Pasco County is more than just a sleepy and overlooked area of bedroom communities on the outskirts of the greater Tampa Bay metro area. Between New Port Richey and Dade City, it’s a county that has its own history, its own vibe, and, unfortunately, its own social problems.
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office was sued recently over its prolific offender program, which some residents claim has resulted in harassment and intrusive surveillance even when no crime has been committed. Naturally, this included a disproportionate number of minorities, but also minors.
Gangbuster population growth has also thrown social and human services a curve ball in Pasco County. The U.S. Census reports a growth rate of almost 13 percent between 2020 and 2023, far outstripping the 5 percent rate over the same period in Florida as a whole. It’s even higher than neighboring Tampa.
This has all come together to put Pasco County in a place where expert social workers are an essential service.
What Do Social Workers Do in Dade City, New Port Richey, and Other Pasco County Locations?
Pasco County may be a little more rural than some other areas where Florida social workers find jobs, but it has the same full range of needs and injustices to be covered and corrected as anywhere in the state.
As the population grows and people continue to relocate from Tampa and Orlando, those services will come to reflect the serious problems often found in more urbanized areas of Florida.
Substance use disorders, homelessness, and geriatric social services are all on the horizon for Pasco County’s social workers.
On the whole, however, with a lower population density, you’ll find fewer social work jobs here than in more populous parts of the state. On the other hand, if you are one of the lucky individuals who land in one of these positions, you can expect a slower pace, greater sense of community, and closer connections with the neighbors you serve. It’s a tradeoff that any Pasco County social worker in any area of specialization will tell you is well worth it.
School Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
Social workers with the Pasco County School District have been caught in the middle of the controversy concerning information-sharing with the Sheriff’s Office as part of the prolific offender program. But when protecting students comes up against pressure from administrators or law enforcement, your training and ethics tells you what you need to do.
Pasco County Schools ensures that every social worker meets the highest standards. That means school social work jobs here require an LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) license or a Florida Educator Certificate in School Social Work. Experience in crisis intervention is also a must. And considering a new influx in immigrants, bilingual fluency in English in Spanish is preferred.
School Social Work Services for Pasco County Schools offers support for more than 60 professional social workers here who offer mental health, crisis support, and interventions for students and families to help kids from every corner of the community.
Substance Abuse Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
There is good news to be found in Pasco County social work circles, too, and that’s particularly true in the area of substance use disorder and addiction treatment. While the county experienced the same surge in synthetic opioids and overdose deaths as the rest of the country through the pandemic, the numbers have been dropping from their 2020 highs. Emergency room visits for suspected overdoses began to plummet toward the end of 2022 and now hover around 350 per quarter from a high well over 700.
That’s down to the work of social workers and other addictions treatment professionals providing direct counseling services, overseeing prevention and diversion programs, and managing programs like CORE, the Florida Coordinated Opioid Recovery Network.
Medical and Healthcare Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
Residents here are no different from those anywhere in Florida in that they need and deserve affordable, accessible, and effective healthcare services. Social workers with organizations like Premier Community Healthcare not only offer case management and discharge planning but are also involved in direct delivery of behavioral health services and counseling.
But with innovative program like Pasco County Fire Rescue’s Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) Program, health and wellness here also hits the road to go where the patients are. Professionals with MIH deliver both care and support to patients and their families, reaching outside the bounds of typical emergency services coverage. Referrals for specialized substance use disorder care, assistance with chronic disease management, and community outreach and education to connect residents with resources they didn’t know about are all classic social work, done well.
Mental Health Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
Mental health challenges aren’t segregated by county. There are people everywhere who face difficulty with anxiety, depression, anger, and a range of other issues that make their lives less than they could be.
Social workers, particularly those with special clinical training and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential from the state, have a unique role in treating those issues. While they are perfectly capable of delivering psychotherapy directly, just like mental health counselors or marriage and family therapists, they bring more to the table: a set of resources and an understanding of the socioeconomic issues that can contribute to mental illness.
Working with healthcare providers and behavioral health facilities and outpatient clinics social workers treat the full range of issues kids, juveniles, and adults in Pasco County experience. The county also supports a thriving range of private practice counselors, including LCSWs. With an ability to practice independently, the LCSW license opens the door for any social worker here who dreams of working for themselves.
Social Justice Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
Proving that no corner of the state is too small to have people standing up for equality and social justice, the PASCO Coalition came together in 2021 to oppose law enforcement overreach by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. Comprising state, local, and national groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, Florida Social Justice in Schools, and the local NAACP chapter, this collective tirelessly advocated for underrepresented students until the Department of Education finally launched an investigation on their behalf in 2021.
With a specialized education in administrative and policy topics relevant to making big changes in regulations and social practices, these types of social workers can have an impact that ripples out far beyond just the boundaries of one county.
Immigration Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
Like other parts of the state, Pasco County is seeing new arrivals from all over a world increasingly beset by violence, famine, and climate-driven catastrophe.
You’ll find plenty of demand for bilingual LCSWs in Dade City and elsewhere around Pasco County.
Those include individuals from Haiti and Ukraine, but the single largest contingent comes from Cuba, with more than 1,100 new arrivals between 2022 and 2023. This data was provided by the Florida Department of Children and Families, a key provider of jobs for social workers who specialize in working with families arriving here in their desperate search for a safer and more stable life. Like refugees elsewhere, they are dependent on social work to help them adjust to a new culture and new society, pointing them toward housing, jobs, healthcare, and other supports to assist with integration into American life.
Criminal Justice Social Work Jobs in Pasco County
The Pasco Regional Juvenile Detention Center in San Antonio is a bright spot in a county plagued by equity issues in detention facilities. Run by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice rather than by the sheriff’s office, it is a small, supervised facility that delivers education, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, and health care… much of it provided by capable and well-trained social workers.
Of course, forensic social workers also handle cases that haven’t gone to detention, and for those who have done their time and are looking to get back on their feet. So there is clearly an important role for them defending the rights of the accused, connecting them to legal resources, and helping with the difficulty of adjusting to life on parole or probation.
Salary Levels for Social Workers in Pasco County
Although Pasco County is its own place with its own character and its own social work positions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics only tracks salary and employment data for the larger combined Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region.
Salary figures shown here are at least in the ballpark of what you can expect, and as you gain experience, education, and state credentials, you’ll find it easy to pop up to salaries that exceed the state median in almost every category.
| Occupation | Annual mean wage | Annual median wage | Annual 75th percentile wage | Annual 90th percentile wage |
| Child, Family, and School Social Workers | $51,560 | $47,460 | $62,660 | $79,660 |
| Healthcare Social Workers | $63,290 | $62,640 | $71,960 | $83,820 |
| Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers | $48,950 | $47,380 | $58,610 | $67,850 |
2023 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and employment figures for Social Workers reflect national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed October 2024.