Social work and public policy--can I do both?

November 19, 2008 8:55 AM

Career path filter: Calling do-gooder types! Please share your insights about your profession. I'm interested in public policy AND in the helping professions--how to choose which to pursue? Can I do both, or do I need to just suck it up and pick one? Please help me get a better idea of what these careers are actually like--I want your perspective, hivemind!

I want to help people, but I’m stuck on the question of whether to do it on an individual level or a larger, policy/advocacy/social change level. My background is more on the social level (BA in sociology, few years of work experience in non-profits), and that seems like a powerful route to take, but a lot of my natural abilities seem to have to do with connecting with and nurturing people individually. Are there paths that combine both these impulses? I want to contribute on both levels, but I think my idea of what is possible is limited right now; help me expand it!

I think I'm lacking information about what the kinds of careers I'm thinking about are actually like. I'd love to hear from any therapists, social workers, public-policy people, non-profit people out there: what kinds of skills does your work call on day to day? What are the people you work with like? What's the path to get there like?

Background info on me: 27, some experience in non-profits and in teaching (which I think is something I might want to do later in life, but not right now), good w/ interpersonal skills, language skills, and analysis of arguments. Not too much experience in any one job, as I've been stricken by career-choice fears and have been skittish about committing to jobs. (regarding that, I'm bored with my own midtwenties career-choice freakouts, and I'm ready to just pick a path already! So I'll spare you the in-depth analysis of my feelings and we can just get to the concrete advice.)

I am willing (in fact eager) to get more education if necessary, so bonus points for information about specific programs. I've been looking into Masters in Public Policy and Masters in Social Work programs, including possibly getting dual degrees. Has anyone gone this path? Any recommendations/words of warning?

Thank you for your insight! I'm happy to provide more info about my background/interests if you want it, but I didn't want to overwhelm with a memoir.

ps: I just discovered AskMe recently, and have been entranced (and already helped) by all the thoughtful and helpful advice. If anyone else is looking for insight on these kinds of questions, there's good insight here and
here.

Thank you!

posted by aka burlap to work & money (8 comments total)

Based on your location (in profile) and the general gist of your question, it sounds like you're more interested in domestic work. My experience is more along the lines of international relief / development (with a large non-profit NGO), and the focus is in Supply Chain Management (i.e. logistics of how we get the right things to the right places at the right times in the right quantities/quality so that the people who need them most can get them). There's a ton of opportunity in this area (both commercially and in the non-profit sector) so its a very safe career-path from my point of view.

That said, one of the biggest overall "needs" I see in many of the 3rd world countries I've worked in is for more of a legal/justice infrastructure, for lack of a more educated way of putting it. It just seems like the corruption and political messiness that a lot of these countries are mired in serves to really hamper the good work of development and relief that NGOs are trying to carry out, and their hands are very often tied. I think the first thing that is often needed is assistance in setting up a governmental structure that promotes good business ethics, accountability, etc.. So, think legal, would be where I'm going with that. Sorry I can't drill in more specifically on it.

Try lots of stuff until you find something that you love doing. Then just keep doing that.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:20 AM on November 19, 2008

At grad school for city planning, I met a lot of social work-types who were frustrated at having to confront the problem one person at a time instead of at a systematic, societal level.
posted by salvia at 10:25 AM on November 19, 2008

Skipped part of the question, so here's more. People with Masters in Public Policy seem to be involved in everything I find fascinating -- they're often working on the more political aspects of many topics (as opposed to being the "staff scientist," they're the person who works directly with or for policymakers). I'd combine that with some subject matter expertise (eg, another masters, or trying to consistently intern at a certain kind of place). I commented on what skills that entails here.
posted by salvia at 10:36 AM on November 19, 2008

Have you thought about public health at all? The core public health science, epidemiology, is probably a little impersonal for you, but community health science and/or health policy might be right up your alley.

I'd recommend thumbing through a copy of Barney Turnock's book on public health careers. Public health (and related policy) is a pretty richly diverse field, with lots of opportunities to fold in other interests.
posted by j-dawg at 10:45 AM on November 19, 2008

Not law school.
posted by greekphilosophy at 11:06 AM on November 19, 2008

Thanks for the responses so far. allkindsoftime is right, I'm not interested in international stuff. Public health is very alluring. It's good to know there's a lot of ways you can use that kind of degree.
posted by aka burlap at 3:14 PM on November 19, 2008

Front-line work is tiring. Really, goddamn, bone-arse tiring. And frustrating. And that's just dealing with the bureaucracy, not the people! You have to either start with a good personal arsenal or quickly acquire one. Going straight into policy will probably mean better sleep at night, but you won't have the experience essential for actually understanding the impact of policy, on the people whose lives you're trying to improve and those who are assisting them. So, in general, the people who create the good bureaucratic systems, who write the best policies, are those who have had to wade through other people's shit systems and know how unwieldy and life-sucking they can be and so make every effort to create practical, workable systems instead. In my field (disability services) there are very few people in policy who didn't start their career in front-line work, and those who did usually have personal and/or family experience of disability so have front-line experience from another perspective.

Is disability services a field you've looked into? My job (disability services manager/ middle management in a govt department) involves broader policy, management and individual support, and I love it, most of the time. I have a BA in sociology, a Master of Social Planning and Development, a Master of Disability Studies and am very close to finishing an MBA (along with a few other relevant PGDips), but I started working as a support worker while in undergrad and my career stemmed from there. Doing both is entirely possible, but there is a non-zero chance of burnout if you're not prepared.
posted by goo at 12:57 PM on November 20, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

goo: Thanks, that's great insight. It makes sense that people will be better policy advocates and makers once they've been the ones trying to actually navigate the policy. That's kind of why I'm interested in doing the MPP and MSW--so that I'll be able to work doing direct service, but also be able to understand things in terms of the policy context, and be able to speak the language of policy people. Because, I can really imagine getting fed up with all the one-person-at-a-time nature of social work, and I want to be able to move into other roles later on. I've never looked into disability services; thanks for the suggestion. I've been realizing I'm pretty interested in adult education (job skills, financial literacy, stuff like that), and there might be some interesting overlap.
posted by aka burlap at 4:19 PM on November 21, 2008