Hello everyone! I am having a really hard time deciding what to do. My entire life I wanted to be a nurse and once I was accepted into a nursing program and got started I HATED it! I love the bookwork and am interested in the medical field but it is not something I want to wake up eveyday and do. So I then started leaning toward human services and social work. My college has an associates degree in human services but the sequence of classes prevented me from entering it. I then learned I only needed 2 classes to get my Associates in Arts which will transfer to a Bachelors in Social Work or a Bachelors in Human Services. There are currently two colleges in my area offering both and I was wondering if anyone can tell me the difference. What kinds of jobs are available to those with Bachelors degrees in Human Services and how are they different than the social work degrees? Also they are starting a Master's degree program in education and mental health conseling to those who finish the human services degree. I'm just really confused. I know this is the general field I want to work in and have been in college for what seems like forever. I have to choose a route this semester and was hoping for some input. I would really like to work with the elderly but am also interested in working with children/teens. Thanks in advance!

I have been in the social work field for 5 years and never have heard of a degree in human services. However, I live in a smaller town and with only one university within a 3 hour drive so maybe I have have not been exposed.

Perhaps you may want to look more into the program and see if there are any accredidations that go along with it? The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) set requirements for social work programs - choosing a program that has some sort of "over-seeing" body would be very important to me...

Good luck! If you talk to a counselor and have some time, update me on what he/she says the difference is in the programs.

Thanks. I am also in a small town in Kentucky. We have a community college here that offeres the Associates in Human Services and Moorehead State University has an extended campus here that offers a Bachelors in Social work. Now Lindsey Wilson college is offering the Bachelors in Human Services and the Masters in Education and Mental Health Counseling. The classes are on the weekends at my community colllege where I'm finishing my Associates. My advisor told me to check out their website and I'd find a lot of answers but I didn't. The site is www.lindsey.edu if anyone else can find the difference. But I'll probably go with the BSW. But if anyone else out there knows the difference please get back with me. Thanks!

Kimberlyphilpot - Can't answer your questions, but have some for you. I too am interested in Social Work, but have also been interested in nursing and have applied and will be able to start in the fall, but I keep leaning toward the social work. Can you tell me what you didn't like about nursing? I think my problem with it is the actual hands on stuff, I am afraid I won't be able to handle it, but really want to work with people.

I too am finishing up my Associate of Arts in May and will be able to apply to the BSW program.

Just found it interesting that I pretty much in the same boat as you.

Kimberly,

Hi, I live in western Kentucky and am a junior BSW student at Brescia. I think I can help clarify things, at least a little.

A degree in human services qualifies you to do a lot of things that social workers do. For example, you could be an eligibility worker for the Cabinet for Families & Children. This means you would meet with people to see if they qualify for food stamps, medical cards, etc. Also, you could go on to get a MSW with that degree. This degree is also good for things like working in a school district's family resource center.

The difference is, unless you have a BSW or MSW, your title could never actually be "social worker." An actual social work degree is required for certain jobs. If you want to be a guidance counselor, for example, the human services degree with the master's in counseling would work. But to be a nursing home social worker (at least in my area), you must have a degree from an accredited school of social work.

I can't tell you what the right choice is, but I know there are TONS of social work positions available on your side of the state. I would advise you to meet with a social work professor at Morehead or LW for more information. SW students at my school complete their field hours in lots of medical settings, such as hospitals, nursing homes, health departments, etc. which requires a knowledge of the medical field, but without the hands on work.

I hope this helps. I'll try to find more information for you if I can.

-Andrea Whitmer

Kimberly and Debra,

There is an excellent article on this website concerning the decision to get a BSW versus other related degrees. The URL is:
http://www.socialworker.com/bswjobs.htm

-Andrea