So I’m still thinking about getting a masters degree. Part of me is thinking it would be smarter to go into a field that is comfortable with mental illness and where I can work part time and still get benefits and make enough to live off of (I don’t need much just an apartment and food). I was wondering if anyone has any experience in similar fields? I would hope to work connecting people to services as I’m not entirely interested in one on one counseling. Its just a thought for now. I was also wondering if you knew of any laws regarding hospitalizations and licenses as that would help as well.
I used to be a social worker @Air. I burnt out from seeing too much child abuse and working too much with parents who were abusing & neglecting their kids. I found burn out to be quite common amongst my peers. They said it is more likely to happen if you have an empathetic personality.
If you have an empathetic personality I’d suggest distancing yourself from direct service. Your idea of working only in referrals would do that. At my last employer there was one worker with such a role. She did only intake & assessment with clients, one phone call when they first contact the service. She didn’t burn out.
I think it’s best to have some training & skill in counselling no matter what job you seek. Without it you risk alienating clients, inability to develop trust & rapport with clients, risk of providing an ineffective intervention for clients (just repeating “the cycle”). It’s a pretty empathetic vocation.
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Thanks for the response. I used to work in healthcare service with late term dementia patients so I am well aware of burnout. I’m currently studying human computer interaction for my bachelors, and a huge part of our training is interviewing and empathizing with customers to create products. It’s pretty heavy on psychology so I know I can form connections. I was wondering if you knew the availability of part time work with benefits, as that would serve me best. I’m very empathetic but with my history in hospice I can definitely build a healthy perspective.
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Also you seem kinda new and I want to welcome you to the forum
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Sorry I don’t know anything about benefits. Not sure what you mean - do you mean govt welfare income such as disability pension?
When I was a social worker that was my only income. There was loads of part time work. Employers were also very flexible in negotiating jobs to fewer hours as they preferred to hold onto a good worker with fewer hours rather than lose a worker entirely. That’s just my experience in SE Australia, may be different in your area.
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Ah. What I mean by benefits is in the US we don’t have health insurance provided by the government so it either has to be through the employer or private pay. I would need health insurance while working so I can afford my $1700 meds.
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@Ninjastar I know you worked in a therapy capacity for awhile so I was wondering your thoughts on this as well.
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Yikes, that sounds really tough Air. I guess I take Medicare for granted here. I hope you can find part time work that you like with benefits.
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Its a lot of hard and heartbreaking work for not much money.
I had a friend that was a social worker and it just about broke her.
She ended up going back to school to become a Nurse Practitioner.
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I agree with @Flutterby that you want to think about the burnout rate. Another thing to consider is how much a social worker makes in your area. Will it be enough to make up for the cost of a masters degree?
It’s a good and necessary field. But check on benefits and average pay in your area before committing to a degree.
I don’t know what part time benefits are like nowadays. I live in a state that kept Medicaid expansion and is currently lobbying for universal statewide coverage, so the situation in my state is different than yours, probably.
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I have funding for a masters degree luckily, and the pay in my state and the state I may move to pay enough part time to afford living off of. I will definitely have to look further into health insurance. Please tell me if I am being to personal, but I was wondering if you thought your experiences made it harder or easier to empathize with the people you were working with.
I think my experience made me a much better behavioral therapist. People would be like “wonder why this kid is acting all crazy” and I would be like “idk they’re wearing a new shirt, check it for tags?” And I could usually figure out what was causing meltdowns because I’ve been there.
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hey @Air how’s it going? Have you reached any conclusions about your career direction? A masters sounds amazing. I never went above Bachelor - I have trouble concentrating due to my psychotic symptoms (or my pdoc thinks it may actually be adhd) so although I’ve managed to excel academically in the past it was rather painful & put a big strain on my body.
I was thinking about your benefits question. I did job searching for the first 5 months of this year. Each job had had a Position Description you could download and a contact person you could phone to ask about the job details. The PD had requirements of the role etc. any conditions were pro-rata. For example if it’s a 0.5 position, the work hours are 50% of full time, the paid leave is 50% of full time and the paid sick leave is 50% of full time. Presumably health benefits would be pro rata? Could you research job ads to find out what benefits are on offer?
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I talked it over with my case worker and it doesn’t really sound like the field for me tbh. She goes through a lot that I don’t really think I can handle. I think I will stick to my current field in human computer interaction.
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I really liked my social worker. She only showed up once every 6 months. She seemed very surprised that I improved so much… I got a job and lost the weight I gained while psychotic and my negatives and cognitives had partially gone away by that time. Apparently I’m now labeled by most people in mental health as high functioning… which does make me wonder how it must feel like to visit dozens of less fortunate people. I think technology is a very good field to work in and your thoughts seem very clear. Here in Hawaii we have universal health care. Maybe you could become a teacher like freakonaleash… lots of jobs out there for stem degrees.
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What about being a psychologist?
I’d rather have a career where I could be useful to society.
I definitely think social workers are useful. They have been to me at least. Psychologist, I’m not so sure lol.
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Social worker is the way to go. I’m going for social work, my goal is to be a case worker in mental health. Maybe one day do therapy. It’s less schooling than being a psychologist, and in my state an MSW is more valuable and diverse than a masters in psychology, which would let you be a limited licensed counselor.
Burnout is a problem though. I love kids, but I could never work for CPS, because the emotional toll it takes is surreal from what I’ve heard.
Burnout is avoidable if you have healthy outlets, such as therapy, exercise, a hobby, and other things to relieve stress.
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I just don’t think I have it in me. My caseworker said she’s been attacked a lot and has had people try to make her car crash a couple of times. People have barricaded her into their apartments etc… I just don’t think I could deal with that while having my own problems
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