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Mental Health & Substance Abuse Social Workers

Also called: Social Worker, Case Manager, Clinical Social Worker, Clinical Therapist

Where in the military? In the military: see titles from the Army, Marine Corps, or Navy.

What they do:
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.
On the job, you would:
  • 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.

Knowledge

Health
  • therapy and counseling
Math and Science
  • psychology
  • sociology and anthropology
Business
  • customer service
Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Skills

Basic Skills
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • talking to others
Social
  • understanding people's reactions
  • looking for ways to help people
Problem Solving
  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Abilities

Verbal
  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say
Ideas and Logic
  • notice when problems happen
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
Attention
  • pay attention to something without being distracted
  • do two or more things at the same time
Visual Understanding
  • see hidden patterns

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include
helping people, teaching, and talking.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Concern for Others
  • Integrity
  • Self Control
  • Social Orientation
  • Cooperation
  • Dependability

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Medical software
  • Client records software
  • James Frazier Associates DataStart
Word processing software
  • Corel WordPerfect software
  • Microsoft Word
Internet browser software
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • Netscape Navigator

Education

Education: (rated 5 of 5)
master's degree or
bachelor's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$39,230
per year, on average
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See more details at O*NET OnLine about mental health and substance abuse social workers.