There many different occupations in the humanitarian filed that are focused on helping other and improving the modern society. This essay will discover and describe two of them – social work and psychology in order to clarify, what are their specific characteristics, and how they similar or different are.
Social work is considered to be a helping occupation, the main goal and role of which is to improve the society’s and people’s well-being with a specific focus on vulnerable groups of population. Social work applies a systematic way of helping groups of people and individuals in order provide them with better adaptation to society. (Lishman et al. 23) In terms of psychology, it is also a helping occupation, but it is focused more on studying of human behaviour and brain, and different physiologic and mental processes. Usually the practice of psychology is based on using such instruments and methods as observing, testing and measuring. Psychology is concerned with all aspects and types of behaviour, as well as thoughts, feelings, emotions and motivations that underlie a specific behaviour. (Introduction to Psychology)
Each of this occupation offers a variety of different jobs and gives an opportunity to work in different fields. In terms of social work, a professional in this field can work at different institutions and with different groups of people. For example, it is possible to choose the work of public health social workers or medical social workers, who work primarily at hospitals, rehabilitation centers, emergency rooms, home health agencies and etc. Their main task is to make sure that patients at these institutions are cared properly, and to establish the dialogue between caregivers and patients based on mutual understanding. Another job related to social work is substance abuse social workers, who work at prisons, rehabilitation centers or non-profit organizations. This work is believed to be one of the most stressful and emotionally demanding since substance abuse social workers have to deal with patients struggling with addiction. Another quite stressful job in the area of social work is mental or clinical social worker. This professional works at mental health centers and hospitals, private practices or community centers. His responsibilities mostly include working directly with patients by assessing their mental health, diagnosing mental disorders and developing treatment plans. The next work is called child welfare social worker. It is a person who provides services to children from low-income families or troubled families, where children are neglected or abused. Usually child welfare social workers meet regularly with children and families and evaluate the condition, in which children live. His primary task is to provide children with a safe environment for proper development and growth. The last job that should be mentioned in relation to the field of social work is school social worker. This professional works at school by building up a bridge between children and school in order to make education as effective as possible. His responsibilities also include working with children with special needs in order to provide them with better adaptation to school environment. (MSW@USC Staff)
Regarding psychology, this occupation also offers a great variety of different jobs and careers. Psychologist can work at different institutions and areas of people’s life by performing different tasks as well. For example, clinical psychologists. These professional work at clinics and hospitals, and deal with different physical and mental health problems of patients including depression, addiction, anxiety, relationship problems and etc. They usually do health assessment of a patient and investigate his or her situation in depth in order to suggest the most effective treatment and solution. Their responsibilities are a bit similar to the duties of clinical social workers, who work in similar environment. There are also educational psychologists, who work with young people, children and adolescents and deal with such problems as learning difficulties, emotional and social problems, developmental disorders and etc. They work usually at educational institutions in cooperation with teachers, parents and social workers. Often they work not only with children, but also organize training for teachers and parents in order to teach them how to work and communicate with children effectively. One more career in psychology that needs to be mention is a forensic psychologist. This professional works at prisons and courts and his responsibilities include working with offenders by modifying their behaviours, responding to the needs of prisoners and the staff by reducing their stress, implementing treatment programs and etc. The last job in the field of psychology that I would like to mention is sport and exercise psychologists. These professional work at various sport institutions and provide to athletes and sportsmen by preparing them psychologically to sport competitions. Usually they consult athletes and explain them how to use various psychological techniques in order to reduce stress and increase motivation. They also work with coaches by helping them to understand better the needs of their athletes and explaining, how to build up cohesion within the team. (Introduction to psychology)
Both social work and psychology requires a specific level of education. In regards to social work occupation, most of social work careers require at least Bachelor of Social Work. However, there are some specific professions, for which Master degree is a requirement. One of them is clinical social worker, for example. Moreover, all social workers, who plan to work at health institutions and schools are also required to have a Master degree. It is also necessary to remember that an additional requirement for clinical social workers is licence. Rules regarding licence vary for each state and are identified by the Association of Social Work Boards. However, in general licensing requirements for clinical social workers usually include 3000 hours, which is two years of clinical work experience along with completed the Master of Social Work. (How to Become a Social Worker)
In terms of psychology, this occupation has even higher requirement for those, who want to work as psychologists. Though it is allowed to work in the field of psychology with different academic background, those, who want to practice independently, have to have an advanced degree – Master or even Doctoral. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, all states require psychologist to obtain Master or Doctoral in order to be certified or licensed, which is the main requirement in order to work as a psychologist. If students decide to get a Doctoral degree, they have a choice between two options: either a Doctor of Philosophy or a Doctor of Psychology in accordance to their interests. Those professionals, who do not want to acquire an advanced degree, need to know that there is only a limited choice of career for them. They can apply either for some jobs at federal government or continue working as assistants to psychologists. (Psychologist: Educational Requirements)
The salary of professionals in social work and psychology is also different and depends on a particular occupation. Thus, psychologists, for example, according to the statistics of February 2016 earn in average $87, 150. The highest salary is among forensic, health and clinical psychologists, which can be explained by more stressful work in general and higher educational requirements. (Psychologist salaries) In regard to social work, the salaries in this occupation are much lower: according to January 2016, an average salary of a social worker was $42,003. Since salaries in this field are quite low, most social workers move to other positions after 20 years of practice. (Social Worker Salary (the United States)).
According to Holland’s Cluster Code Theory, there are six Holland occupational themes or personality types, such as: realistic, artistic, investigative, social, enterprising and conventional. It is believed that those people, who choose their professions according to their occupational themes, have much higher chances to succeed and build up a career. (Greenhaus and Callanan 353) In terms of psychology and social work, I would say that are several personality types that related to each occupation since there so many jobs in both social work and psychology. For example, in terms of psychology, I believe that it is a perfect occupation for people of investigative type because such people are intellectual, curious and have good analytical skills. They like to observe, analyze and discover which is very suitable for psychologists, who usually observe and evaluate patients’ mental health and conditions. In regards to social worker, it is a perfect occupation for people of social type because they have a philanthropic and humanitarian state of mind. They like to help others ad to teach. Moreover, people of this type have perfect interpersonal, communication and teamwork skills. It is also possible to say that people of this type can also succeed in psychology as well.
Summarizing all the written above about two occupations – social work and psychology, it is possible to say that they both are socially oriented and their main task and role is to help society and people with different problems. They have many similarities, though there are more differences. For example, while social work is more focused on studying and improving environment in which people live, psychology is focused on investigation and analysis of people themselves, their emotions, feelings and the processes in the brain associated with specific behaviour. In terms of career path, it is definitely more difficult to become a psychologist since this profession has higher educational requirements. Therefore, it is also quiet reasonable that the salaries of psychologist are approximately twice higher than salaries of social workers, which makes the career in the field of psychology more desirable.
Works Cited
“How to Become a Social Worker: Education and Career Roadmap” Study.com. Study.com. n.d. Web. 28 March 2016.
Greenhouse, Jeffrey and Gerard Callanan. Encyclopedia of Career Development. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. 2006. Print
Lishman, Joyce, Chris Yuill, Jillian Brannan and Alastair Gibson. Social Work: An Introduction. London: SAGE Publications. 2014. Print
“Introduction to Psychology” The British Psychological Society. The British Psychological Society. n.d. Web. 28 March 2016.
MSW@USC Staff. “The Five Most Popular Social Work Careers” USC Socal Work. The University of Southern California. 2 March 2016. Web. 28 March 2016.
“Psychologist: Educational Requirements”. Study.com. Study.com. n.d. Web. 28 March 2016.
“Psychologist Salaries”. Salary.com. Salary.com, Inc. 2016. Web. 28 March 2016.
“Social Worker Salary (the United States)”. PayScale: Human Capital. PayScale, Inc. 2016. Web. 28 March 2016.
