Yes, employers are legally allowed to ask for a doctor’s note if you are taking leave (FMLA) to care for a sick family member. You can always double check with HR as it depends on the company how much documentation they require. It won’t be a note from your doctor but rather from dad’s doctor. Ask your father’s doctor to write up and sign a document stating that you have a family member who needs care and writing roughly how long you will have to be gone to do it for. If your father has a hospice social worker they are great people to ask about this as they usually draft up the forms for busy doctors and then just have the doctor sign it and will get it back to you (source: I am a former hospital social worker).
If you are in the US you can also generally call the poison control center and they are pretty good at giving advice. I think they have this in Canada, the UK, and Australia as well. Even doctors generally call poison control for advice.
The dose makes the poison and all that. Yes, it is toxic but a little won’t do you too much harm. Obviously don’t go ingesting it more but at this point if you washed your eyes out a bit and rinsed your mouth you are likely fine.
A lot of people do this. I used to do it when I was younger because I was insecure and wanted people to like me above all else. Now, I’ve figured that it’s more important for me to know if my date’s interests match my own then to get them to like me for no reason so when I was dating I was truthful.
This will be very culturally dependent. I’m in the US and I don’t have any physical contact with friends when greeting. Just a verbal greeting. Other countries/cultures are more physical. Ultimately, you get to decide your physical boundaries and if they are a good friend they will hopefully respect it if you share that you don’t want to do a cheek kiss or something.
We all took it one step at a time. Many, many people have been in your shoes. To answer some of your questions:
You don’t go into private practice right away so you have time to figure it out. Most start a job within community mental health or a group practice. Once you network with others who have done it and have had a few years post grad to research private practice it won’t feel as overwhelming. Some people never do private practice and that’s okay, too!
Steps for a job are like any other. Look up postings on job websites, check out the websites of places you are interested in working for to see if they list jobs internally, ask people if they know of anything. Most new grads get jobs in things like community mental health or a group practice.
Either you work at a job that provides free supervision as a benefit or you find someone online or though word of mouth who can supervise you that you pay for out of pocket.
Yup, this. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) sets the standards in the US for what counts towards a social work education and they are pretty strict about people having to take specifically social work oriented courses to graduate from an accredited social work program so even courses in closely related fields often do not meet their standards.
It depends on the states and it can be confusing. Some states have LMSW (ie non-independent) and LCSW (independent licensure meaning you can do therapy and such without a supervisor). For some states they call the non-independent licensure LCSW and distinguish the independent licensure by calling it LICSW. If you had an LCSW in a state where it was not an independent license and then moved to a state where it is the higher, independent license then it would not just transfer over to an LCSW in the new state. You’d have to stay at the same non-independent license, likely LMSW.
Long story short, different states refer to licenses by different names but what actually matters when transferring a license to another state is whether or not it is a license to practice independently or not.
Looks like New Hampshire is weird and does not have a non-independent license for social work?
Just now in my first job post LCSW and I’m making about 16k more than my previous LMSW job with more flexibility in schedules and the option to work from home. It does get better!
If they are non-PTSD related then the DBT nightmare protocol can be very helpful for reducing recurrent bad dreams. You basically have the client write down a script of their nightmare but change scary details into happy/silly ones instead. So instead of being shot by a gun they would be sprayed with flower petals or something. Client reads the script over and over with the hope of replacing the dream in their mind with the happier one.
As others mentioned, PTSD dreams are different and require trauma treatment usually to decrease (EMDR, CPT, PE).
I agree that the painting is pretty! Lamps look fine but more colorful throw pillows (could still be in calming shades but just something not white) and a rug would make things look great.
I felt the same about Sun Down Motel. I generally enjoyed the mystery but didn’t find it that scary.
I would not do this. I know you are coming from a nice place but this is leaning more into “friend” territory than “therapist”. It sets the precedence that you are available to “chat” in between sessions. What if she has a mental health crisis and texts you expecting an answer but you are busy with something else and don’t respond, leading to negative outcomes (client not utilizing other safety resources, becoming upset). Also, texting isn’t a very secure form of communication. Lots of potential for HIPAA violation if you are in the US. The risks of texting far outweigh any benefits. I would just ask her next session how it went and be supportive in session.
The majority of people either pay out of pocket with savings or take out loans. There isn’t much financial aid for grad school in the US. If you work for a social services org already they sometimes do tuition reimbursement. Or some practicums in child welfare sometimes offer tuition assistance with the caveat that you work for them for a couple years following graduation. Otherwise, people pay off loans or do the ten year public loan forgiveness by working for government or non profits (assuming you are in the US).
Don’t be afraid to ask questions in practicum. Don’t feel like you have to be perfect, you are learning. There will be a ton of reading to do, read the important parts like beginning and summaries and skim the rest. There are lots of papers to write so plan your time well.
Never did the LBSW level myself but I believe you just fill out the paperwork to prove you meet the requirements of having graduated and such. Looks like PA also requires a background check and for you to take a three hour course in child abuse. The social work board will take their sweet time in reviewing the application and then approve you to take the exam. You take the exam and once you pass they will issue the license a couple of days to weeks afterwards.
Depends on the job you get in-between getting your BSW and MSW. Some jobs might require an LBSW in which case of course it would be helpful to get. But a lot of case management, bachelors level jobs surprisingly don’t require an LBSW. Basically, I’d look at job postings in the area you are thinking of moving to and see if most list LBSW as a requirement (if they require it then it will generally be mentioned in the job posting, in my experience). If the jobs you are interested in do, then get it. If they don’t then save your money. No use taking an exam if you don’t actually need the license for the job.
Do note that PA has a title protection law for the term “social worker”. If you are not a licensed social worker of an LBSW or high then you can’t refer to yourself as a social worker even if you have the degree. Not a giant deal since people will go by other titles at work like case manager but just something to keep in mind.
Just reach out to agencies in your area. Call them up and see. This honestly can sometimes be hard to set up as many agencies/counselors/social workers are very concerned about confidentiality. But you might have better luck reaching out to a hospital or a community mental healthy agency if in the US. (nonprofits that typically care for people with Medicaid)
Yeah, I imagine most hospital volunteer work might be very menial (running the gift shop, answering phones, maybe visiting patients to chat if you are lucky). Any volunteer experience looks good on applications but for your own sense of purpose and applicability to this field I might look into another volunteer experience. I know a lot of people volunteer on crisis lines. I did Meals on Wheels and liked it since I still got to interact with the seniors I delivered to.
I worked as a clinician in a community mental health clinic. It paid alright and had really decent benefits. Free supervision and they paid for me to take some great trainings. Of course, once you get your C you can make more so where else with having a lower client load and a less higher needs population. I did not love the job but it worked the best for what I needed (free supervision and getting my hours fast).
The Ravensburger is so gorgeous.
You should definitely be paid once you are graduated and earning LCSW hours! Average pay depends on your geographic location, we have a salary thread on this sub you can search for (I think it’s pinned to the top of the sub?) that might give you more info and there are tons of past ones, too. I live in a medium to high cost of living area and I made 53k right out of school a few years ago. I think that jobs now pays people 60k starting with just an MSW. As for titles, depends. Usually clinical jobs are more likely to offer supervision than macro or case management oriented jobs. So you will probably look for job titles like “clinician”. Again, depends on the agency/area. Some case manager jobs do supervision, too.
I always say keep it simple. I picked the most simple black and white template on Microsoft Word. All I listed when freshly graduated was schooling, some clubs I had been in, and my internships and past job experience (which was just a cashier job in addition to my practicums, nothing fancy). It was one page. Under jobs/internships list a few things you did (ex. treatment planning and psychotherapy services or case management and linking to community resources, whatever you did). I added to this resume over the years as I’ve changed jobs and even though it looks super boring aesthetically it’s been effective for me!
CMH would allow you to see a broader number of clinical presentations. They generally always have plenty of clients to give an intern while private practice might be slower. Private practice might help you network a bit more with other private practices/group practices. This is a hard one. I think for the experience I’d probably go with CMH since I ultimately don’t think it’d make that much of a difference to a group practice down the road. You’d then almost certainly have a job at the CMH after graduation if the group practice thing doesn’t work out. But, if you are very passionate about private practice/group practices then a private practice might be a good way to learn more about it. In the end, I think either way you’d be fine, I’d think more about what you want to get out of the internship and go with the one that seems to fulfill more of your priorities.
I had a professor, my boss from my retail job, and a supervisor from an internship. If you can’t get a professor then the research PI should be enough for an academic reference.
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