11/21/2025
Social Work and Nursing will always be and have forever been professional degrees.
I am a hybrid as I have both degrees.
My Master in Social Work required 2 years post bachelor’s degrees master level education along with testing to deem me legitimate to practice Social Work at the clinical level and 2 years of clinical supervision. It also required 2 years of clinical while receiving education- unpaid labor- I then took a final test to receive full independent licensure to practice psychotherapy. My Social Work licensure requires continuing education yearly for licensure. Total cost of education thus far, including what agencies have invested in my and my professional licensure = approximately 150-200k.
My Bachelor’s in Nursing required 4 year college degree for the program I was in, an extra 1 year of pre requisite classes and 1 year of nursing only classes. It also required a substantial amount of clinical hours - unpaid labor- providing extremely intimate nursing care to the very ill and dying. I also received my LPN first only to be told this was being phased out as it’s not the same as a Bachelors degree in Nursing. Total cost= 75k
By the way, my LPN education was far superior to my RN/ Bachelor education and Spalding concluded they should have simply let me test out instead of going through the year’s education.
While I am no longer a practicing nurse, I use my education, knowledge and experience daily. While I was a practicing nurse, I took excellent care of my patients - assessing them medically, providing medication and education about disease processes, tending to emotional needs and forming connections. It was hard work and emotional as you were with someone during their most vulnerable time. Rarely did I get lunch breaks or bathroom breaks as the work was constant, especially working in primary care- calling patients with labs, medication changes, testing results. There was never a stopping point as the work never ended. Charting on every patient with every call or interaction.
As a LCSW I spend hours researching and reading latest information about psychology, cutting edge treatments for trauma and trying to understand the world. While in session I am attuned to clients noticing subtle energy shifts, emotional shifts, watching breathing and utilizing education, experience and intuition to provide ethical and quality care. I also have to document care given so that insurance will reimburse and pay for services. I was spending 10 hours weekly to complete documentation- unpaid labor and with the threat of insurance companies can come back at any time and deem services were not necessary and take back money.
I follow a professional code of ethics.
I am professional.
However with this new declassification of my profession as unprofessional…I wonder how BIG insurance companies will change their rates of reimbursement for services. I wonder how this will affect my life and the lives of my clients.
