “CPS Bill Does Little to Address Retention, Advocates Say.” Coal Valley News © Copyright 2020 The Coal Valley News, 85 Town Square / PO Box 500 Danville, WV https://www.coalvalleynews.com/news/cps-bill-does-little-to-address-retention-advocates-say/article_d9d5b318-e3f3-53be-8323-7989f0244a9c.html