Healthcare Social Workers

People in this career often have these skills:

• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• 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.

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.

People in this career often have talent in:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• 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 that there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).

People in this career often do these activities:

• Intervene in crisis situations to assist clients.
• Confer with clients to discuss treatment plans or progress.
• Counsel clients or patients regarding personal issues.
• Collaborate with other professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments.
• Investigate legal issues.

• Refer individuals to educational or work programs.
• Refer clients to community or social service programs.
• Develop treatment plans for patients or clients.
• Monitor clients to evaluate treatment progress.
• Maintain client records.
• Collect information about clients.
• Interview clients to gather information about their backgrounds, needs, or progress.
• Evaluate potential problems in home or work environments of clients.
• Counsel clients or patients with substance abuse issues.
• Counsel family members of clients or patients.
• Modify treatment plans to accommodate client needs.
• Supervise workers providing client or patient services.
• Complete documentation required by programs or regulations.
• Plan programs to address community health issues.
• Advise others on social or educational issues.
• Conduct research on social issues.

• Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers

• Mental Health Counselors

• Marriage and Family Therapists

• Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors

• Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

• Child, Family, and School Social Workers

• Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

• Patient Representatives