How To Become a Certified Social Worker
Submitted by: TigerEye
As the general atmosphere changes in the Western World, there will be a need for more social workers. Check out this article on getting certified as a social worker and learn some basics about this career.
After going through high school successfully you should continue to look to higher education for obtaining your certification. Think about getting a master´s degree at an approved college as a step towards getting a certification as a social worker.
The Council on Social Work Education or "CSWE" is going to be a focus for you. This organization covers a lot of ground for social work in the United States. They have a large program that validates many aspects of the schooling required for social work. After getting out of college, or preferably during schooling, you will need to finish two years of social work. You will no doubt be working for limited pay, especially since the economy took its last turn for the worse.
As you gain experience in an agency or at a school you will hopefully get promoted to a higher level. Once you have around three thousand hours of full time experience in a paid atmosphere of social work, you can go to the next step. Your boss should have already gained their certification for your former hours to count toward your goal of certification.
The next step is to get three professional references. These will be people who are familiar with your work history and habits. Your old boss can be one of the three. Whoever you choose must have a master´s degree in social work from a school that is approved by the Council on Social Work Education.
Now you can apply for certification with the National Association of Social Workers. Your choices of what field you want to go into is populated with different varieties. You can look at a short list here :
- School system social worker
- Advanced social work case manager
- Substance abuse social work
- Healthcare environment worker
- Children and family worker
- Macro administrative for the field of aging
- Gerontologic social worker
- Hospice and pallative social worker
Once you are ready to apply for the exam for one of those categories you will want to prepare yourself. There are plenty of places online to take preparation courses. There is one site administered by "Linton" that has already been through his social worker paces and offers his own help. Look up Dr. Linton Hutchinson online and he will help you with videos, CD´s to listen to while you are in the car, exam questions for your iPhone and lots of other ways to study for your exam. You can even download flash cards from the site and free tips are available to pass general exams.
The last step is of course to take your exam. Once you pass, congratulations, you will hopefully get a raise.
Certified Social Worker
Latest Articles about: Certifications
1: Be Certified by the ITIL v2 Foundation as a Brocade Network Engineer2: How to be a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
3: Get Certified as a Cisco Certified Network Professional
4: Be a Certified Information System Security Professional? Here is How
5: Be Certified as Red Hat Engineer
Word Count: 517 Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2010 Time: 3:51 PM
Previous - How To Get Certified As An Energy Auditor | Next - How to Get Certified As A Juvenile Detention Officer