Mental Health And Substance Abuse Social Workers

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

Description

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.

Tasks

Counsel clients in individual or group sessions to assist them in dealing with substance abuse, mental or physical illness, poverty, unemployment, or physical abuse.
Interview clients, review records, conduct assessments, or confer with other professionals to evaluate the mental or physical condition of clients or patients.
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.
Educate clients or community members about mental or physical illness, abuse, medication, or available community resources.
Assist clients in adhering to treatment plans, such as setting up appointments, arranging for transportation to appointments, or providing support.
Refer patient, client, or family to community resources for housing or treatment to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness, following through to ensure service efficacy.
Modify treatment plans according to changes in client status.
Counsel or aid family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, or supporting the client or patient.
Increase social work knowledge by reviewing current literature, conducting social research, or attending seminars, training workshops, or classes.
Plan or conduct programs to prevent substance abuse, combat social problems, or improve health or counseling services in community.
Supervise or direct other workers who provide services to clients or patients.
Develop or advise on social policy or assist in community development.

Knowledge

Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills

Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities

Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Work Activities

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Assisting and Caring for Others: Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People: Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public: Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work: Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Thinking Creatively: Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings: Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

Work Context

Face-to-Face Discussions: How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled: How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?
Telephone: How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?
Work With Work Group or Team: How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?
Electronic Mail: How often do you use electronic mail in this job?
Contact With Others: How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?
Deal With External Customers: How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?
Frequency of Decision Making: How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?
Spend Time Sitting: How much does this job require sitting?
Coordinate or Lead Others: How important is it to coordinate or lead others in accomplishing work activities in this job?

Interests

Social: Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Investigative: Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Artistic: Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Conventional: Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Enterprising: Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Realistic: Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Work Style

Concern for Others: Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Self Control: Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Integrity: Job requires being honest and ethical.
Social Orientation: Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Dependability: Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Cooperation: Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Adaptability/Flexibility: Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Stress Tolerance: Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attention to Detail: Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Persistence: Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

Work Values

Achievement: Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Relationships: Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Independence: Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Support: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Working Conditions: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
Recognition: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer advancement, potential for leadership, and are often considered prestigious. Corresponding needs are Advancement, Authority, Recognition and Social Status.

Related Occupations

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

Social and Human Service Assistants

Occupational Therapists

Physical Therapists

Recreational Therapists

Residential Advisors

Lay Titles

Addictions Counselor

Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Counselor

Alcoholism Worker

Assessor/Case Manager

Case Manager

Case Managers

Chemical Dependency Counselor

Chemical Dependency Services Coordinator

Child and Family Therapist

Clinical Case Manager

Clinical Social Worker

Clinical Team Leader

Clinical Therapist

Clinician

Community Mental Health Worker

Community Support Worker

Counselor

Crisis Counselor

Crisis Intervention Counselor

Crisis Intervention Specialist

Crisis Worker

Direct Care Counselor

Drug Abuse Worker

Family Advocate

Group Home Counselor

Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)

Licensed Social Worker

Marriage and Family Social Worker

Mental Health Case Manager

Mental Health Clinician

Mental Health Social Worker

Mental Health Specialist

Mental Health Therapist

Outpatient Therapist

Probation Agent

Probation Officer

Psychiatric Social Worker

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Advisor

Psychotherapist

Psychotherapist Social Worker

Residential Case Manager

Service Coordinator

Social Work Supervisor

Social Worker

Substance Abuse Counselor

Substance Abuse Services Director

Therapist

National Wages and Employment Info

Median Wages (2008):: $19.22 hourly, $39,980 annual.

Employment (2008):: 109,920 employees