What does a social work internship do?
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.
Social work internship responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real social work internship resumes:
- Collaborate with partners including public and private agencies to achieve permanency for children.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary team to provide necessary referrals and counseling to achieve establish patient goals.
- Participate in program development relate to identify needs of oncology population
- Provide emotional support and referrals to veterans and family members/ significant others in support of veteran's treatment.
- Utilize Kenshoo to build and optimize Facebook campaigns.
- Monitor timely completion of all reports, progress notes and maintenance of chart to ensure DHS compliance.
- Assess parents/caregivers compliance with task and goals on the service plan agreement and provide DHS court recommendations.
- Attend to educational and vocational needs by attending IEP meetings, assisting with summer job applications and assisting with college applications.
- Facilitate family collaboration, and participate in IEP meetings.
- Develop and facilitate a successful parent and child oncology support group.
- Complete program documentation as well as participate in supervision under MSW supervisor.
- Participate in multidisciplinary case conferences and develop permanency and disposition treatment plans.
- Participate in multidisciplinary team meetings, and make recommendations to physicians regarding treatment plan for discharge.
- Collaborate with MSW colleague and deliver a bullying psycho-education workshop for parents of students experiencing behavioral problems.
- Conduct structured reminiscences and life review techniques with seniors to increase cognitive stimulation while promoting self-esteem among Alzheimer's patients.
Social work internship skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Social Work Interns are proficient in Patients, Social Work, and Intake Assessments. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Social Work Interns that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 16%
Co-facilitated support group meetings for cancer survivors and caregivers; Assisted in development of Radiation Therapy Orientation class for new patients.
- Social Work, 10%
Collaborated with multidisciplinary team of clinical social workers, school psychologists, and teachers to identify and resolve learning barriers.
- Intake Assessments, 7%
Administered clinical intake assessments, formulated accordant 5-axis diagnoses, and integrated salient data into comprehensive reports and treatment plans.
- Mental Health, 7%
Provided case management and mental health treatment to families with children with developmental disabilities, managed a shared and independent caseload.
- Community Resources, 6%
Mobilized hospital and community resources to meet individual and family needs for transportation, housing and nutrition and specialized medical care.
- Substance Abuse, 6%
Worked in a hospital setting, providing therapeutic services to individuals assessed and admitted for substance abuse detoxification or psychiatric services.
Most social work interns use their skills in "patients," "social work," and "intake assessments" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential social work internship responsibilities here:
Compassion. The most essential soft skill for a social work internship to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Additionally, a social work internship resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "conducted stroke assessments and delivered compassionate counseling to patients suffering with cognitive issues and depression. "
Time-management skills. Another essential skill to perform social work internship duties is time-management skills. Social work interns responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Social work interns also use time-management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "counseled veterans on time and work management. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for social work interns to perform their duties. For an example of how social work internship responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a social work internship: "provide support to assist with family needs including insurance, medications, school communication, and financial assistance. ".
Interpersonal skills. For certain social work internship responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a social work internship rely on this skill, as "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what social work interns do: "facilitated process groups with adult clients, which lead to enhancing interpersonal skills and building rapport with clients. "
Organizational skills. Another crucial skill for a social work internship to carry out their responsibilities is "organizational skills." A big part of what social work interns relies on this skill, since "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." How this skill relates to social work internship duties can be seen in an example from a social work internship resume snippet: "act as organizational representative at community outreach and resource fairs. "
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to social work internship responsibilities. Much of what a social work internship does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of social work interns: "assisted agency psychologist with intake assessments and providing culturally competent cognitive-behavioral solutions-focused therapy for individuals and families. "
The three companies that hire the most social work internships are:
- Washburn Center for Children8 social work interns jobs
- Community Medical Center7 social work interns jobs
- State of Georgia: Teachers Retirement System of Georgia6 social work interns jobs
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Compare different social work interns
Social work internship vs. Mental health professional
The duties of a mental health professional will revolve around observing the behavior of patients. They are responsible for knowing their medical history, conducting consultations and assessments, diagnosing conditions, devising particular treatments and prescribing medication, and providing emotional support to patients. Furthermore, a mental health professional must coordinate with families and other mental health experts to monitor patients' behavior and develop care plans to help them in their road to recovery.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, social work internship responsibilities require skills like "child abuse," "bio-psychosocial assessments," "mental illness," and "veterans." Meanwhile a typical mental health professional has skills in areas such as "cpr," "excellent interpersonal," "clinical supervision," and "clinical documentation." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Mental health professionals tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $49,393. In contrast, social work interns make the biggest average salary, $40,948, in the government industry.On average, mental health professionals reach higher levels of education than social work interns. Mental health professionals are 20.8% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Social work internship vs. Family counselor
A Family Counselor treats married couples or family members in order to help them overcome mental or emotional problems. They provide effective treatment measures to help the family members resolve their issues.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that social work internship responsibilities requires skills like "patients," "intake assessments," "group therapy sessions," and "bio-psychosocial assessments." But a family counselor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "poc," "family support," "dod," and "group supervision."
Family counselors earn a higher average salary than social work interns. But family counselors earn the highest pay in the professional industry, with an average salary of $40,967. Additionally, social work interns earn the highest salaries in the government with average pay of $40,948 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Family counselors tend to reach higher levels of education than social work interns. In fact, they're 19.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for social work internships in the next 3-5 years?
Virginia Schwindt
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Social work internship vs. Substance abuse counselor
Substance abuse counselors act as a support system for people with drug and alcohol problems and other behavioral issues. They help the patients control their behavior until they achieve a full recovery. The mental health counselors aid patients to overcome their chemical dependencies and become self-sufficient individuals. Part of their duty includes meeting clients to evaluate their health and substance issues while creating goals and treatment plans. They teach clients coping mechanisms, refer them to support groups, and engage them in group therapy sessions. Once the patient is stable, they help them re-establish their careers and give updates and reports of progress to the courts. Requirements for the job include a master's degree in counseling and social work.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from social work internship resumes include skills like "mental health," "substance abuse," "child abuse," and "bio-psychosocial assessments," whereas a substance abuse counselor is more likely to list skills in "substance abuse treatment," "rehabilitation," "excellent interpersonal," and "criminal justice. "
Substance abuse counselors earn the highest salary when working in the non profits industry, where they receive an average salary of $41,273. Comparatively, social work interns have the highest earning potential in the government industry, with an average salary of $40,948.When it comes to education, substance abuse counselors tend to earn higher degree levels compared to social work interns. In fact, they're 11.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Social work internship vs. Mental health counselor
A mental health counselor is responsible for helping patients deal with their emotional and mental disorders by developing treatment plans and conducting regular counseling to track the patient's progress and condition. Mental health counselors encourage active communication from their patients, provide coping strategies for triggering situations, seek advice from other health care professionals, and guide patients on doing other activities that would help them relax. A mental health counselor must have excellent knowledge of the mental health disciplines to assist patients in their healthy lifestyle development.
Types of social work internship
Updated January 8, 2025
