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Becoming an LCSW, or a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, signifies that you have chosen to focus directly on helping people, often in a clinical or counseling setting. How does this differ from other social workers? What do you need to do before you can become an LCSW? What does an LCSW do?
Social Work: A Broad Spectrum
Social workers are a familiar part of American societal landscape. Whether they’re working in schools, running community
outreach programs, staffing addiction treatment centers, or assisting the underprivileged and those in crisis situations, they fill a direct need.
Licensed clinical social workers may be involved to some extent in educational and administrative work, but this is not their specialty. Their main goal is to interact directly with people.
LCSW Certification Cost and Requirements
Getting your LCSW certification usually requires a master’s degree in social work and at
least 2 years of supervised clinical work experience. Some states, such as California and Oregon, have additional requirements. The ASWB-listed cost for the Clinical exam is $260; other state requirements may add to this total.
LCSW Jobs
What does an LCSW do? A glance over the exam outline reveals that much of their work is centered around psychology and counseling. While other social workers may be involved in assessing problems and helping people get the help they
need, licensed clinical workers diagnose and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral issues. They are often required to plan treatment, participate in crisis intervention, and perform more detailed formal assessments. Other duties may include assisting in planning and implementing new programs, preparing educational and outreach initiatives, writing reports and coordinating with other staff members.
What Does an LCSW Make?
Social worker salaries range from $38,000 to
$54,000 on average, according to the US Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a rule, those working in hospitals and psychiatric treatment centers make the most, while those employed by individual and family series are paid the least. The job outlook for social workers and counselors is expected to be very good, with a 26% increase from 2010 to 2020.
Qualifying as an LCSW, or Licensed Clinical Social Worker, takes time and commitment. A caring and patient personality and good listening skills are also important, and being a good communicator is vital. Working as an LCSW allows you to make a difference in someone else’s life, and for most social workers that is what it’s all about.
As well as becoming a social worker, a social work degree can lead you into many roles where you can help, support and guide people
Job options
Jobs directly related to your degree include:
- Education mental health practitioner
- Family support worker
- High intensity therapist
- Social worker
Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
- Adult guidance worker
- Advice worker
- Chaplain
- Community development worker
- Counsellor
- Detective
- Education consultant
- Equality, diversity and inclusion officer
- Housing manager/officer
- Life coach
- Mediator
- Special educational needs coordinator (SENCO)
- Volunteer coordinator
- Youth worker
Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.
Work experience
You will complete work placements as part of your social work degree and these are extremely helpful in giving you some relevant experience as well as showing what the actual job is like.
Additional work experience that you set up yourself is also useful to have when it comes to applying for jobs as it will show your commitment to the role. This could be in areas such as community care centres, charities that work with vulnerable adults or children, counselling settings or youth centres.
Any roles that show you can demonstrate empathy, along with a genuine desire to improve the quality of the lives of others, are helpful.
An interest or involvement in your local community is also useful. Relevant voluntary work may be found through Volunteering Matters.
Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.
Typical employers
Most social workers are employed by local authority children's or adult social services. Increasingly, however, opportunities are available within other settings such as:
- children's homes
- educational settings
- primary care trusts
- prisons
- private fostering agencies or nursing homes
- voluntary organisations or charities
- youth justice settings.
It's possible to do freelance work for social work staffing agencies or to work as an independent practitioner within social enterprises.
Find information on employers in healthcare, social care, charity and voluntary work, and other job sectors.
Skills for your CV
A social work degree provides you with practical skills through placements carried out alongside professionals in, for example, the NHS, schools, police and housing.
Ethics, including respecting diversity and promoting social justice, is covered and you develop skills of judgement and become more accountable, reflective, critical and evaluative.
Transferable skills gained include:
- communication skills
- analysing a situation and problem solving
- managing conflict and ability to mediate
- advocacy
- negotiating plans and goals
- strong observational and listening skills
- effective time management.
Further study
You can become a social worker immediately after completing your degree but if you decide to take another route, you could study a postgraduate qualification in a different area. This could be to focus your career on working with children or vulnerable adults, or to move into mentoring or offering advice and guidance.
If you're interested in related careers you could take postgraduate qualifications in areas such as community justice, social policy, social research or counselling. Or take on a teaching qualification to move into education.
For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in social work.
The majority (71%) of social work graduates in employment in the UK are working as welfare professionals 15 months after graduation. Welfare and housing associate professionals (9%), care workers (5%), teaching and childcare support occupations (2%) and managers and proprietors in health and care services (1%) are also among the top five most popular jobs held by social work graduates.
| Employed | 81.8 |
| Further study | 2 |
| Working and studying | 7.9 |
| Unemployed | 3 |
| Other | 5.4 |
| Legal, social and welfare | 86.7 |
| Childcare, health and education | 6.4 |
| Education | 1.4 |
| Retail, catering and customer service | 1.2 |
| Other | 4.3 |
For a detailed breakdown of what social work graduates are doing after graduation, see What do graduates do?
Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.