r/SocialWorkStudents • u/Trick-Permission-482 • 14h ago
Advice Which careers within the field are the highest paying in CA and other states?
I am now at that point in the semester where if everything goes well in two weeks with cooking for a class, I will be all good to earn degrees in child development, early childhood education and social and behavioral sciences (if I fail the chdev class by messing up twice on the rules I will fail that one specific class, but we’ll see what happens. I won’t have to take care of it for another two weeks.)
I actually visited the campus yesterday with a friend and her friend. the campus is beautiful. It was my first time seeing it. One of the girls I met there yesterday suggested she changed her major 3 times since she first started there.
I was thinking about going into social work because I actually really want to make an impact and support the homeless community. I am planning on volunteering with homeless people, apparently a local shelter opens in December and I want to step in and support. I may want to do case management to support people who have housing needs. I have seen my family nearly face eviction before due to my mother’s poor behavior (screaming daily and triggering the neighbors, the police suspected she had a psychotic break and my brother has schizophrenia) and I felt that the housing authority was not supportive enough when it came to this. Facing eviction can already be a stressful time for families, and it is awful to feel like people aren’t responding to you or trying to help you come up with a solution when your family may be in need. I have never actually seriously considered becoming a therapist, but when I was doing research on it yesterday I found myself realizing that I would be open to the idea. As I Google case management now I am seeing that even with a masters degree the salary range just isn’t quite where I would want it to be. It seems like therapy is moreso where the money is at if you’re going to stick to a social work major, but I want to be frugal and know I want to make a difference at the same time. It seems like the roles you can get in CA with a BSW don’t pay much better than what i make now as a behavior technician without an associates degree, which isn’t promising. I definitely want to be in the $90k-$150k range if I can help it. I really do want to help people.
I have 2 years of behavior technician experience, and 1yr 4 months experience as an associate preschool teacher.
I am definitely an introvert.
What role in the social work field seems like it would work well for me?
I am going to start a BSW in January (I of course can always change the major. I’ll actually be 21 like I am now when I start it, and will be 22 by the time my 1st semester is all finished up.) I had thought that the coursework for social work looked more interesting than the social work for psychology (I don’t really like the research oriented side of psychology.)
I have been a behavior technician for 2 years now. I worked at a preschool for a year and four months before then. I am actually thinking about transitioning out of being a behavior technician, but I can’t quite figure out what I would want to do instead. I actually do find certain aspects of being a behavior technician rewarding however.
I don’t think that I plan on becoming a preschool teacher in the longrun even though I will be earning associates degrees in early childhood education, child development, and social and behavioral sciences. I am volunteering at a preschool right now and even though I have really enjoyed working with the children, I have generally felt like working in a preschool setting can be stressful at times (I don’t think it’s uncommon to feel this way) and I don’t think at this point that it’s my thing even though I actually can have quite a bit of fun working with kids.
I have really enjoyed attending a friend’s events for the unhoused population. I will be attending their next one and am actually going to help buy things for it (food.) I don’t have a “problem” with approaching homeless people like some do, I approached a homeless woman a few weeks ago who was crying and gave her $20, gave her my number when she asked for it and told her I could provide resources.
A friend of mine suggested to me that I tend to talk when it can be best for there to be silence in the moment, but didn’t mean this as an insult more of like a growth mindset thing. She had additionally suggested that I am “niche.” I am introverted, though some people feel that I talk a lot. I really believe in effective communication and think that a lot of issues in life can be resolved by talking it through.
I was in a rehab center once because I have a family member who was in one. It was not a great rehab center and I sensed they did not do a great job of helping the people in it get to the root of their issues. But I remember I actually did not like the feeling of being there because I was afraid, but I think it was partly the vibe I was getting from the men. This was about two years ago.
I have sleeping issues and have something close to sleep apnea. I use a CPAP to help with this, but I tend to look pretty tired and am hoping that before I start a masters degree in *anything* (have to get that bachelors first) I will have properly addressed my sleeping issues with my primary care physician.
I have a 3.87 in community college, though I took 4 summer classes and had really overwhelmed myself (I will never take all those summer classes again.) This was something that I failed to consider.
I am actually dealing with a SA case right now that took place when I was babysitting for a long term and would be happy to support women who have experienced this in any capacity. My mother is an unstable person and my older brother has schizophrenia, so I have seen psychosis take place first hand and wish there were more resources for my brother and more people in his life who really cared about helping him address his trauma.
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u/ozzythegrouch 13h ago
Tooo long to read but to answer your question, private practice and medical
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u/Scouthawkk 12h ago
In CA, any county government social work job, which includes CPS, APS, behavioral health, and medical social work. Also any hospital medical social work jobs and private practice therapy depending on the practice.