Career Development & Geriatric
Social Work: Challenges &
Opportunities
Committee on Leadership in Aging
(CLiA)
The Hartford Partnership Program
for Aging Education (HPPAE)
CLiA & Agenda
Committee of current student and alumni of the Hartford
Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE).
Unites aspiring leaders in the field of aging to serve as the
internal student leadership committee of HPPAE
This webinar will focus on three main areas:
• Career paths that are a good fit for social workers
specializing in geriatric social work
• Exploration of the challenges that a career in geriatric
social work presents
• Recommendations are offered for supporting geriatric
MSW level social workers on their path and
encouraging other social workers to focus on this
population
www.socialworkleadership.org
Careers and Career
Development in Geriatric
Social Work
Jenny Cox, LCSW
Director, Senior Behavioral Health
Center at Sharon Hospital
HPPAE Graduate
Boston College Graduate School
of Social Work
www.socialworkleadership.org
Entrepreneurial Opportunities for
Geriatric Social Workers
• Demand for community-based services for the
aged is increasing and communities are
struggling to meet demand.
• Ample opportunities to grow service-related
businesses catering to seniors
•Medicare advising
•Adult day health
•Support for aging in place
• Aging supports services is a rapidly growing
economic sector.
www.socialworkleadership.org
“Thinking outside the Box”
• Limited traditional roles for new MSWs with
geriatric concentrations
• MSWs with clinical education, a broad
understanding of issues confronting an aging
population, and human services experience are
uniquely positioned to identify service gaps and
fill them.
• Community funding, grants, and private
partnerships for funding.
www.socialworkleadership.org
Entrepreneurial Opportunities for
Geriatric Social Workers
• Private Geriatric Care management
• Management of private home care
agencies
• Private practice for psychotherapy focusing
on late life mental health issues
• Medicare and Medicaid advising, long term
care advising
• Freestanding adult day health centers and
social day programming, senior centers
www.socialworkleadership.org
Settings well-suited to social workers
with aging-specific education
• Inpatient geriatric psychiatric units
• Outpatient geriatric psychiatric programs
(intensive outpatient programs, partial
hospitalization programs, traditional
outpatient therapy)
• Adult day health programs
• Inpatient hospitals
• Outpatient medical settings: dialysis
centers, day surgery settings, primary
care settings
www.socialworkleadership.org
Settings well suited to social workers
with aging-specific education
• Elder protective service agencies
• Aging advocacy and policy nonprofit
organizations
• Congregate, independent, and assisted living
sites, as well as extended care settings
• Managed Medicare and Medicare advantage
insurance companies
• Community health agencies, Aging Service
Access Points, Area Agencies for the Aged,
Senior Centers
www.socialworkleadership.org
Career Options for
Non-clinical Geriatric Social Workers
• Program development and evaluation
• Public Health Research
• Utilization management (particularly
with regard to Medicare)
• Advocacy and Public Policy
development
• Non-clinical case management (such
as in a managed care setting)
www.socialworkleadership.org
Career Options for
Clinical Geriatric Social Workers
• Facilitating support groups for both the elderly
and the caregivers of the elderly with cognitive
impairment
• Facilitating disease-specific support groups
(persons living with renal failure, diabetes,
cancer, etc.)
• Psychotherapy with older adults focusing on
mental health issues in late life
• Clinical case management (in the community
for elders with complex medical and mental
health needs, or in a long term care setting)
www.socialworkleadership.org
Opportunities afforded by the ACA
• Accountable Care Organizations
(ACOs)
• Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative
• Need for "synthesizing providers" to
coordinate care
www.socialworkleadership.org
Additional certifications
and resources
• Become certified through the
National Association of Professional
Geriatric Care Managers:
http://www.caremanager.org/
• Become a professional or boardcertified case manager:
http://ccmcertification.org/
www.socialworkleadership.org
Erin and Tova
Challenges in Geriatric
Social Work
Tova Messer
HPPAE Graduate
Rutgers University, School of Social Work
Erin Mickelwaite
HPPAE Graduate
Rutgers University, School of Social Work
www.socialworkleadership.org
Challenges on the Path
• Working with older adults is considered a niche
in social work
• Many positions working with older adults are
considered non-clinical by State licensing
boards
• Social Work students generally perceive work
with the elderly as less desirable (Reed et.
al., 2006)
www.socialworkleadership.org
Challenges on the Path
• Geriatric social workers who want to pursue
clinical licensure may find this difficult
•What can be done to create positions/foster
advocacy, etc. for clinically-minded geriatric
social workers?
www.socialworkleadership.org
Challenges on the Path
• Some clinical positions, such as hospice social work,
may only legally be filled by LCSWs
• Organizations that address older adults' mental health
needs prefer to hire social workers with LCSWs
because it enables them to bill Medicare for mental
health services. (See p. 9 of
http://www.medicarenhic.com/providers/pubs/Mental
%20Health%20Services%20Guide.pdf.)
• What is considered clinical in terms of licensure varies
greatly by geographic area!
www.socialworkleadership.org
Challenges on the Path
• MSW programs advertise a shortage of
geriatric social workers, which encourages
and incentivizes students to specialize
• Students need assistance to help advocate
for, and develop, geriatric social work
positions
www.socialworkleadership.org
Non-Clinical Opportunities in
Geriatric Social Work
• Examples of important but non-clinical work in
geriatric social work includes adult day care;
most work in nursing homes, discharge
planning; case management; consultation with
medical professionals regarding the care and
counseling of older adults
www.socialworkleadership.org
Clinical Opportunities in
Geriatric Social Work
• Clinical opportunities that do exist
include: Caregiver support groups,
individual psychotherapy, psychiatric
assessment
www.socialworkleadership.org
Need for Clinical Opportunities in
Geriatric Social Work
• Older adults diagnosed with caregiver burden,
anxiety, depression and complicated bereavement
can benefit from psychotherapeutic interventions
(Kennedy & Tannebaum, 2000)
• For example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
was demonstrated to relieve symptoms of
generalized anxiety disorder and reduce or
eliminate the need for continued use of
psychotherapeutic medications (Wetherell, et. al.,
2013)
• Expansion of psychotherapeutic interventions in
gerontology is warranted given the issue of
overmedication of older adults
(Huang, A.R. 2012, Drugs and Aging, 29(5))
www.socialworkleadership.org
Need for Clinical Opportunities in
Geriatric Social Work
• Historically, cohorts of older adults have been reluctant
to seek psychotherapy due to stigma
• However, a recent article in the New York Times
indicated that this may be changing (Ellin, A. 2013,
How Therapy Can Help in the Golden Years, (4/22))
• Research shows effective case management requires
the use of clinical understanding and skills. Clinical
background for geriatric social workers is greatly
warranted (Halipan Soares, H. & Kornfein Rose, M., 1995,
Journal of Gerontological Social Work. Vol 22, Issue 3-4, Jan,
43-156)
www.socialworkleadership.org
Certifications
Geriatric Social Work
• NASW-NJ offers a certification in clinical
gerontology, the CSW-G, that requires 2
years of post-MSW clinically supervised
experience.
(http://www.socialworkers.org/credentials/applications/cswg.pdf)
• LCSW- NJ license and 30 hours of clinicallyoriented, aging-related CEU’s are required
www.socialworkleadership.org
Addressing the Issues
• How
can we create more varied
opportunities for geriatric Social
Workers?
www.socialworkleadership.org
Recommendations
• School of SW provide an overview for
students of opportunities in geriatric social
work in local geographic areas
• School of SW survey graduates about their
experiences seeking employment in clinical
and non-clinical geriatric social work
• We recommend greater collaboration among
professionals in the field of aging to address
the shortage of clinical opportunities for
recent graduates
www.socialworkleadership.org
CLIA Recommendations
Regarding Career
Development
Lindsay Prizer, MSW, LCSW
Jessica Katz, MSW, LCSW-A
HPPAE Graduates University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work
www.socialworkleadership.org
Crafting a Resume
• Students may not know where to begin
• Or if they already have a resume, it
should be reviewed and polished
• Direct them to career services at their
university!
• Encourage them to ask for feedback
from recently employed social workers
www.socialworkleadership.org
Interviewing
• Preparation is crucial to a successful interview!
• Students may not know what supports are
available
• Direct students to career services:
Websites might offer practice interview
questions
They may offer in-person practice interviews
Other resources, like cover letter and
resume templates
• Offer Information Sessions on job searches and
interviewing
www.socialworkleadership.org
Networking
• Tell them to NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK…and did we
mention NETWORK?
Networking should not first start near or after graduation!
• Encourage students to schedule meetings with professors, with
internship supervisors, with anyone!
• There are networking opportunities EVERYWHERE:
Conferences (check out those vendors!)
Shadowing other social workers in their area of interest
Meet with agencies just to ‘learn what they do’
Talk to guest speakers after class
Introduce students to graduates who are now employed
• Continually grow the network: tell them to ask the people they
shadowed, etc., for their advice on who else they should talk to
in their field
www.socialworkleadership.org
Share Opportunities
• Job hunting can be a lonely business
• But once employed, graduates should be
encouraged to help OTHER students to
network
• SO gratifying to help others in their search!
www.socialworkleadership.org
Role of the Faculty
• Remember, it is the first-time jobseeking for many
• To guide your students:
 Help provide introductions and connections
 Let students know these options and specific tips
(e.g., how to network)
 Refer students to others who can help (e.g.,
career services or former students)
 Invite students to ask questions
• There are no dumb questions
www.socialworkleadership.org
Conclusions
• Geriatric Social Work is a less established field within the
profession and service provision networks are still being
built. Therefore, it is an area of social work particularly well
suited to entrepreneurially-minded social workers.
• There are many different career avenues within geriatric
social work for social workers – medical work,
psychotherapy, group work, and macro-level work focusing
on policy and systems
• The population of older adults as a portion of the population
is growing, the future of a society where a large proportion of
citizens are over age 65 is as yet unclear. Geriatric social
workers are well positioned to lead as society changes!
www.socialworkleadership.org
Conclusions Cont’d
• We know there is a growing expansion of the older adult
population; what we don’t know is how society is going to
adapt to these changes
• Non-clinical roles with the older adult populations (hospital
discharge planning, case management, care-coordination)
are stepping stone jobs that can provide valuable experience
• Parlay this expertise into leadership roles within institutions
and the community. If opportunities don’t already exist, the
field of aging is a great place to create them!
www.socialworkleadership.org