Social care is an overlooked industry which can provide workers with a rewarding sensation, as well as a paycheque.
Careers in social care are vastly underestimated. It is these types of positions which only angels can fill. To begin your career in social care, you need to first be patient, kind, caring, and understanding. Employers will want you to have as much experience in caring for others as possible when you come to them. However, since the care industry is drastically understaffed in any given country, you may find experience is not even required.
The 5 Jobs in Social Care that are Truly Rewarding
If you follow your caring heart into this sector of industry, be prepared to enter the overworked and underpaid masses who work in the healthcare industry. After all, healthcare is about far more than fitness apps and healthy eating, it encompasses taking care of those who are shut in their own homes through sickness or fragility. The following 5 careers can help you make a real difference to these people.
1 – The Medical Social Worker
A medical social worker takes care of those who are sick, usually within their own homes. Medical social care can take place in clinics, medical facilities, and hospitals, too. These types of carers are trained with enough medical knowledge to perform and maintain ongoing treatments. They may test blood, take samples, or otherwise care for someone. Every care home has medically trained social workers on every shift to protect the health of those within.
Medical social worker jobs are easy to find and come with good prospects on salary. At an experienced level, expect to earn upwards of £40,000 annually. Even the fresh-out-of-college salary is upwards of £25,000.
2 – Social Work Management
If a social worker earns £40,000 per year, then imagine the salary for their managers. The top end of social work management in the private healthcare sector can top £50,000 per year. Add to this specialisations, further training, management expertise, and all the other skills you gather while making your way to the top.
Leading specialists in social care such as domiciliary managers specialise in particular subjects. They might know of routine treatments for patients with certain disorders. They might have special training in how to work with children or victims of domestic violence. As with all healthcare in the UK, you could earn more if you work for a private company than you will working for the NHS. However, the NHS have fantastic pension plans and other competitive benefits.
3 – Counsellors
Another thing you can do with that social work degree is to find a career as a counsellor. You could work for a school, a charity, a rehab clinic, or many other places. Counsellors are a special brand of mental health help which do not interfere with either your medication or your diagnoses. A counsellor simply gives you a time and space where you meet them to talk for an hour or so.
The wage you earn for this will depend entirely upon the organisation your work for. Starting salaries begin around £25,000. If you work as a specialist in addiction, alcoholism, or even work in a college or university with students. When you have more experience, you may even earn up to £50,000.
4 – Community Development Officers or Managers
This overlooked area of social work helps communities to grow together. Areas with a better sense of community spirit are far less likely to encounter high crime rates. The community development officer goes into the towns and cities and they start to create that sense of community. This means contacting local schools, contacting church organisations and local charities, and even talking to local large stores to gain community support funds.
If you see your future as someone able to connect schools, hospitals, supermarkets, homes, organisations, and everyone else in the area, expect to earn at least £30,000 as a starting wage. If you want to make a real difference in connecting people, this is the job for you.
5 – The Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Similar to a medical social worker, the licensed clinical social worker takes care of people in medical establishments. Because they have such specific skills, they don’t tend to work in home care. These types of social workers provide emergency and crisis support for patients. They can make full assessments of emotional and behavioural issues. They can recognise certain conditions and appropriately respond in terms of referral and medication.
This role comes with salaries between £25,000 and £30,000, with opportunities for further advancement into other positions. If you want to advocate on other’s behalf and truly give the fairest care you can, then this position will help you do that.
Social Care Could Be Your Business
Not only do these five jobs give you adequate reimbursement for your time, but they also help you make your dent in the world, one patient at a time.
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