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Keeynisha Yearwood
AHS 100-7806
Albert Phillips
7 March 2016
My Human Services Profession
I would like to start off by stating that future career will actually have nothing to do with
social work. In 10 years, I will be working for a big name celebrity or company as a Public
Relations Specialist. So, how did a business marketing and soon-to-be mass communications
student get in Human Services classes? It is a long, confusing story but we will save that for
another day. Today, we will be focusing on one very intriguing field in social work.
Social workers come in so many different forms. There is a place for anyone who is
interested in this line of work. If you have always been great with working with children, there is
jobs in schools. If you always wanted to help those with mental disabilities, there is jobs in
mental health facilities. Personally, I find the work of a Licensed Certified Social Worker
(LCSW) very interesting.
Licensed Certified Social Workers belong to a private practice. These individual
practitioners work alone or with a group. Most have obtained a master’s degree but some have
even reached a doctorates degree. They have passed the Association of Social Work (ASWB)
baccalaureate level exam via the Maryland Board (or whichever state they are in). Finally, they
may collect their license after successful completion of the ASWB advanced generalist exam
(Social Work Licensure Requirements in Maryland, n.d.).

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If you do the math, obtaining a master’s degree takes six years (including the years it took
to get a Bachelor’s degree). Since I’m a bit of an overachiever, we’ll tack on the years it takes to
get a Doctorate’s, too, which will make that ten years of college. I would apply to some of the
top schools for social work/welfare in the country which includes University of California -
Berkeley, New York University, Rutgers University, and The University Of Texas. According to
http://college.usatoday.com/, the average salary can be a little different depending on which
school you received your education from. Berkeley graduates tend to start around $41,000 a year.
Whereas, NYU graduates on average see $60,000 mid-career. Rutgers reports a starting salary of
about $37,000 which increases to $59,000 mid-career. And, lastly, The University of Texas
graduates tend to see about $55,000 mid-career (Stockwell, 2014). Since New York University
has an undergraduate and graduate program for Human Services and was the second highest on
the list, let’s just say I’ll attend that school. Upon completion of coursework and internship
requirements, I will be able to take the ASWB Master Level exam to receive a license as a
Master Social Worker. I will need gain two years of in-the-field job experience. Then, I will be
eligible to seek credentialing as a Licensed Certified Social Worker. That’s 12 years total till I
will be able to call myself a Licensed Certified Social Worker. I am 19 years old now so that
means I’ll be about 31 when the process is completed.
What interested me the most about Licensed Certified Social Workers is that they can
work on their own. Social workers that choose to do so are considered “direct-service workers”.
The difference between Licensed Certified Social Workers and their allied profession, Licensed
Certified Social Workers - Clinical, is that LCSW-C’s can diagnose and treat their clients while
LCSW’s just help their clients cope with everyday life problems. In more detail, being a direct-

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service worker your main responsibilities will be to “identify people who need help, assess
clients’ needs, situations, strengths, and support networks to determine their goals, develop plans
to improve their clients’ well-being, help clients adjust to changes and challenges in their lives,
such as illness, divorce, or unemployment, research and refer clients to community resources,
such as food stamps, child care, and healthcare, help clients work with government agencies to
apply for and receive benefits such as Medicare, respond to crisis situations, such as natural
disasters or child abuse, advocate for and help clients get resources that would improve their
well-being, follow up with clients to ensure that their situations have improved, and evaluate
services provided to ensure that they are effective”, according to sokanu.com.
There are many things that go into becoming a private practice. First off, we have to
recognize that this means creating a business. Having an effective and thorough business plan
will be in order. The second thing on the list would be incorporating the practice. This creates tax
benefits and protection for your personal assets. Even though, I will be working independently
having supervision can help when dealing with difficult cases and be useful in legal situations.
Professional Liability Insurance can be very beneficial, as well. Coverage is dependent on state
regulations, insurance company requirements, and the type of social work practices (Leadership
Ladders: Steps To A Great Career In Social Work, 2016).
Once your practice is up and running you have two things left to worry about. How much
are you going to charge and how to get clientele. When creating the fee charge, it is important to
consider the location in which you are offering your services, the fees of the insurance
companies, and the economy. Getting clientele starts with properly marketing your private
practice. Tools such as a webpage, a business e-mail, business cards, flyers and advertisements in

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the community newspaper can help get your name out (Leadership Ladders: Steps To A Great
Career In Social Work, 2016). It may be quite useful at this time to use those networks you made
in all those years of college. After you have created your practice and built its clientele, the real
work you have been waiting for finally begins!

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References
Leadership Ladders: Steps To A Great Career In Social Work. (2016) (1st ed., pp. 1-3). Retrieved
from http://careers.socialworkers.org/documents/Opening%20a%20Private
%20Practice.pdf
Social Workers in Private Practice. (2011) (1st ed., pp. 1-13). Retrieved from http://
workforce.socialworkers.org/studies/profiles/Private%20Practice%20Solo%20and
%20Group.pdf
Social Work Licensure Requirements in Maryland. (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2016, from http://
www.socialworklicensure.org/state/social-work-licensure-maryland.html#context/api/
listings/prefilter
Stockwell, C. (2014, September 22). Top ranked colleges for a major in social work. Retrieved
March 7, 2016, from http://college.usatoday.com/2014/09/22/top-ranked-colleges-for-a-
major-in-social-work/
What is a Social Worker? (n.d.). Retrieved March 07, 2016, from https://www.sokanu.com/
careers/social-worker/