Mental Health and Substance Abuse 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.
• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.

• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

People in this career often know a lot about:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

People in this career often have talent in:

• 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.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• 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.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• 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).
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
• Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
• 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).
• Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

People in this career often do these activities:

• Counsel clients or patients with substance abuse issues.
• Counsel clients or patients regarding personal issues.
• Collaborate with other professionals to assess client needs or plan treatments.
• Monitor clients to evaluate treatment progress.
• Maintain client records.

• Collect information about clients.
• Interview clients to gather information about their backgrounds, needs, or progress.
• Supervise workers providing client or patient services.
• Modify treatment plans to accommodate client needs.
• Assist clients in handling details of daily life.
• Lead classes or community events.
• Counsel family members of clients or patients.
• Conduct research on social issues.
• Maintain professional social services knowledge.
• Refer clients to community or social service programs.
• Plan programs to address community health issues.
• Advise others on social or educational issues.

• Healthcare Social Workers

• Mental Health Counselors

• Marriage and Family Therapists

• Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors

• Child, Family, and School Social Workers

• Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

• Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

• Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists

• Rehabilitation Counselors

• Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary