Social Worker
Social workers help individuals function the best way they can in their environment, deal with their relationships, and solve personal and family problems. Social workers often see clients who face a life-threatening disease or a social problem, such as unemployment, a serious illness, a disability, or substance abuse. Social workers help people overcome some of life’s most difficult challenges: poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, physical illness, divorce, loss, unemployment, educational problems, disability, and mental illness. They help prevent crises and counsel individuals, families, and communities to cope more effectively with the stresses of everyday life.Professional social workers are found in every facet of community life—in schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, senior centers, elected office, private practices, prisons, military, corporations, and in numerous public and private agencies that serve individuals and families in need.
Social workers are highly trained and experienced professionals. Only those who have earned social work degrees at the bachelor’s, masters or doctoral levels, and completed a minimum number of hours in supervised fieldwork, are “professional social workers.”
Weblink to US Department of Labor Social Worker:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/pdf/ocos060.pdf
References:
http://www.socialworkers.org/pressroom/features/general/profession.asp
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm