Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) in Florida & Online

A Bachelor of Social (BSW) is an incredibly diverse degree. Whether you’re earning it as a stepping-stone to an advanced-standing MSW in preparation to become an LCSW or CMSW through the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling, or as the last stop before starting a career in a role that doesn’t require credentials, a BSW will deliver the foundational education you need.

Every state in the country has been facing issues of social inequity and challenges with everything from housing to substance abuse to immigration in recent years. It’s all on the plate for social workers to deal with in every city and town, including all across Florida.

But Florida has also become ground zero in the past few years for social justice and culture wars in ways that many other states have not.

Attacks on social justice and equality demand educated professionals to speak for marginalized voices in the Sunshine State.

When the government insists that the history of slavery can’t be taught honestly in schools, groups like the Florida Coalition on Black Civic Participation stand up and fight. When school board members in Sarasota are attacked for their sexuality, their defenders form new groups like the Social Justice Alliance of the Florida Suncoast to protect them.

Becoming an effective social worker and a fighter for equality and social justice requires an education in cultural, economic, and political theory. It’s exactly the sort of strong liberal arts education that a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) is designed to provide. As a necessary step on the way to earning the Master of Social Work degree that is required to become licensed in Florida, a BSW is your gateway to becoming a professional warrior for the persecuted and impoverished.

How a Bachelor of Social Work Prepares You for a Career in Florida Social Work

A Bachelor of Social Work degree is a four-year undergraduate course of study that combines time-tested liberal arts education with a specialized range of classes that build your core knowledge in social work and human services.

Of course, a BSW is also the best way to prepare yourself for the Master of Social Work you’ll need for licensure in Florida; either the Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) credential required to perform clinical diagnoses and counseling or the Certified Master Social Worker (CMSW) for macro-level work outside the clinical setting.

In fact, the right BSW can allow you to shave a whole year off your MSW studies through a degree known as an Advanced Standing Master of Social Work. An advanced-standing MSW can be completed in only a single year.

Earning your BSW at a school that has received speciality accreditation from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a must for you to qualify for advanced-standing enrollment in an MSW program.

From the day you start classes in your CSWE-accredited BSW program, you’re looking at only five years till you’re ready to apply for initial credentials as a Florida social worker — either the Registered Clinical Social Worker Intern credential if you’re aiming for LCSW licensure and a career in clinical counseling or the CMSW for community-level advocacy, support, and policy work.

Also Offers:

MSW
PhD in Social Welfare
MSW-JD
MSW-MPH
Minor in Social Welfare
Certificate in Child Welfare Services
Graduate Certificate in Addictions
Graduate Certificate in Child Welfare
Graduate Certificate in Social Work Practice for the Elderly
Post-MSW Graduate Certificate in Clinical Practice

Florida Memorial University

School of Social Work
Private University

BSW (on-campus)

Florida State University

College of Social Work
Public University

BSW (on-campus)

Administration, Advocacy and Social Justice, Children and Families, Criminal Justice and Social Work, Gerontology, Health and Wellness, International Social Work, Military Social Work

Also Offers:

MSW
Minor in Aging Studies
Aging Studies Undergraduate Certificate
Children’s Services Undergraduate Certificate
Military Social Work Graduate Certificate
Nonprofit Management Minor
Spanish for Social Work Undergraduate Certificate

Minor in Social Work
Minor in Aging Studies Interdisciplinary
Minor in Child Welfare
Minor in Substance Abuse
Minor in Social Welfare
BA in Children and Society
MSW

Warner University

Social Sciences Department
Private University

BSW (on-campus)

But you’re far from being locked-in to only social work as a career path with a BSW. The combination of knowledge and broad skills in everything from communication to community advocacy to human services can lead you to positions in case management, administrative services, or other vital jobs in social services.

Florida BSW Degrees Deliver Classes That Build Both Life Skills and Human Services Mastery

You’re probably wondering what this magical combination of courses looks like, one that seems to offer as many career possibilities as there are grains of sand on Cocoa Beach.

Like other kinds of bachelor’s degrees, about half your studies will be in general education and required pre-requisite courses. Although this might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about becoming a social work wizard, they are actually integral to your success in a very humanities-focused field.

These are the courses that develop your communications skills, cultural competency, historical knowledge, economic understanding, and basic problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. You’ll find all of these skill categories getting a workout on any given day you spend as a social worker, so you don’t want to undervalue the importance of these courses.

Those general courses are put together with upper division courses in topics like:

And, with four years to work with, there is plenty of room for elective courses that can deliver information on various subjects like Mental Health Services, School Social Work, Social Work with Children, Palliative Care, and other health, economic, and social justice topics you’ll be facing on the streets.

Launching a Larger Human Services Career in Florida With a Bachelor of Social Work Degree

The streets were something that Rodney Jones knew all about. The Pensacola native moved around a lot in his youth. From DC to Chicago, the easiest way for the new kid to find acceptance was through neighborhood gangs.

That led to getting shot at on street corners and dealing drugs, which eventually led to prison.

But he could see that there were other, better ways to make a life for himself. And once back in Florida, he earned a BSW from the University of West Florida and devoted time to mentoring at-risk kids in Pensacola.

Although an MSW wasn’t in his future, Jones did go on to earn a master’s in clinical mental health counseling and psychology, and is pursuing a doctorate in social psychology. He now works as the Executive Director of HOOPS in Escambia County, the Healthy Opportunities and Options to Promote Success organization—where he once mentored kids himself.

Getting Out in the Real-World of Florida Social Work Through Practicum Placements Is a Key Piece of BSW Studies

Speaking of the streets, accredited Florida BSW degree programs will ensure you get out and spend some time in front of art deco condos and beside Jacksonville strip malls putting your knowledge to the test.

Field experiences are considered a crucial part of your preparation as an effective social worker. So you will have at least some required practicum courses that place you in active social services settings, working together with licensed social workers and integrating the experience into your studies.

BSW degrees here vary in exactly how much time you will spend in the field. At the University of Southern Florida, the graduation requirement is 460 hours; it’s 420 at UCF (University of Central Florida), 512 at Florida State University, and an impressive 250 hours per semester at Florida Gulf Coast University, for a total of 1,000 hours.

Other programs offer even longer and more independent options through internships at human services organizations.

Generally, you’re placed somewhere nearby, whether you are in an online program or on campus. Schools have an impressive range of partner agencies to place students with. Florida Atlantic University has more than 200 throughout Southeast Florida, from Vero Beach to Miami-Dade.

Philosophically, you may want to explore a few different kinds of placements to get a taste of how different kinds of social work happen in Florida. Or if you are already committed to your specialized path, you may zoom in on something like Big Bend Elder Advocates for gerontology studies, or the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice for forensic or youth work.

In both cases, you’ll have a chance to see how the theory of your classroom studies matches up with the practical demands of real-world social work. Even more important, you’ll use those observations to focus and sharpen your studies.

Picking a Specialization for Your BSW Sets You Up to Handle Specific Challenges for Specific Populations in Florida

You can further tune your coursework in some Florida BSW programs by selecting a specialization. Social work covers a lot of ground and deals with complex topics. The depth of expertise needed for, say, a successful career in geriatric social work can be quite different from what you need to hone as an immigration social worker.

So you can start developing that specialized knowledge and honing your skills with a concentration or focus areas such as:

Child Welfare
Healthy Aging
Nonprofit Management
Spanish for Social Work
Administation
Advocacy and Social Justice
Criminal Justice
International Social Work
Military Social Work

These are sometimes offered as minors on your degree or as certificate programs that can be folded into your BSW studies and earned at the same time.

BSW Specialization That May Offer The Most Career Options

The 2019 Florida Behavioral Health Workforce Survey conducted by the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Office of Substance Abuse and Mental Health revealed some interesting and important truths about the Florida social work employment landscape.

In particular, it showed that more than half of behavioral health providers in the state, 56 percent, hold a master’s degree. Almost twenty percent of the workforce are social workers, and of those, almost all hold a social work license or registration, which means they also have an MSW.

That may seem to leave pretty slim pickings for BSW graduates who aren’t aiming for a full MSW. But there are specializations where clinical credentials aren’t as critical.

For example, for child welfare specialists at the Children’s Home Society of Florida, there’s a mix of positions that include BSW-qualified counselors and case managers, who work alongside MSW-clinical supervisors and program managers.

Similarly, you may find your place in admin-work heavy fields like immigration assistance or healthcare where there never seems to be enough time to get the reams of documents sorted and filed.

They come with additional coursework that zooms in on the subject matter and prepares you to hit the ground running as you enter an MSW program—or gives you the qualifications you need for non-licensed roles in social services agencies dealing with those areas.

Online Bachelor of Social Work Programs Offer Flexibility to Florida Students

If you’ve spent any time stuck in Miami traffic, the appeal of online college degrees will be immediately clear. And you probably know the traffic woes all too well if you live there—it’s now ranked as one of the most congested cities in the world.

Instead of spending hours commuting on some of the most crowded highways on the planet, you can flip open your laptop and be immediately immersed in important coursework. That’s valuable time spent studying that gets unlocked through an online BSW program.

With many online degree programs being offered asynchronously, you aren’t even locked-in to attending class at a particular time. You can stream videos, work on projects, or correspond with classmates and professors via chat or email whenever you can make the time. That’s huge if you’re trying to hold down a job or balance family responsibilities with your studies.

And because you can engage in that work from anywhere with an internet connection, you can find other ways to save money and optimize your attendance. With Miami becoming one of the most expensive cities for housing in the United States, with rents approaching those of San Francisco or LA, it’s a real benefit to be able to live in a more affordable part of the state while still enjoying the selection of some of the biggest and best social work schools in Florida.

The Kind of Jobs in Florida Social Work You Can Find With a BSW Degree

While the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling online offers licensing and certification for social workers who hold master’s or higher degrees in the field, there are still plenty of jobs you can perform with a BSW.

There are many positions in Florida human services that you’ll be qualified to fill with a BSW on your resumé.

Generally, these jobs will involve working either under the direct supervision of licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), or will be on the macro or mezzo side of the field outside of clinical practice. Those roles don’t include counseling and other clinical services, but they can be every bit as important to helping people get the assistance they need from federal and Florida state social services programs.

Bachelor’s graduates have the right combination of social work knowledge and general business skills to handle administrative roles such as:

Companies like North Port Behavioral Health hire social workers with a BSW to take care of intake and program planning and coordination. Proactive MD in Fort Meade hires BSW grads for patient advocacy work. You can even become a life coach at Acceleration Academies in Ocala.

These positions are found at many of the same organizations and deal with the same populations as Certified Master Social Workers (CMSW). While a BSW won’t get you to the same social work salary levels as those with master’s degrees and state credentials, you will be performing meaningful tasks that make a real difference in the day-to-day lives of Floridians on the margins.

Whether you decide to make a career out of that sort of work or take your BSW on the fast track to an advanced standing MSW program, you’ll have a set of knowledge and skills that make you an effective fighter for social and economic justice in the Sunshine State.