4 Rewarding Careers for Community Service Worker Grads
Put your education to work helping people with these four great careers.
After graduating from your program in community services, you'll be able to put your knowledge, practical skills, and confidence towards finding the career you've always wanted. With skills in client assessment, proper referral procedure and monitoring and evaluating treatment effectiveness, you'll be free to choose between many pursuits. Having a good idea of your options will make it easier to decide what's best for you.
1. Pursue a Community Service Worker Career Upon Graduation
A community service worker will generally perform duties such as helping people find resources they need, meeting with people to discuss their challenges, pointing them to the right social assistance programs, and aiding in crisis or emergency situations. You may lead workshops or facilitate programs where members of a community can learn about behaviour management, substance abuse treatment, life skills and other topics.
Your place of employment as a community service worker might be a government agency, group home, school board or prison. Utilizing community services and building communication techniques and processes are both important for this work. A career-focused college path, like a community service worker program, is a great way to start working towards a fulfilling profession, whether you're seeking a career change, re-entering the workforce, or looking to specialize your education.
2. Become a Residential Counsellor after a Community Service Worker Program
Residential counsellors are another type of helping professional in human services. They give counselling to those who are staying at live-in facilities. Acting as a role model and support person, they help people function normally in society. They may work with troubled youth, those with disabilities or addictions, or the elderly. Within the residence, they provide counselling around conflicts and crises as they arise. They also take preventative measures to try and avoid potential conflicts.
Residential counsellors may also participate in fun activities with clients in addition to their counselling services, and sometimes will live at the residence. Services may be required at all hours of the day, so residential counselors work a range of different shifts.
3. Find Work as a Rehabilitation Care Worker
If you're interested in helping people who have experienced illness or accidents to live independently, you may want to become a rehabilitation care worker. In this position, you would help clients with finding housing, finance, social activities, and developing life skills. These life skills might include tasks such as making a hot drink or learning to read Braille. Rehabilitation care workers help many people, from adults with learning or physical disabilities to those with mental health conditions or substance abuse problems.
You may also help people learn to use specialized equipment: for example, equipment designed for those with visual impairments. Emotional support and practical advice are also a part of this job. In this position, it's important to encourage hope, positivity, and a desire to develop skills. Each person is unique, so it's the job of the rehabilitation care worker to devise a program which effectively addresses an individual's needs.
4. Learn the Skills Needed to Become an Addictions Support Worker
Addictions support workers help clients beat their addictions through various methods, including communicating with members of their family, or helping with family conflicts. For this reason, the ability to understand group dynamics is important. Working with addiction is something that you will learn in a CSW course, in addition to managing dynamics in families. Having both classroom learning and practical training is a good way to prepare to work with many different people in tough situations.
Crisis management, treatment assessments and running group therapy sessions are all responsibilities that may arise for an addictions support worker. Methods to conquer addiction include abstinence, maintenance and reduction. Addictions support workers can find work in a variety of settings, including treatment centres, hospitals, correctional facilities, and non-profits. These professionals aid people with life skills and relapse prevention.
Interested in taking a community service worker course? Contact Oxford College to learn more about our programs.