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The differences between therapeutic support staff and social workers assistant can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a therapeutic support staff and a social worker assistant. Additionally, a social worker assistant has an average salary of $37,542, which is higher than the $34,086 average annual salary of a therapeutic support staff.
The top three skills for a therapeutic support staff include autism, social work and rehabilitation. The most important skills for a social worker assistant are social work, patients, and public assistance.
| Therapeutic Support Staff | Social Worker Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,086 | $37,542 |
| Hourly rate | $16.39 | $18.05 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 192,172 | 115,098 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A therapeutic support staff member specializes in providing guidance and counseling to individuals with emotional support needs, mainly children. They are primarily responsible for building rapport with clients while assessing their different conditions and needs. Through this assessment, therapeutic support staff can develop specific treatments in collaboration with mental health practitioners. One may directly work with schools, clinics, and other medical health facilities. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain all clients' records and monitor their progress, regularly updating the assigned physician or caseworker.
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.
Therapeutic support staff and social workers assistant have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Therapeutic Support Staff | Social Worker Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,086 | $37,542 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $42,000 | Between $27,000 And $51,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | - | Minnesota State Fair |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a therapeutic support staff and a social worker assistant in terms of educational background:
| Therapeutic Support Staff | Social Worker Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Social Work |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | SUNY at Binghamton |
Here are the differences between therapeutic support staff' and social workers assistant' demographics:
| Therapeutic Support Staff | Social Worker Assistant | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 25.4% Female, 74.6% | Male, 34.9% Female, 65.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 5.5% White, 65.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.9% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |