Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

Description:

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.

Tasks

Counsel clients in individual and group sessions to assist them in dealing with substance abuse, mental and physical illness, poverty, unemployment, or physical abuse.
Interview clients, review records, and confer with other professionals to evaluate mental or physical condition of client or patient.
Collaborate with counselors, physicians, and nurses to plan and coordinate treatment, drawing on social work experience and patient needs.
Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress with respect to treatment goals.
Refer patient, client, or family to community resources for housing or treatment to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness, following through to ensure service efficacy.
Counsel and aid family members to assist them in understanding, dealing with, and supporting the client or patient.
Modify treatment plans according to changes in client status.
Plan and conduct programs to prevent substance abuse, to combat social problems, or to improve health and counseling services in community.
Supervise and direct other workers who provide services to clients or patients.
Develop or advise on social policy and assist in community development.

Knowledge

Psychology: Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Therapy and Counseling: Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Customer and Personal Service: Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Sociology and Anthropology: Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
English Language: Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Administration and Management: Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Personnel and Human Resources: Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Education and Training: Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Medicine and Dentistry: Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Communications and Media: Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

Skills

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.

Work Activities

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Getting Information: Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Assisting and Caring for Others: Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public: Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates: Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Documenting/Recording Information: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People: Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Communicating with Persons Outside Organization: Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events: Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Work Context

Face-to-Face Discussions: How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?
Telephone: How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?
Contact With Others: How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?
Letters and Memos: How often does the job require written letters and memos?
Frequency of Conflict Situations: How often are there conflict situations the employee has to face in this job?
Freedom to Make Decisions: How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?
Frequency of Decision Making: How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?
Deal With Unpleasant or Angry People: How frequently does the worker have to deal with unpleasant, angry, or discourteous individuals as part of the job requirements?
Work With Work Group or Team: How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job?
Time Pressure: How often does this job require the worker to meet strict deadlines?

Interests

Social: Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
Investigative: Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
Artistic: Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Conventional: Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Enterprising: Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Realistic: Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Work Style

Concern for Others: Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Integrity: Job requires being honest and ethical.
Self Control: Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Dependability: Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Cooperation: Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Adaptability/Flexibility: Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Stress Tolerance: Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attention to Detail: Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Independence: Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Social Orientation: Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.

Work Value

Achievement: Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Relationships: Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.
Independence: Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employs to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Support: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Working Conditions: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
Recognition: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer advancement, potential for leadership, and are often considered prestigious. Corresponding needs are Advancement, Authority, Recognition and Social Status.

Description:

Tasks

Knowledge

Skills

Abilities

Work Activities

Work Context

Interests

Work Style

Work Value

Related Occupations

Common Lay Titles

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