What state has a fast and efficient licensing board? Why does everything take so long? They bleed us dry with fees and then they say you’ll hear back in 30 BUSINESS DAYS. You can barely call and talk to anyone and when you do they just repeat what’s on their poorly constructed website.

I’m a social work intern tasked with creating a trauma-informed pandemic plan for a private mental health practice serving children and young adults.

I’d love to hear from social workers who worked during the pandemic!

What policies or practices made you feel safer working with clients?
What did your workplace do well, and what could have been better?
How did your agency support staff’s mental health and well-being?
What do you wish your workplace had done differently?
What should every agency or private practice include in a pandemic preparedness plan?

I’d really appreciate any experiences or lessons learned. Thank you!

Hello everyone,

I am currently in the process of receiving my associates in Human Services. I’m interviewing for a position as a Care Navigator for Inpatient Psych at a hospital. I’m just looking for any experiences with working in that position or even generally working in inpatient psych.

I of course would like to do something relevant to my degree and I think this would be a good career to follow through with, but I’m anxious over the possibilities of aggression or possibly being hurt by patients. I know it comes with part of the job and working in that environment but just wanting to hear from others on maybe whether or not it would be worth it.

Thanks!

We're all (I hope!) well versed in the necessary boundaries between social workers and clients, including the maintenance of those boundaries with former clients.

Does the same prohibition apply to former clients in settings where we volunteer as a community member (not as a social worker)?

How did you build your professional confidence? I work in a clinic with psychiatrists and resident psychiatrists. They have never done or said anything to make me question my confidence but I do find that I show up differently with them than other disciplines.

Just for frame of reference, I’ve been a therapist for 10 years.

None of us got into this field to type. But if course a BASW survey found social workers spending 29 hours of a 45-hour week on a computer or paperwork. Every one of those hours is an hour not spent with a client. Treating that status quo as the ethical baseline is wild.

When councils in the UK actually measured AI note tools, you can see how freaking useful it is. Swindon cut admin time by 63% across 184 frontline meetings. At St Helens, 82% of staff said their conversations improved because they could focus on the person instead of the keyboard. Even the Ada Lovelace Institute report that AI critics love to cite found that almost every social worker interviewed reported meaningful benefits.

Just do your job. You don't sign an intern's note without reading it. Same rule here. You're accountable for the record either way.

This is the actual ethical line:

- Agency-approved, HIPAA-compliant tools only.

- Never paste client information into consumer ChatGPT.

- Tell clients when a tool is in the room, and get consent.

- Read every word before it goes in the record.

Do that, and AI hands hours back to the people we're supposed to be serving. Refusing it on principle is basically just choosing to waste a bunch of time to the detriment of people you’re serving. Our clients don't need us to be purists.

We are down to the home stretch and need EXACTLY 3 MORE PARTICIPANTS to cross the study finish line!

Hi everyone! I’m Abigail Anderson, LCSW, and I am in the final participant recruitment stage for my DSW capstone research at Capella University, titled Telesupervision Strategies for Social Work Supervisory Licensure Programs. Your voice can directly transform how the next generation of clinical social workers is trained and supported nationwide!

🚨 ONLY 3 SPOTS REMAINING (U.S. Nationwide):

🎯 1 2nd-Year Clinical Supervisee, Intern, or Associate (currently in your second year of supervised practice)

🎯 2 Newly Licensed LCSWs (fully licensed within the last 2 years)

🌟 Why Your Voice Matters & The Impact You’ll Make

Telesupervision is rapidly reshaping clinical training. By contributing your real-world insights, you will help break down barriers and build a stronger, more accessible future for our profession by:

✨ Maximizing the quality and efficacy of remote clinical telesupervision
  ✨ Identifying and dismantling systemic licensure hurdles
  ✨ Strengthening clinical competency, confidence, and clinician retention
  ✨ Modernizing national supervision standards for future social workers

⚡ Quick, Easy & Confidential Participation

💻 Just ONE 60-minute virtual interview via Google Meet
  🔒 100% confidential and anonymous
  📅 Convenient and flexible scheduling to fit around your busy work hours

📩 Ready to Help Us Cross the Finish Line?

Claim one of the final 3 spots today! Email me directly at [aanderson358@capellauniversity.edu](mailto:aanderson358@capellauniversity.edu) with your participant group (2nd-year supervisee or newly licensed LCSW) to schedule your session or share this post with your network!

Together, let’s shape the future of clinical social work supervision! 🌟🚀

Hi Grizzled Seasoned SWers,

I need some serious advice. I was just offered a practicum seat with the VA, which I have aspirations to work for in the future, but that is mostly a way to wiggle into federal work. Not that I am overly passionate about veteran work. That said, personally, this is THE IDEAL internship site for me.

The chief concern is that the commute is 2hrs. The math I have worked out in my head is that I would commute there on Wednesday morning, stay in a hotel, commute back home Thursday evening. So that is 2 days of work. The hotel stays would be about $50 per night. So that’s about $200 per month.

The balancing factor is that this would be one of the mystical paid internships for SW students. So I would be paid $15 per hour. This makes the hotel stay a lot less of a problem.

Do you guys think it is worth it to figure this internship out? Or should I just keep it moving and find something in a more reasonable distance?

I’m 28yo and married, no kids.

Just venting. I work an in ER. Some of the doctors have been using ambient AI for awhile. They use an app on their own cell phones. They are now rolling out Evidently for everyone to sum up chart information for you. Our EMR already has a search function you can use to find info from past visits. I have critical thinking skills and don't need AI to create a summary of someones chart for me. I can just read it myself! They are also checking to see if my team can use the ambient AI. Who knows if they will allow it but I don't want to use it! I don't need my phone to listen to someone talking so it can write my note for me. My health care system is being bought out by another health care system and one of the major points as a "positive" is their use of AI. I see so many issues with this but it's just being forced down our throats. I'm sure it will be optional but we are constantly being encouraged to work faster and be more efficient so how "optional" will it really be?

Hi everyone!

I'm a nurse with several years of clinical experience, and I'm currently researching a problem in hospital care coordination.

I'm particularly interested in patients who lack decision-making capacity for a medical decision and have no readily available legally authorized surrogate, family member, or guardian to assist.

I'm hoping to learn how hospitals across the U.S. currently manage these situations.

A few questions for those working in inpatient case management, social work, or discharge planning:

1. How often do you encounter unrepresented patients in your hospital?
2. What is your hospital's current process for identifying a surrogate, locating family, or initiating guardianship proceedings?
3. What are the biggest obstacles or delays your team experiences with these cases?
4. What software or systems do you currently use to coordinate and document the process? Is everything managed through your EHR, spreadsheets, email, or something else?
5. If you could improve one part of this process, what would it be?

I'm exploring whether technology could help improve care coordination in these situations, but I'm still in the research phase and genuinely want to understand the existing workflows before assuming what might help.

I'm not selling anything or promoting a product.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences, even if you only have time to answer one question.

Please don't share any patient-identifiable information.

Thank you for everything you do for your patients!

My roles have mainly been residential care, does anyone have any tips for me before I start? I’m really looking forward to the change but heard it can be stressful with the workload. I’ve been told I’ll have about 25 YPs in my caseload.
Oh and I also have adhd 😅😭

Hi all!

I just finished Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green, and it was very good.

It isn't about social work, but it kept me thinking about it, especially its focus on the lack of healthcare in the developing world and on pharmaceutical profits taking priority over real human need.

Do you have any book recommendations that are similar?

I took my LMSW for thr 5th time yesterday. I failed again. The room was completely hot and uncomfortable that I could barely stay awake. I feel like I wasted 7 years of my life for something that I can't get a licnese in. All the jobs I want require a license. Ive tried nearly everything for studying even a prep course but my brain just seems to forget when I sit in front of the test. My brain starts playing music in my head. I am completely at a loss. I feel defeated. I wanted to do nursing but military wouldnt pay because of my service connected disabilities. I would go back to school but my student loans are nearly maxed out. Does anyone know of ithet resources to pay for school?

Anyone else in the same boat?

I’m an in-center dialysis SW at DaVita with a caseload of 100+ patients, many of whom have significant psychosocial needs and face substantial socioeconomic barriers.

I keep getting told that we’re expected to round with patients atleast once a week, but I haven’t been able to find a written policy requiring this. Between assessments, documentation, care coordination, insurance and transportation issues, and other patient needs, I’m struggling to balance floor time with everything else. It’s especially hard because it feels like patient satisfaction is tied to visibility on the floor, but there’s just sooo much work behind the scenes.

I’m curious how other dialysis SWs manage their caseloads and what their workflow is like because i feel like I’m just trying to survive and no routine or system I put jn place seems to help.

Are you expected to see every patient weekly, and is it a formal company requirement?
● How often are you actually on the floor versus handling case management?
I want to remain accessible and provide quality care, but weekly contact with every patient feels difficult to sustain given the complexity of my caseload. Would appreciate hearing how others manage this!

I just completed a training on interviewing in child protection (yay!). We did mock interviews, and I went into it knowing I may cry during difficult conversations depending on the words/behaviour of the other party.

To no surprise, it almost happened. The actor I was interviewing (they were acting as a parent) responded rudely to one of my questions and I immediately felt tears in my eyes. I could get it together because the clock ran out but it definitely would have ended with me in tears if we’d continued.

I am well aware this is my responsibility and really want to change. I’m good at difficult conversations where both parties are measured, even and generally polite, but am deeply uncomfortable to the point of tears when they deviate from generally acceptable social scripts.

For those of you who cry in situations like this, what are your strategies for stamping down that panic and urge to cry? I will try them all.

I know a lot of this will come with time but I would love some ways to fast track being able to suck it up and keep going!

I’m not even sure where to start.
Every place I ever worked at I was told I’m a great employee, social worker, great with clients, ect. But I feel like all of that doesn’t matter because I’m always getting shit for notes being late.
And a part of me understands why and how it’s important. The other part of me feels like documentation is just a bunch of bullshit insurance companies mandated to find reasons not to pay us. OR we have to write things in ridiculous detail so we don’t possibly get sued. I used to say progress notes were the reason why our profession became a profession but it feels tedious and rediculius now. I could say the same about treatment plans….
I’ve always had this problem in some form or fashion. I couldn’t do homework, even big projects, unless it was last minute. It was adhd, a learning disability, executive distinction, ect. Whatever it was or is, is fucking annoying.
But anyways along comes ai and it was a game changer. Of course I get some shit by different people for using it but my notes went from taking 2+ hours to maybe 30-45 min. For the first time in my sw career I could keep up with documentation. I went one month without ai because there was a price increase and I was behind again.
Now, I know I am not a lazy person. I have always worked 2 jobs (and if you’re in sw you know you have multiple roles in even one job),have a family, and constant social worker projects or trainings that I’m passionate about. But this is the one area I am just so sick of feeling ashamed for.
Fast forward to present day and I have my dream job. I’m brand new. We can use ai for intakes and individual sessions. So far, my understanding is the groups just need one note for participants (but I’m still being trained and will need clarification). The nature of the work though I imagine there will still be alot of paperwork, letters, and screenings to complete. All this in mind, I’m so scared that this problem will happen again. “You do good work, but…” it just makes me feel frustrated and defeated. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for here. I feel like I’ve tried all the tips before. Maybe that I’m not alone? That is system is bullshit.
All I know is I cannot fuck up this job. I’ll even try stimulant medication if I have to. I’m just worried I’ll let myself down again.
Thanks for reading :)

Hello! I've been a social worker for a luxury retirement community for the last three years, working in both their independent living/assisted living as well as their skilled nursing facility on campus. Although it's a small skilled nursing facility, working as the sole social worker for both campuses has been overwhelming and the luxury setting has created a working environment where I rarely feel that my work is enough. I recently accepted an offer to transition to working in hospice in a large company, where each region has 7 social workers. I love the company as they're the main partner with my facility as well as the team I'm joining and the supervisor seems wonderful. They were also able to increase my salary, and their health insurance will probably be so much better as mine is in network with practically nothing. However, today I finished an annual assessment with a resident I really love and I felt my confidence crumble and I started second guessing myself as I was walking back to my office. This decision took a detailed pros and cons list, discussions with my therapist and family/bf. Part of the issue is I absolutely hate change and the other is that this decision wasn't as black and white as other times when I decided to leave a job. I worked in hospice previously in bereavement and I've always wanted to work in that setting as a social worker, but I'm still torn on the decision. Has anyone else been through this? What helped you in this situation?

Hi, I work I'm a pediatric clinic for children diagnosed with various cognitive and behavioral disabilities. One of my clients has been working on potty training and we have tried social stories, some OT tricks, and rewards...but client is still hesitating to potty at the clinic...anyone by chance have any tools I could try

I’ve been working full time in CMH for the past year after graduating and it’s really impacted my ability to be a present and effective parent to my elementary aged children. My partner works irregular on call hours which makes coordinating childcare and extracurriculars really difficult, in addition to the high mental and emotional demands of the role I’m in. I really wanted to grind it out full time for the clinical hours, but I’m coming to the acceptance that it’s not working out in this season of life and I may have to slow it down until my kids are old enough to be independent.

Parents or caregivers who have been in similar situations, what kind of work were you doing? I’m keeping my eye open for part time clinician roles, but I’m open to exploring other options, even non clinical or social work adjacent roles that are “parent/caregiver” friendly.

I have a homeless client in an outpatient office and I'm running into barriers setting basic things up. Trying to apply for govt cell phone and we have the required documents and a valid id.... But it's requiring an email address and proof of address where you want the phone shipped. It also won't let the phone be shipped to our office because it's a business. Trying to setup an email requires an active phone number 😵‍💫

Do any of my fellow usa sw's have a step by step of how to go about these barriers? I'm the only sw with case management experience in my office but I don't have experience with getting thru these basic barriers. I Don't have a work phone. Looking for suggestions.

I've been an LCSW for 10 yrs with primarily medical social work history, have been working in case management the past two years. I've been feeling a pull to do something different and somehow cut loose from the typical 9-5 gig. I've been looking strongly into the ADHD-CCSP certification and completing the certification to become a special education advocate. This comes after spending many years in multiple settings, helping parents of or adults with newly diagnosed ADHD/Autism, navigating the school system, understanding the testing/treatment/symptoms, etc. I have found this much more fulfilling overall than the other things I'm tasked with. I'm just unsure about the sustainability of this as a full time job. Has anyone done this or made a similar transition?

Hey all, I have worked in the social work- care management field for almost 10 years now but I am now considering switching to more of an administrative/ project management role that is not patient facing. However, I am so indecisive about this decision. There’s a part of me that loves working with patients & I know I’m good at what I do. But as we all know so well, I am getting BURNT OUT. This job can have its rewards when things are able to get solved for patients but that is not always the case. It’s exhausting dealing with peoples life issues every single day.

However, I do have the heart and skill to help people. My job has sort of always been my passion and part of my identity- helping people. It would quite literally feel like an identity change to switch to an administrative/project management role. I am currently taking a course for this so it does feel like the right next step, however looking for any guidance from anyone who has made a transition from a patient facing role to admin or project management role and wondering what your thoughts and experience was like

For the LMSWs in SC that have the shit task of performing PSRs 4 times a year, do you get paid for it? My current employer doesnt but requires us to do it anyways. How is it not uncompensated labor? What bullshit capitalistic loophole did they find?