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The differences between social work interns and psychiatric social workers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a social work internship, becoming a psychiatric social worker takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a psychiatric social worker has an average salary of $59,144, which is higher than the $37,178 average annual salary of a social work internship.
The top three skills for a social work internship include patients, social work and intake assessments. The most important skills for a psychiatric social worker are social work, patients, and crisis intervention.
| Social Work Internship | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $37,178 | $59,144 |
| Hourly rate | $17.87 | $28.43 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 142,426 | 57,284 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Master's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
Social work interns are students who chose to do their on-the-job training in the field of social work. They apply for an internship at social services facilities. They are usually assigned to do administrative or clerical activities such as sorting through files, updating records, organizing documents, and filing reports. Aside from clerical tasks, they also get exposed to program or project management by working on program-specific initiatives. They get exposed to planning, resource managing, implementing, and evaluating. They may also join their supervisors during field activities.
A psychiatric social worker specializes in providing mental health treatments and other services to patients and their families, referring them to other agencies and programs as needed. They conduct assessments and interviews to determine the condition of patients, devise specific treatment and care plans, update and maintain patient records, conduct regular counseling sessions, and monitor the progress of every patient to ensure their health and welfare. They may also provide interventions, train junior psychiatric social workers, and conduct reviews and evaluations on existing care plans.
Social work interns and psychiatric social workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Social Work Internship | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Average salary | $37,178 | $59,144 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $51,000 | Between $43,000 And $79,000 |
| Highest paying City | Fargo, ND | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | California |
| Best paying company | DTCC | Highmark |
| Best paying industry | Government | Government |
There are a few differences between a social work internship and a psychiatric social worker in terms of educational background:
| Social Work Internship | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Master's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Social Work | Social Work |
| Most common college | California State University - Fullerton | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between social work interns' and psychiatric social workers' demographics:
| Social Work Internship | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 18.3% Female, 81.7% | Male, 24.8% Female, 75.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.4% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 7.3% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.2% | Black or African American, 19.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 3.3% White, 58.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 13% |