Inside a career in social work… We spoke to:
Social worker: Anna Wilson, Social Worker at Wauchope High School
Students: Cody and Jackie
Degree: Bachelor of Social Work at CSU
What is social work?
Anna: A social worker is someone who works with community and individuals to overcome adversity or obstacles. Sometimes kids here at school are struggling with things at home and that can make learning difficult, my role is to make sure that they have enough support around them so that they can excel in their education.
Why did you choose social work?
Anna: I guess I wanted to be the person I wanted to meet when I was a kid. So I can help people through time times.
Cody: I have always wanted to be in a helping career and I just want to be able to go out there and help as many people as I can. I would really like to be working with adolescents because I had a lot of friends who are struggling with mental health. So I want to be able to be there for other teenagers.
What areas are social workers employed in?
Anna: Opportunities for social workers are so diverse. You’ve got social workers in schools, hospitals, liaisons with police, fields of domestic violence, disability, youth. Pretty much, you’ll find social workers in every niche these days. Which is in response to our society as it is now, there are a lot of people struggling.
Does the course have placements at CSU?
Jackie: CSU organises placements for us which is really good because then you don’t have go out into the community and door knock. Anna being my supervisor was really great. My counselling skills were not great but learning how she did things and how she was able to work with kids I picked things up.
Anna: I actually did my third year work placement here at Wauchope High School where I now work.
Do you think theory or placements are more valuable?
Jackie: Theory gives us a really good basis of where to go but once you are out there and you’re working – you can’t role play people. When you’re in class and you’re doing theory and you’re role playing that’s one thing but when you come into talk to a patient it’s completely different.
Want more? Read 16 hours as a social worker.