Compare roles in health

To practise as a social worker in England, you must be registered with Social Work England. To register with Social Work England, you need to study for an approved programme in social work. Degree courses take three or four years full time and some combine social work with mental health or learning disability nursing. To get onto a social work degree course you usually need appropriate level 3 qualifications. If you already have a degree in another subject, you could take a postgraduate qualification (Diploma or Masters) in social work; train through Step up to Social Work (combining work and study), apply for the Frontline 2-year programme combining study with supervised practical work in child protection or the 2-year Think Ahead fast-track scheme to become a mental health social worker. The scheme blends academic learning with extensive on-the-job experience. A degree apprenticeship in social work has also been approved.

Social workers working in the NHS are paid on the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system. You would typically start on AfC band 6. With further training and experience, you could apply for more senior positions at bands 7 and above. Most social workers in the NHS work standard hours, which are likely to be around 37.5 a week. They may work some evenings or weekends. Terms and conditions will usually be different for social workers working outside of the NHS.

Social workers need to be able to work under pressure, deal with very challenging behaviour, organise their own workload, be understanding of other people’s lifestyles, work with people from all walks of life and be happy visiting people where they live. They also need organisational skills, empathy (able to see things from other points of view), relationship-building skills, resilience, problem-solving skills and motivational skills.

You may decide to specialise in a particular client group or issue such as the elderly, young people, substance misuse, mental health or domestic violence. You could train as a high intensity therapist, as part of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service. With experience, you could become a senior social worker, supervising the work of other social workers, or a primary mental health worker in child and adolescent mental health services. You may be able to progress into a management position, responsible for a department or an area.

To be a dramatherapist you need professional experience in an area of therapy or health care. This may be from working in, for example, nursing, social work, special needs or psychotherapy. Or you may have voluntary experience of working with people in a therapeutic setting. To practise as a dramatherapist, you must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a dramatherapist. You need to have taken an approved postgraduate qualification in dramatherapy. Courses can be full time or part time and take between one and three years. A level 7 apprenticeship for arts therapists (art therapists/art psychotherapists, dramatherapists and music therapists) has also been approved for delivery.

Dramatherapists in the NHS work standard hours, which are likely to be around 37.5 a week. They usually start at band 6 of the Agenda for Change pay rates. They may work some evenings. Elsewhere, the working hours will depend on where they work. In education, for example, they may work school hours. Prison work may involve early starts. Self-employed dramatherapists’ hours of work depend on client needs. They may work evenings and weekends to suit private clients.

Dramatherapists need a range of skills, including creativity, being non judgemental, resilient in dealing with other people’s strong emotions and sensitive and mature. They also need theatre skills and ideas, excellent communication skills, being able to work with people from all walks of life and being able to reflect on their own emotions.

You could specialise to work with a particular type of client such as children, the elderly or offenders. Or you could become a specialist in a particular issue such as dementia, mental health or palliative care. You could decide to become self-employed and build up a private practice. You could do this alongside employed work. As an experienced practitioner, you could become a senior or consultant dramatherapist, managing the work of a team of therapists. You could become the head of an arts therapy department, coordinating the work of therapists from other disciplines such as music or art therapy. You might also train other dramatherapists.