I'm considering being a social worker. Any information to help me with? facts? please help!?

[Kristen]

I'm honestly wanting to do something useful with my life and not be one of those people who BARELY get by. I want to take careof my mom in the future and want to be able to have vacation time. which is why with jobs these days you can either have time or money. I can't decide whether to go to school to do creative writing and film and pursue in the film industry (risky) . be a social worker. be a adolescent therapist. or maybe even a pastry chef. Any advice on social workers? income? facts? much appreciated!

[elaeblue]

Social work is exhausting, pays very little, and while it may help some people - many workers burn out and end up doing something else.

Adolescent therapy may pay better, but you still are working long hours and the burn out rate is high. Its very hard to work with kids and not get tooo involved..thus the burn out.

The film industry is a highly competitive place..few make it big. However using film to make industry films- training programs etc is going to be a big industry and the money should be very good.

A pastry chef is underpaid and overworked.

[Girish Mehta]

My dear friend,I am a social worker and my field is counselling also work as counsellor cum guide also at one government hospital. You can visit orphanages and or old age homes and help them.You can teach computer to children.

[movieman903]

Geesh, those jobs are tough, thankless for the most part , and majority are low paying or dead end.
Social work in general has a human generosity and obvious value, but its a thankless job and you'll grow to hate everybody and feel powerless. Pastry chef...thats a job for pure love of bakery, you aren't going into that to get rich and its challenging and long hours that start at like 4 am. Writing and film, also challenging but depends on how talented and driven you are. You want something that pays decent, has good times off, with somewhat of a future, look at all your skills and see if you could apply them towards the following.
A teacher, once hired, gets a decent pay, summers off, and they have great pensions. And they rarely get fired.
If you go film route, make it more media and graphically focused, digital media and marketing is huge today. Try and see if that would interest you , the combination of software and marketing and film skills is in high demand. I run a marketing agency and I pay these kids that work for us, between 30 and 70 bucks an hour. Most of them have just a few years experience and didn't even go to university, just some college courses in media design etc.
From the arts side of things, if you can write, you can also see demand as a blogger, copywriter for agencies, or corporate. The BA grad has a ton more opportunities today, because most of the content on the web needs a professional who can actually write. I pay my writers 200 bucks an article,and they can do it in a few hours. The other great gig is anything to do with web development, software design, any kind of programming. And web design isn't like that pure geek programming stuff, its not that hard. My junior guy makes 50 bucks an hour working for me . And his gig isn't that difficult.
The film industry in general, is just like the other poster here says. Its brutally competititve, long hours, little chance to really make it, and little job security. My brother has a masters degree, been in casting and directing for 10 yrs, and he still works like 16 hours a day on set, and has zero savings. It has a glamour to it, but thats maybe if you become some superstar after years of working in the trenches.
If you want free time as a big thing, then do freelancing, or start your own business after you get a bit of experience. At least then you can call your own shots, but its no cake walk. But not many things are today.
Other big jobs that have decent pensions, are like Government jobs, big banks, huge corporations like GE.
But that doesn't sound like you . Doing this 'contribute to society 'gig like social work , is noble, but it will kill you. You can always do charitable work after you find your niche in something that you actually love doing , get paid decent and can actually pay your bills, put a roof over your head , and have some free time to take care of your mom. Just really look at a list of all your skills, your interests, your needs, and start looking and researching into a number of different options. talk to people and network, you'll figure it out. Sounds like an exciting adventure ahead of you. All the best.