The treatment that a mental health social worker dispenses ranges between the teaching of necessary skills for day-to-day living, crisis intervention, personal or group therapy, or various other interventions. Mental health social workers work in either out-patient or in-patient settings. Some mental health social workers are employed in private practices, where they see the patient privately and decide on the type of therapy according to the issues that are presented in consultation.

Duties Of A Mental Health Social Worker

A mental health social worker basically provides services that assist individuals to deal with crises or issues of a personal nature via therapy, counselling, or other practical assistance. Exactly what they do and how they operate depends on the setting in which they work. In an outpatient setting they usually take on multiple roles, and in substance abuse clinics, their duties could include intermittent drug testing and counseling. Some mental health workers are employed by companies as part of an employee assistance program, where part of their duties would be to assist individuals with personal or work-related stresses that are affecting their ability to work effectively.

Some duties of a mental health social worker are:

• Interviewing clients, conducting assessments, reviewing records, or consulting with other professionals in order to evaluate the mental or physical condition of patients or clients

• Educating clients or community members regarding mental or physical illness, medication, abuse, or the availability of community resources

• Assisting clients in adhering to treatment plans by performing such tasks as setting up appointments for them, arranging for their transportation to those appointments, or providing support

• Counseling or aiding the client or patient’s family as to how to assist them in dealing with, understanding, and supporting them

• Collaborating with physicians, nurses or counselors to plan or coordinate a treatment-plan, drawing on their own social work experience and the needs of the patient

• Monitoring, evaluating and recording a client’s progress with regards to treatment goals

• Referring clients, patients, or families to community resources for housing assistance or treatment to assist in their recovery from a physical or mental illness

• Developing or advising on social policy or assisting in community development

• The planning or conducting of programs to combat social problems, prevent substance abuse, or improve counseling or health services in community

• Counseling clients or patients individually or in group sessions to assist them in dealing with mental or physical illness, substance abuse, physical abuse poverty, or unemployment

Depending on the setting there may also be other duties that the mental health social worker will perform, such as supervising or directing other individuals who provide a range of services to their patients or clients, or modifying treatment plans according to client needs. Many private clinical social workers also often do recordkeeping and various other administrative tasks such as marketing their practice or assisting clients to get payment from their insurance carriers.

It is also the responsibility of every mental health social worker to continually improve their knowledge in the field by conducting social research, attending training workshops and seminars and reviewing current literature.

Skills Required By A Mental Health Social Worker

Mental health social work does not suit everyone, even if they have done other social work before. This is a very stressful career and some very specific skills are required to cope with the stresses of the job.

In order to become a mental health social worker, one needs the following skills:

• Active Listening – this means the ability to give full attention to what other individuals are saying, taking time to understand the points that they are making, asking questions when appropriate and if required, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Active Learning – one must be able to understand the implications of new information and its impact on both current and future problem-solving and decision-making

• Critical Thinking – the ability to use reasoning and logic to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems is a very important skill for a mental health social worker to have

• Complex Problem Solving – the ability to identify complex problems and review related data in order to develop and evaluate various options and implement the correct solutions

• Effective Communication – this includes the ability to communicate effectively with others both verbally and in writing, in order to convey important information effectively

• Instruction – the ability to instruct others in order to teach them better ways of doing things

• Learning Strategies – the ability to select and use the best and most appropriate training/instructional methods and procedures for a particular situation when learning or teaching new things

• Monitoring – the ability to monitor/assess performance of self, other individuals, or organizations in order to institute improvements or take corrective action

• Negotiation – the ability to bring others together in order to try to reconcile differences.

• Persuasion – the power of Persuasion is important in order to get others to change their minds or destructive behavior

• Systems Analysis – the ability to determine how a particular system should be working and how changes in operations, conditions, and environment could affect outcomes

• Systems Evaluation – the ability to identify different indicators or measures of system performance and the actions required in order to correct or improve performance, relative to the goals of the system

There are also other skills required, such as management of personnel resources, judgment and decision-making, time management, coordination and reading comprehension.

Work Environment

Social workers held 650,500 jobs in 2010, and were employed in Hospitals and clinics, Nursing homes, Community mental health clinics, Private practices, State and local governments, Schools, Colleges and universities, Substance abuse clinics, Military bases and hospitals. The work in done mainly in an office, but there are also occasions that require a mental health social worker to go out into the field.

According to stats released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2010, the industries that employed the most mental health substance abuse social workers were:

Outpatient mental health and substance abuse centers 17%
Individual and family services 16
Hospitals; state, local, and private 14
Local government, excluding education and hospitals 10
Psychiatric and substance abuse hospitals; state, local, and private 8

Mental health social workers generally work full-time, and like many other types of social workers, they may on occasion be required to work evenings or over a weekend.

How To Become A Mental Health Social Worker

The requirements to become a mental health social worker differ somewhat in various jurisdictions, but generally most states require that one have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Some jurisdictions also require a certain amount of fieldwork to be done before licensure can be obtained. It is possible to become a mental health social worker in some states with a bachelor’s degree other than the bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW), if you have a bachelor’s degree in a closely related field.

Some positions, including those in schools and healthcare frequently require that applicants have a master’s degree in social work (MSW) or a closely-related subject. No matter what qualification is required, it is always a good idea to pursue a higher education, as it will help you to stand out among other job candidates, and will augur well for your future in the field.

All clinical social workers must have an MSW, which takes 2 years to complete, although there are some programs that allow those who already have a BSW to complete their MSW within 1 year. All MSW programs will prepare you for work in your chosen field, and help you to develop the skills to do clinical assessments, manage a large number of clients, and take on a supervisory role. All programs also include a compulsory amount of hours that must be done either in an internship or doing supervised fieldwork.

Job Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, the job outlook for mental health and substance abuse social workers is expected to grow by 31% between 2010 and 2020, which is faster than the average for other occupations.

This growth is expected to happen as a result of more people seeking treatment for addiction and mental illness. Drug offenders are increasingly being sent for treatment rather than to jail, therefore the use of substance abuse treatment programs is expected to grow exponentially, which will thereby increase the demand for mental health and substance abuse social workers.

Licensure

Licensure varies by state, but all states do require some sort of certification or licensure requirement. Clinical social workers are required to be licensed in all states, and as such, as a mental health social worker you will be required to do what is required by the state in which you intend to practice in order to gain licensure.

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Sports physical therapists are usually also involved in the care of athletes who compete on a professional level. They manage the injuries of these athletes and help them work on their weaknesses so that they can advance in their careers. Generally, physical therapy is rehabilitative, so professional athletes use it when they have been injured playing in their particular sport. It can also be used to improve one’s physical abilities.

What Does Sports Physical Therapy Focuses On?

Sports physical therapy has to have certain areas of focus to help athletes and those who love physical activity recover from injuries quickly and get back to what they love doing. Some of these areas include:

• Speed – this is absolutely vital especially for professional athletes since often, it is their speed that allows them to excel. Especially when it comes to track athletes and other runners speed can be the difference between a gold medal and last place, and so using physical therapy to increase speed is often number one of the list of needs of all athletes.

• Mobility – the movement of certain body parts can become inhibited by injury or by the buildup of lactic acid. A pitcher in a baseball game for example, may find it harder and harder to rotate his shoulder, and this is when it becomes so important to use physical therapy. Without full mobility in a certain body part, it becomes close to impossible to keep up standards of performance, and for professional athletes this could mean the end of their careers.

• Balance – the importance of the core muscles in the human body cannot be stressed enough. Besides assisting in posture maintenance, the core, in conjunction with the ear canals, assist in good balance. How important is good balance? Well consider what would happen to a javelin thrower who did not have good balance. In their run up to throw the javelin they would be off kilter and would struggle to build up power for a good throw. Even for someone who played touch football, balance would be vital since without good balance, they would struggle to run in a straight line.

• Strength – the benefits of building up strength for athletes are quite obvious. No matter the sport, and no matter whether on a professional or beginner’s level, strength is the ultimate goal. In some, it is strength in the upper body, as with weightlifters, while in others it is strength in the legs, such as with long distance runners.

• Flexibility – being flexible is no longer just for gymnasts and those who practice yoga. It is absolutely vital to have a good range of flexibility in just about type of sport from baseball to dancing. Flexibility is not just about being able to twist yourself into the shape of a pretzel. It is about increasing your range of motion to increase performance, and a good physical therapy session, followed by specific exercises can really help with that.

• Coordination – if you play any type of sport that requires you to do more than one thing at a time, you need to work on coordination. People often don’t think too much about coordination, because as humans, we have it naturally. But what happens if you struggle to run and catch a ball at the same time? This is where physical therapy comes in.

• Stamina – if you’re going to excel in any type of athletics or sport, you need stamina. This refers not just to cardiovascular endurance, but to respiratory endurance too. The buildup of stamina can be a process that takes a long time, but with assistant from a physical therapist, it can be better planned.

How Sports Physical Therapists Do What They Do

For those who have never visited a physical therapist, the idea of doing so may be scary. You may be thinking that they have strange devices and weird oils and will practically put you into traction. This is not true, though there are some parts of physical therapy that may seem a little strange, such as dry needling. The process is actually quite simple.

When you arrive for your first session of sports physical therapy, the therapist will do an assessment to determine the extent of an injury or what you need help with. They will generally look at your patient history to try and determine the source of the problem and will do an evaluation. From this point, they will diagnose the problem. If you come in for example with a pain in your leg, they may need to ask a variety of questions before determining that the problem is an Achilles tendon injury.

From this point, they will prepare a prognosis for treatment. This will determine how many therapy sessions you will need, what exercises you should be doing and how they aim to care for you.

When starting each session, the physical therapist will generally alert you to the problem you are experiencing and how the sessions may help. It is vital to note here that not all injuries can be fixed, and thus the therapist alerts patients to the possibilities of living with their injuries. Pain management is the first and most important part of therapy. If you are in pain, you are less likely to want to participate in sport, and thus the therapist needs to help you manage the pain.

There are various treatments within the physical therapy session that a therapist may use to help patients and these include:

• Cold and heat – there is no doubt that cold and heat treatment benefits those patients who have injuries. Though this is a form of treatment that patients can engage in at home, having a professional to monitor it and administer the process correctly can make a big difference.

• Massage – due to the buildup of lactic acid during exercise, it can sometimes seem as if there is an injury when the muscles are actually stiff. The sports physical therapist is responsible for dealing with this through therapeutic massage. They aim to rub the muscles and release the buildup of lactic acid, thus freeing the muscles and alleviating the feeling of stiffness. This helps those who have lost a certain range of motion due to stiffness.

• Taping – in some cases, especially in the case of injury, it is not possible to help just with heat, cold and massage. This is when the therapist may advise taping the area to assist the muscles in recovering. The tape is a specialized sports tape that is administered in a specific way, based on the therapists training. The aim of the tape is to give the injured area a chance to rest.

• Dry needling – similar to acupuncture, this process involves using sterilized needles inserted into the muscles to stimulate the nerves and encourage healing. The difference here is that while acupuncture only requires the needle to be inserted into the first layer of muscle, dry needling sees the needle inserted deep into the muscle. This can cause some pain, but the simulation of nerves does help in creating more blood flow to the area and assisting in healing.

Part of the therapy that a sports physical therapist offers is exercises that the injured person can use at home to strengthen their injured muscles. These include strengthening and stretching exercises, both of which are important to improve mobility and help the injured person recover.

When to go see a sports physical therapist
By the time some people get to the sports physical therapist, a lot of damage has been done. This is why it is so important to know when to ignore a nagging pain, and when to go straight to therapy. Generally, a good rule of thumb for non-professional athletes to work with is that if a certain pain perseveres through three or more exercise sessions, it is time to go for physical therapy.

It is also important to determine whether the pain is in the muscle, the nerve and what kind of pain you are experiencing. If the pain is in the nerve, the type of pain is almost electrical in nature and can be extremely severe. This is the point where you should go a physical therapist immediately, or to a doctor, as there may be nerve damage.

A muscular pain is usually categorized in one of two ways. It is usually either a burning pain or a sharp pain. A sharp pain means there is some kind of muscle damage or the muscle is on the verge of damage. A sports physical therapist can assist here by providing the patient with exercises and therapy to combat the problem. A burning pain could be because the muscle is strained, or because of lactic acid buildup, both of which are highly treatable by the therapist.

Some of the most common injuries that people experience especially non-professionals include:

• Runners – Achilles tendon injuries are very common to runners, though they may experience other problems in the legs, such as hamstring sprains, lactic acid buildup in the quadriceps and calves and one of the most common, problems in the knees.

• Baseball, golf, softball – since a lot of the work is performed with the arms in this sport, the most common injuries include problems with the shoulders, sprains in the forearms and problems at the elbows.

• Dancing and gymnastics – because of the total body involvement in sports such as these, problems can encompass any body part from the neck to the ankles. This is very specific to these kinds of sports.

On a professional level, a sports physical therapist assists professional athletes while they are participating in certain sports. A therapist assisting a football for example, will help by massaging and preventing injuries during the game. Someone who has been recruited on an Olympic level has the responsibility of dealing with injuries that could put these athletes out of the game. This is why it is so vital that they have the correct information, the right tools and the right training.

Becoming A Sports Physical Therapist

If this career is one that you want to pursue, there are a few things you need to know about it. Firstly, the process of becoming a sports physical therapist implies that you need to know about human anatomy. This is vital since without this information, you will not know what to treat. Sports physical therapists generally study for three to four years, and then need to complete a year of internship at a community center or hospital. This assists them in preparing for whatever challenges their jobs may throw at them.

They will also need to have knowledge of all of the processes and procedures so commonly used in physical therapy, such as taping and dry needling, and when to use what type of therapy. A good physical therapist can assist a patient in identifying the problem, and then prescribe exercises and other forms of therapy to speed up recovery.

In essence, a physical therapist has a very specific type of job to do. This is not a job that is easy and definitely does not involve just rubbing sore muscles. A good physical therapist can make a very big difference to the life of an athlete and can ensure that they recover from an injury quickly enough that that injury does not affect their career. The work that they do can take them to strange locations, or they may practice from a base in a particular city. With either, they will see many types of patients, all with different injuries, and the knowledge of how to treat these injuries correctly is the biggest difference between an average sports physical therapist and a really good one.

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There are a number of health issues that are faced primarily or solely by women, which is why women’s health physical therapy procedures have been developed in order to address these issues. As a physical therapist there are a number of areas in which you can choose to specialize, with women’s health physical therapy being one of the slightly more popular options to consider.

What Is Women’s Health Physical Therapy?

Women’s health physical therapy is a specialty within physical therapy. It aims to treat problems that occur primarily in women. The problems can be from any point in the woman’s lifespan.

When considering a definition for women’s health physical therapy, womenshealthapta.org sums it up rather well:

“The emphasis of the health sciences on fitness and wellness has brought to women’s attention a need to pay closer attention to their bodies during recreation, work, and throughout life. Many physical therapists have specialized training which will benefit women with a variety of medical conditions. These therapists use every facet of their physical therapy training to evaluate and treat female clients, promoting and enhancing health through the life span. All treatments are individually designed after thorough evaluation”.

Some of the issues that a women’s health physical therapist may diagnose include:

• Pain during and after pregnancy
• Postpartum rehabilitation
• Perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms
• Urinary and fecal
• Pelvic Floor Dysfunction
• SI Joint Dysfunction
• Lumbosacral Strain
• Fibromyalgia
• Chronic Pain & Headaches
• Osteoporosis
• Musculoskeletal Dysfunction

Many of these are specific to women, such as pain related to pregnancy, while other diagnoses involve conditions that are not limited to women, but that occur more frequently in women than in men, such as osteoporosis.

Pain Or Dysfunction Associated With Pregnancy Or Postpartum

Pain is not a normal part of motherhood, but there are a number of changes that can occur in a woman’s body when she has a baby. In addition her body is placed under new and perhaps unfamiliar strain once the baby is born as she may be required, for example, to bend down more frequently and carry a heavy baby. There are a number of issues that can arise as a result of this, and, as a physical therapist with specialization in women’s health, you will be required to diagnose the true causes of the aping in the patient and systematically create a treatment program that will relieve the symptoms. The symptoms that may occur in this regard are:

• Lower back pain
• Tail bone pain
• Pubic bone pain
• Pressure or heaviness
• Hand or wrist numbness or swelling
• Sacroiliac pain (The sacroiliac joint is in the low back where the spine meets the pelvis. Sacroiliac joint pain is discomfort in this area. This pain is a symptom that may come from a number of conditions or diseases)
• Calf cramps
• Headaches
• Incontinence

A women’s health physical therapist will learn the best physical therapeutic methods for dealing with these symptoms and ensuring that the patient is able to return to fairly normal functioning as soon as possible.

Urinary Incontinence

Although urinary incontinence can occur for a number of reasons, pelvic floor muscle weakness is the reason that you will be most interested in as a physical therapist with a specialization in women’s health physical therapy. There are a couple of statistics related to urinary incontinence in women which are pertinent to being a physical therapist in this line of work:

• Incontinence affects  15% of adult Americans
• 26% of women between 30 and 59 years have problems of this nature
• Many women restrict fluids to avoid losing control of their bladder
• More than 50% of nursing home residents have incontinence have problems. The majority of nursing home residents are female.

According to http://desert-springs-physical-therapy.com women’s health physical therapy “assists patients to restore pelvic floor muscle strength through exercise and biofeedback training to teach the correct way to perform Kegel exercises.  Treatment also provides education regarding normal function, stress management, and good toileting habits“.

A large part of your job as a physical therapist with a specialization in women’s health will revolve around educating patients in matters of this kind and helping them become aware that urinary incontinence is not inevitable and that, through the correct exercises and measures, it can be controlled and even, in some cases completely cured. This applies to elderly members of the population as well as new mothers suffering from incontinence problems.

Pelvic Pain Or Dysfunction

There are a number of diagnoses that can be used to explain pelvic pain. These diagnoses include:

• Chronic yeast infection
• Chronic urinary tract infection
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Vestibulitis
• Vulvodynia
• Dyspareunia

There are many symptoms, in addition, that are used to give a diagnosis of pelvic pain. These include:

• Burning
• Itching
• Rawness
• Aching
• Pelvic pressure
• Back pain
• Abdominal pain
• Tailbone pain
• Urinary urgency and frequency
• Pain with sexual intercourse
• Discomfort with tampon use

As a women’s health physical therapist you are interested in pelvic pain that is caused by the following:

• Musculoskeletal dysfunction such as muscle spasm
• Joint dysfunction
• Abnormal postures
• Weakness
• Decreased flexibility
• Any combination of the above

There are about 80 muscles that are connected to the pelvis. If there is an imbalance for whatever reason in any of these muscles, pelvic pain may arise as a result. This is in line with one of the main ideas that you will have already learned in the field of physical therapy by this point, namely that everything in the body is connected and dysfunction in one area of the body can cause pain in another.

Physical therapists can solve or improve the above mentioned problems through the following methods:

• Manual techniques
• Therapeutic exercise
• Relaxation training with biofeedback
• Postural education
• Movement strategies

Post Surgical Pain Or Loss Of Function

Surgical procedures that result in pain that you will be interested in as a women’s health physical therapist include, obviously, those procedures solely or most frequently performed on women. These procedures include the following:

• C-section
• Episiotomy
• Hysterectomy
• Breast surgery
• Abdominal surgery

It is not abnormal for pain to result due to such procedures as tissue could be damaged in the process. A physical therapist trained in women’s health is an expert in relieving these pains and creating a situation where the woman in question is able to return to her normal level of functioning. Women’s health physical therapists primarily see female patients. Usually they will only work with female patients. This means that there are a number of surgical procedures, such as transplant surgery and appendectomies, that can be performed on any gender that you may also need to treat should those procedures result in marked pain and discomfort for your patient. However you will be primarily trained in areas of the health care profession related specifically to issues faced only by women and will therefore focus on sexual and reproductive functions. If faced with a patient who has come to you for another reason a referral may be necessary if you feel under qualified to cope.

Perimenopausal & Menopausal

A condition that only women suffer from is menopause, and there are a number of physical bodily changes that are associated with this phase of the life cycle. In many cases these bodily changes can lead to discomfort as well as to pain and it is therefore the job of the women’s health physical therapist to find a way to relieve these symptoms and assist your patient in returning to normal functioning as soon as possible. The most common ailments that a woman at this stage of her life cycle may face include:

Post-Hysterectomy Adhesions and Deconditioning

• Osteoporosis
• Incontinence
• Joint Pain
• Fibromyalgia

There are a number of treatment options that can be considered for any of the above complaints, but it must be remembered that “each woman and her experience during menopause is unique” (atipt.com). This means that each woman will react differently. Consequently your job as the physical therapist who is working with menopausal patients is to ensure that you tailor your treatment methods and strategies in such a way that they suit the particular patient or patients under you care. An ability to adapt your treatment methods to suit particular patients is one that is required by physical therapists in all walks of life and who work in each of the subdivisions of the physical therapy industry.

Osteoporosis

According to thefreedictionary.com “The word osteoporosis literally means “porous bones.” It occurs when bones lose an excessive amount of their protein and mineral content, particularly calcium. Over time, bone mass, and therefore bone strength, is decreased. As a result, bones become fragile and break easily. Even a sneeze or a sudden movement may be enough to break a bone in someone with severe osteoporosis”. This is a condition that is primarily faced by women, although it is possible for a man to develop osteoporosis over time as well. Usually it affects women after menopause and onwards.

Common ailments and complaints that a woman suffering from osteoporosis may approach a physical therapist about include the following:

• Vertebral Fractures
• Kyphotic Posture
• Loss of Height
• Back Pain
• Respiratory Compromise

There are a number of standard treatment procedures used in women’s health physical therapy that can be used to address these issues. These include:

• Balance and Proprioception Training
• Postural Corrective Exercise
• Breathing Pattern Education
• Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Weight-Bearing Resistive Exercise
• Dynamic Flexibility Exercise
• Fall Prevention
• Modalities
• Prescription of External Supports

However the actual treatment methods undertaken and prescribed will depend on the patient herself as many factors, such as age and physical fitness, can affect the safety of the methods used.

Chronic Pain & Headaches

When it comes to chronic pain and headaches a number of diagnosis may be made:

• Myofascial Pain Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Headaches

The more common treatment options include:

• Correction of Postural Imbalances
• Aerobic
• Strength & Flexibility Training
• Progressive Aerobic Exercise
• Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Nutritional Guidance
• Relaxation Techniques

Headaches and chronic pain can be due to a number of different conditions and ailments, not all of which are treatable through physical therapy. It is therefore essential that you are absolutely certain that you are properly informed regarding the causes of the pain that your patient is experiencing. If you treat a patient with physical therapy who would, in fact, benefit better from surgery or another form of traditional medical treatment, you are not keeping the best interests of that patient in mind. If necessary, refer your patient to a health care professional who will be better equipped to help them. In addition you can never assume that your patient is an expert in their own physical condition. A patient’s ‘self-diagnosis cannot be relied on in order to begin physical therapy. During your physical therapy training you will be given guidance on how to assess a patient and determine what the likeliest route cause of the pain they are experiencing is as well as the best methods for treating that particular type of pain.

Many of the conditions and problems mentioned above are solely problems that can be faced by women. Even those that men could experience too, such as chronic pain and headaches, tend to be more frequently experienced by the female demographic of the population. As a physical therapists with a specialization in women’s health physical therapy you will, effectively, have a patient base that consists of half of the population, which means that your employment opportunities will never dry up and you will always be in demand as long as there are women in the world suffering from the above mentioned conditions.

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