Calling all Social Workers

From my experience and what I've heard of others, it is just about the qualification and not the actual degree earned like in the US. I have both and it has been my experience that has made my career advance.

Newly qualified social workers can find it a bit more difficult to find work especially in their preferred areas if they lack experience in the population.

Some employers are willing to take a chance on NQSW but others want employees that can be up and running.

There are jobs out there so just expect that it may be difficult because the market can be competitive depending on the area you wish to pursue.

Thanks for the response.  Does the experience have to be US or UK?  Does having a specialty help or hurt?  Thanks

Thanks for the response.  Does the experience have to be US or UK?  Does having a specialty help or hurt?  Thanks

I think that depends on the organization you join and what the work entails.

For example, I had US experience with the population my team deals with, but had they been wanting an experienced practitioner to do UK court work from day one, they wouldn't have hired me because I had none.

Some jobs can be very competitive, so just be open during your search, write a good CV and try to get as much experience as possible and show transferable skills.

Thanks so much Olive.  I do prefer to get a job before moving, so  I might be able to get  a bit of experience before graduation (May 2012).  Was planning on moving at the end of  2012,  but if need be, I can always extend the move for a few more months (3-5) to have a year's experience under my belt

I apologize if this seems redundant, but I have read various parts of this ginormous thread and I am still confused.  Plus, I thought it would be worth asking again as legislation may have changed.

I am having a hard time translating my degree and qualifications to the UK.  I have a Master's degree in Counseling and was a Licensed School Counselor in the US.  My previous job in the US was advertised as a social work job that required either a MSW or a Master's in Counseling.  There is a misconception here that school counselors just provide career counseling/guidance.  Although my training included career counseling, that was only a small part of it and my previous work experience was actually intensive individual, group and family counseling for youth and families with complex needs and/or in danger of social exclusion.  I am eligable to become an accredited member of the BACP, but I have not often (if ever) seen the BACP listed as a requirement on a job application. The most similar and suitable job posts I have found in the UK have specified a social work qualification.

1.  How does an American with a US degree go about obtaining an English social work qualification?

2.  Is the GSCC currently the one and only governing body to "translate" US training into a UK qualification?  (I thought I read something about them dissolving, but the website is still up, I am so confused.... http://www.gscc.org.uk/page/87/Social+workers+qualified+outside+the+UK.html)

3.  The above link says that a US degree must be accreditied by a US social work governing body... does that mean the National Association of Social Workers (http://www.naswdc.org/)... is that the ONLY one??  (My Master's in Counseling is accredited by CACREP (http://www.cacrep.org)... is there anyway to translate this into even the most basic of UK social work qualifications???

Thank you in advance for ANY help or insight you may provide!!! : )

You aren't going to be able to get a job that is specifically as a social worker as the title is legally protected, and you would specifically need a degree in social work to do one of those jobs.  There may be some more flexibility for social work assistant positions as they don't have the full qualifications as a social worker, but you aren't going to get the same pay in those as social workers do.

As for getting a qualification here, I'll let others answer as I'm not really as well versed in how the qualifications work, but they aren't going to translate your degree over.  (By the way, it isn't the NASW that accredits social work education in the states.  They are the main professional body for already qualified social workers.  It's the Council of Social Work Education, CSWE, that accredits social work programs in the US.)

That isn't to say you can't find work in your field--although it is tricky.  I would be looking for more counselling related positions.  Applications aren't going to require BACP accreditation specifically as there is more than one body that does the recognition of counsellors.  They may not ask for one body, but showing that you are accredited with a professional body will still be vital.  You won't be able to do it through the social work bodies, but I'd follow through with the ones you qualify for.  BACP is a strongly recognized counselling body, and is a good one to belong to for counsellors.

Unfortunately, right now funding for organizations is really tight, so it is tricky finding places willing to hire, but there are places out there who take on people with those qualifications.  I worked with a drug and alcohol treatment centre that did intensive family intervention before I came here.  About half of us were social workers and the remainder were counsellors and psychologists.  It was a good blending of the skill sets, but those jobs tend to be harder to come by as they are sought after.

I agree with Cadenza.

I was a MSW with a PPSC working in schools. When I did it, California was recruiting school social workers like mad. Now I think that fad is long gone since the early 2000s.

Definitely check out unqualified positions. Sometimes the pay is very good especially if you have relevant experience. I just saw Camden's ad for family support worker and it was something like £30k. That rivals some newly qualified SW posts!

I apologize if this seems redundant, but I have read various parts of this ginormous thread and I am still confused.  Plus, I thought it would be worth asking again as legislation may have changed.

I am having a hard time translating my degree and qualifications to the UK.  I have a Master's degree in Counseling and was a Licensed School Counselor in the US.  My previous job in the US was advertised as a social work job that required either a MSW or a Master's in Counseling.  There is a misconception here that school counselors just provide career counseling/guidance.  Although my training included career counseling, that was only a small part of it and my previous work experience was actually intensive individual, group and family counseling for youth and families with complex needs and/or in danger of social exclusion.  I am eligable to become an accredited member of the BACP, but I have not often (if ever) seen the BACP listed as a requirement on a job application. The most similar and suitable job posts I have found in the UK have specified a social work qualification.

1.  How does an American with a US degree go about obtaining an English social work qualification?

2.  Is the GSCC currently the one and only governing body to "translate" US training into a UK qualification?  (I thought I read something about them dissolving, but the website is still up, I am so confused.... http://www.gscc.org.uk/page/87/Social+workers+qualified+outside+the+UK.html)

3.  The above link says that a US degree must be accreditied by a US social work governing body... does that mean the National Association of Social Workers (http://www.naswdc.org/)... is that the ONLY one??  (My Master's in Counseling is accredited by CACREP (http://www.cacrep.org)... is there anyway to translate this into even the most basic of UK social work qualifications???

Thank you in advance for ANY help or insight you may provide!!! : )

I will be registering with the GSCC in a few months (June to be exact) and unless you have a social work degree from the US, there is no way you can transfer your degree to work as a social worker in the UK.  Social work is a protected title in the Uk and therefore there are stringent measures to protect it.  AS Olive mentioned you would probably qualify for "unqualified" positions. 

Help me stay in here or figure out what I'm doing.  Can I vent to some social workers for a bit?  I just need somewhere to help me cope and find some directions without it coming back to hurt me.  Forgive me if this becomes long.  I don't want to make it it's own post for everyone to read, I wanted to keep it more tuned in to other social workers--especially if some may have training and experience that is more like mine.

I'm a US trained MSW, and I've been at a post in Children's Services for about 2.5 years, but one year of that was maternity leave.  All my work experience in the US was more clinical in nature, and I'd never done child protection work in the US even.  My BSW field work was in mental health.

I'm wanting to talk to someone who may understand some of what I'm going through.  I'm really struggling in this job, and it is completely overwhelming lately.  My service manager was part of the panel that interviewed me, and they brought me in because of my experience in the USA, as a level 3 social worker, on the assumption that with training, I would be able to rise to the performance of that level.  

Then I got thrown in to a bad, bad, bad work environment my first year--no training, no supervision, no management (strings of managers quitting and not being able to hire replacements for a while).  I had a very heavy caseload, and nobody realised how much I was actually doing until I left and my caseload was reallocated when I went on maternity leave to a full time social worker with experience (I work half time) and he was not able to cope with it all.  Everything I learned, I taught myself through trial and error or asking team members.  I had no time for proper training.

On returning, my service manager recognized that they had not been fair to me, but I had spent much of that first year with her threatening to downgrade me and subsequently cut my pay because I wasn't living up to a level three expectation--even though they did nothing to help me get there as had been expected.

When I came back from maternity, it was better, management was more stable--although I'm now getting my third manager in less than a year.  And the caseloads were more balanced, but I'm still being plagued by my service manager saying I'm not able to cope as a level 3 and that I can't be relied upon.  I feel (and my current manager, who is leaving today, but has been kind and seems to understand me agrees) that I was set up in many ways to fail.  I've been given expectations with no experience, and I could only ever come back as a disappointment from that. My service manager keeps commenting about less experienced social workers handling the workload better--but I can't help feeling that even the students are better equipped sometimes.  All their training and focus was geared toward work in this environment since that's where the majority will work, at least initially.

I think now I'm realising that I'm often giving too much.  Sometimes it's hard to prioritise all the myriad of things that everyone tells me need doing.  My nature is to try to make things work, and to do what I can to not just slap a band-aid on things and go.  I've worked more as a therapist than anything else due to my training, and while I'm not trying to do therapy, I think I sometimes have a hard time recognizing what is and isn't my job.  I end up doing more than I think others in my team are doing, and giving far more time than I'm actually being paid for--pushing burnout, only to get in trouble for it all.  My ADHD hasn't helped as I sometimes get overwhelmed by how I can have mountains of people all placing demands on me at the same time.  It sometimes feels like each thing I do brings me back to the office with a list of five other things that need doing (and a mountain of paperwork to do for each of them). The mountains of insane bureaucratic paperwork for everything I do is overwhelming (every visit to a CP case or CIN case requires filling out forms that, when printed, take 10-15 pages)

Being part-time also doesn't seem to help.  I thought it would just mean a smaller caseload, but if a case kicks off--it swallows your entire week to sort it--leaving other necessary things undone, which you then get in trouble for.

So I'm in an environment that requires quick and decisive, but I'm feeling lost--and it is hugely hampered by my service manager (who has been the same woman for most of the time I've been here) who I feel has it in for me and will never see me as anything but a disappointment (I would give anything to go back to my interview stage and start at a lower level).  I feel constantly under threat, and it's eating at me.  My husband is really worried about me in recent weeks.  The whispered conversations from colleagues are that once this service manager has you in her mind as a problem, she will not change her mind no matter what, and you need to watch your back because she will make life very difficult--and she's very skilled at backing herself up and leaving you feeling beat down to where you can't fight back safely.

I don't think I can do this anymore, but I don't want to leave feeling I'm doing bad at a job--especially since this (Children's Services) is the basic job in this country--the one everyone expects people to be able to do (even if you get lucky and eventually find a different kind of post).  I also can't find any openings right now for other jobs, and my husband is in his first year of starting a business, so we rely on my salary.  The jobs market in Wales is really bad right now, and I can't do more than part-time since I have family commitments and also do a small private practice, which has kept me sane professionally.  I don't think that could be expanded though--probably not yet.

I love social work, I felt a huge part of my identity with it back in the US, but I'm drowning here and don't know what to do.  I'm feeling embarrassed by how long this post is--that's what I get for writing in the middle of the night when I can't sleep.  I just need to make some decisions, but I'm not sure I really can.  I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in posting this--maybe just sympathy, but it would help if I could find out if others have struggled to come from a more clinical MSW focus to the slam of child protection work here.  I used to feel like a good social worker, but I'm drowning and have no confidence left.  Maybe I'm looking for what I should get in supervision, but I'm afraid to bring up because I know it will be used against me in some way in the end.  Sorry if this is too much information--that's what I get for posting at 4 am after a sleepless night.  My outgoing manager has asked me to email her my thoughts on what can help tomorrow, and I'm at a total loss of what to say.  Tomorrow is her last day, after that it will go straight to management I am either afraid of (her boss the service manager) or to a manager who doesn't know me at all.

Hi, C,

I am really sorry you have had such a rough time, but I have had the experience you describe, so you are not alone. To me it sounds like a difficult work culture with poor management.

I think it's important to note that no matter how much experience you have in another country, social work is such a culturally inculcated job, only a combination of experience, support and education / training can make it easier.

1. consider the quality and quantity of support you are getting: level, frequency of supervision - does that need to change?

2. education / training you could do to understand your role better - identify gaps / strengths i.e. social work law? Esp. as you say UK trained social workers better equipped. I felt better equipped to work here when I did the OU BA (Hons) Health and Social Care degree to give me the policy, legal and practice basis that UK social work graduates get and I have a Canadian BSW and a UK MA. So there's always things to learn and not a reflection on the person......

or funded PhD in social work if you want to go into teaching (Manchester has distance PhDs, for example: http://www.nursing.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/socialworkphd/?code=05893&pg=all or more local: http://courses.cardiff.ac.uk/postgraduate/749.html)  

3. volunteering in an area that uses your skills - identifies voluntary sector positions in an area you could transition to or change career direction - lots of jobs recognise a social work qualification as relevant - thinking Connexions, Barnardos

4. identify a non-work related hobby you enjoy and devote a set amount of time to it, exercise, spend time with friends

5. logging the level, type and duration of pressure - this will help identify problem points to work collaboratively with management to solve issues

ETA: Is there a possibility to get a demotion? You could seek advice from e.g. ACAS: http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1361

Debt / money advice to look at financial situation more closely?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingDebt/index.htm

Joining BASW for support?
http://www.basw.co.uk/swu/expert-advice/employment-problems/
End ETA

6. going to your GP to discuss stress management techniques, medication  etc.
 
If this job, isn't working for you, you can do things to look after yourself, make an exit plan etc. Nothing wrong with a job or a work environment that isn't the right match! IME, the key is focusing on small steps you can make to either a) make things better where you are b) make an exit strategy or c) both

Maybe hubby can also help you with this for ideas and strategies....

I hope some of these ideas help. If I come up with more thoughts, will let you know.

MLG  

Sorry if this is short - don't have a lot of time. ((Hugs))

Cadenza, I'm so sorry to hear about you're going through. It really does sound like a terrible situation. I wish that I could give you some amazing advice that would make things turn around, but unfortunately I have none.

I am just about to start a position with a local council here in London with Children's Services. Before I got hired, I was on a training course with the same council that helped me to get acquainted with social work in the UK. Prior to this, I was very naive about the differences between US and UK social work. I was (and still am) shocked by the focus on government time scales and quick decisions. I kept thinking to myself: 'And when do you do actual social work with the families?!' I very much struggled (and I think always will) to get into the mind frame that they want you to have as a social worker in the UK.

Do you have external supervision or is it by one of your managers? If it is external, I would recommend telling them your situation. Hopefully you can be given some good guidance that is unbiased.

I know that my post probably isn't very helpful to your situation, but I just wanted to say that I can empathise. The amount of pressure that is placed on social workers here is enormous, and the amount of paperwork to be completed is baffling. All that I can say is: take care of yourself. One of my previous supervisors always said that was the most important thing in social work because if the social worker is beaten down, that is going to transfer onto the client.

Any support I can give you in the future, just let me know.

Another thought, Cadenza, is to seek out support regarding possible depression:

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=24923.15 

Depression can be a good thing to help you re-evaluate things. I know things probably feel like £$%^&*( at the moment but anyone who has experienced emigration / immigration gains a lot of internal resources and strength.

I think there are many angles at which you can tackle the situation, and likely a combination of responses and strategies will help. I think the key for you is to prioritise what you can do and what you identify as most central into small, manageable chunks. You know best which methods / tools may work for you! 

((Hugs))

And a funded PhD at the University of Glamorgan:
http://hesas.glam.ac.uk/research/studentships/rcbc/
 

Thank you all!  I appreciate all your thoughts.  I'll see where things are going, but I did rejoin BASW this week already (I had let it lapse while I was on maternity) and I also joined a union besides the BASW one.  I've been working today on a response to go on record from my boss' emails to me.  I'm feeling calmer.  I'm actually happy that I got sick last week and then it flared a bit at the beginning of this week, so I've had about 1.5 weeks off.  I'll be looking at all my options.  I may just leave, but I've been putting a lot of thought into it today and have realised that I am not to blame here, and I'm not letting myself take on the full burden today.

Thank you all!  I appreciate all your thoughts.  I'll see where things are going, but I did rejoin BASW this week already (I had let it lapse while I was on maternity) and I also joined a union besides the BASW one.  I've been working today on a response to go on record from my boss' emails to me.  I'm feeling calmer.  I'm actually happy that I got sick last week and then it flared a bit at the beginning of this week, so I've had about 1.5 weeks off.  I'll be looking at all my options.  I may just leave, but I've been putting a lot of thought into it today and have realised that I am not to blame here, and I'm not letting myself take on the full burden today.

Let us know how you get on. Sounds like you are feeling a bit better about it - like you can do something, and you can. 

Hi Cadenza,

I am sorry to hear about the difficulties you have been having at work. I was going to suggest going to the union and/or seeking help from Occupational Health. You do have some basic rights such as supervision and do not be afraid to assert them. It is hard to do so in the current work climate but sometimes councils need a kick up the backside before they turn things around.

I wish you well.