Nov

19

CNN Reports Social Work is the Most Stressful Overworked and Underpaid Job

Posted on November 19, 2009 at 7:20 pm by Madrigal Maniac Under National | Print This Post | Email This Post |  


I am so screwed. According to CNNMoney list, the number one most stressful overworked and underpaid job in America happens to be my profession. Social Work. Checking in at number thirteen is substance abuse counseling. The subset of Social Work that I practice.

A great post on Trench Warfare turned me on to this. Trench Warfare is a Social Work blog that often times is hilarious, at least to Social Workers. You can see the full overworked and underpaid list here.

Here’s what CNNMoney says about Social Work.

Social workers step in when everyone else steps aside to help people and families in vulnerable situations. They provide patients with education and counseling, advise care givers and make referrals for other services. And with social workers in short supply and programs underfunded, few must juggle the work of many, while reaping little reward.

Just ask Heather Griffith, a social worker who works with children in intensive foster care in Boston: “You’re getting paid $12 an hour and kids are screaming at you, telling you that you are just in it for the money and you’re just like, really?”

Here’s what they say about substance abuse counselors.

Dealing with the needs of one addict is more than many people can bear, but these counselors do it by the caseload. Coordinating personalized treatment programs for addictions to alcohol, drugs, gambling and other issues such as eating disorders are all in a day’s work.

“When the funding sources aren’t there, when people you know are losing people, it gets hard,” said Beth Rosenshein, director of the Substance Abuse Coalition in Charlestown, Mass. “These are people’s children and people’s families and yet that’s what drives you to do something about it.”

So, I work in two of the fields that are considered the most stressful overworked and underpaid professions in America. I’m sorry, I have to go now and get fitted for my straight jacket.



But seriously folks. Did you notice that both quotes mentioned the word funding. Why is it we spend billions of dollars on nation building, corporate bailouts, and tax cuts for the wealthy, but can’t spend a few million dollars to help people who are in need? Waiting lists for services in Central Ohio are incredibly long. Even when a client does finally see me, due to budget cuts, I am unable to do the job I have been trained to do because of a lack resources.

I love my job as a Social Worker. What I dislike is that it is not shown the respect that it deserves.

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5 Responses to “CNN Reports Social Work is the Most Stressful Overworked and Underpaid Job”

  1. Jill Miller Zimon on November 20th, 2009 9:56 pm

    I so feel your pain. I think it’s also like the teaching and child caring professions - we trust that which we most value in these people’s care and yet they’re the first ones whose salaries, benefits etc. we attack. I never got why some people pay babysitters a pittance. Because you can? That’s not right. We’ve always paid over the minimum, over the average and at the top. I tip well too. I don’t know - human labor spent on behalf of humans - isn’t partly why medical professionals get what they get, because of the responsibility?

    Anyway - thanks for this post - lots of new resources I’d never heard of.

  2. Support the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 795/ S.686) | The Madrigal Maniac on November 24th, 2009 10:27 pm

    [...] Recent Comments CNN Reports Social Work is the Most Stressful Overworked and Underpaid Job (1) [...]

  3. GOP Party Chairman Kevin DeWine Demeans Social Workers | The Madrigal Maniac on January 21st, 2010 10:38 pm

    [...] I posted about a CNN study that said Social Work the most stressful underpaid job in America. Yet these [...]

  4. Reas on January 22nd, 2010 9:43 am

    Wow! Thanks for the link–for some reason I’m just catching this.

  5. Madrigal Maniac on January 22nd, 2010 10:04 pm

    No problem. I don’t know about you, but when I originally clicked on the link, I half expected social work to be #1.

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