Melvin Wilson: My name is Melvin Wilson. I work for the National Association of Social Workers. I am the Manager of the Workforce Development and Training. I am a licensed Clinical Social Worker. I want to talk about professional opportunities available to individuals who are entering the field of social work and it may range from areas of criminal justice and juvenile justice, or working in a community based organizations that try to divert them from getting in trouble. Also it's providing solid case management and other types of interventions.

Very important areas that we deal, we already have dealt with over the years is within the area of child welfare. By and large that deals with areas of foster care. The other areas around child protect services and social workers leads in getting out there and doing their beatification. Another major area is within healthcare. There is hospitals associated work and primarily they are involved with working with patients who are ready to leave and providing discharge planning and connecting them back to services once they return to their homes.

Other areas in medical social work deals with working in community based clinics. There are many community-based clinics that deal with low income individuals who not only have physical ailments but also have many psycho-socio problems that need to be addressed including financial help, housing. There is a social work component and most goes in the country that offers counseling.

We would help them achieve academically private practice is one that is of interest to a lot of social workers mostly around mental health services, and clinical interventions with the general population. All states including the District of Columbia require licensors in order for them to receive what's called third-party payment. Well third-party payment really is getting direct payment from insurance companies and to the Federal government through programs such as medicate. In order to gain that level of expertise, you all required to do several things. One, you have to accumulate extra amount that varies from state to state. A Post Graduation Supervise Hours and Supervise Hours simply mean that you are under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker license in that particular state.

Once that's completed, you are required to take a standardized test. And that standardized test is a national test that is formulated to cover issues that social workers will deal with through their careers, the National Association of Social Workers set for a long time offered what's called ACSW which is by definition equivalent to a State License. It is a credential that says that you reach the certain level of expertise, you are qualified to work individually with clients and families and groups. You are recognized by the state and hiring agencies as having a particular expertise.

The other thing that the National Association of Social Workers do is provide specialized kinds of credentials certifications through our Credentialing Department you can get certification in HIV and AIDS, in aging just a merit of all the areas and doing all the things that you can do to enhance your skills and enhance your marketability in the job market.

The National Association of Social Workers have detailed ethics that we work under, they define how we work professionally with our clients and they often offer sanctions for social workers who fail to live up to those standards. Social work can be an extremely rewarding field of work. I have been in the field for many years and had absolutely no complains about where the profession has taken me in my career.