Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between social workers assistant 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 worker assistant, 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 $37,542 average annual salary of a social worker assistant.
The top three skills for a social worker assistant include social work, patients and public assistance. The most important skills for a psychiatric social worker are social work, patients, and crisis intervention.
| Social Worker Assistant | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $37,542 | $59,144 |
| Hourly rate | $18.05 | $28.43 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 115,098 | 57,284 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Master's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
A social worker assistant is in charge of performing support tasks for social workers in the joint effort to assist disadvantaged families in communities. Their responsibilities include preparing and processing documentation, managing schedules, arranging appointments with clients and external parties, handling calls and correspondence, maintaining records, and running errands on behalf of staff. Furthermore, a social worker assistant may reach out to families to identify their needs, conduct interviews and assessments, facilitate activities, and monitor the progress of families or individuals, referring them to other agencies as needed.
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 workers assistant and psychiatric social workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Social Worker Assistant | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Average salary | $37,542 | $59,144 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $51,000 | Between $43,000 And $79,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | California |
| Best paying company | Minnesota State Fair | Highmark |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Government |
There are a few differences between a social worker assistant and a psychiatric social worker in terms of educational background:
| Social Worker Assistant | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 58% | Master's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Social Work | Social Work |
| Most common college | SUNY at Binghamton | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between social workers assistant' and psychiatric social workers' demographics:
| Social Worker Assistant | Psychiatric Social Worker | |
| Average age | 43 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 34.9% Female, 65.1% | Male, 24.8% Female, 75.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.8% Asian, 7.0% White, 51.9% 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% |