Rewarding Reasons to Work in Community Services
Do you want to make your community a better place to live?
Are you looking to make a real difference in the lives of people in need?
Becoming a community service worker is a great way to meet such noble objectives.
This is the career where you will work with some of the most vulnerable people in your community and make a contribution to improve their lives. You as a community service worker not only benefit your community but also make new friends, expand your network and improve your social skills.
If you were looking for online community services courses, follow the link to view these. If not, keep reading!
Whether you work with refugees, provide support to the elderly, or help people struggling with mental health issues, you feel a sense of achievement that you are helping people.
As a community worker, you also act as a link between people, healthcare workers, educators and social service professionals.
Community service is a rapidly growing field, especially in the areas of child care, aged adults, drug counselling and youth support. Although challenging and unique at times, community support work also can be highly rewarding, especially if you love helping others.
Here we have outlined some convincing benefits of choosing a career in community services.
- Making You Feel Good and Positive:
Being a community support worker can increase your self-confidence, self-esteem and life satisfaction. You are helping others and uplifting the community, which infuses a natural sense of accomplishment. Your role also gives you a sense of pride and identity. And the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to have a positive outlook towards your life and future objectives. You take pride in knowing you are helping others deal with life’s problems and find solutions.
It also keeps you in regular contact with other people and helps you create a strong support system, which in turn minimizes your stress and depression when you fall on hard times. As a community worker, you can grow as a better person which might not be possible with 9 to 5 jobs otherwise.
- Helping You Develop Key Life Skills:
Involving with community services can also help you grow valuable skills that will benefit you in other areas of life. For example, you as an aged carer learn how to deal with difficult clients who are suffering from dementia. Similarly, you as an alcohol or drug abuse counsellor help people overcome their addiction.
While the specific skills you learn will depend on the exact area you are involved with, but some examples of soft skills you might develop while working in a community service role showing initiative and helping others, working as a team member, listening carefully, and critical thinking. Community care services let you explore your interests, show what you believe in, and create a possible career path.
By working as a community service worker, you have an opportunity to learn experientially. You discover where your passions lie while serving people that truly create a difference.
- Providing Various Roles to Choose From:
Not all job professions let you choose the area of your interest. Luckily, the community support sector has many job options to choose from. As a community worker, you can serve families, individuals and communities in various fields, including a child, drug abuse, mental health and medical.
It means that you can try out several various categories, before deciding the one that you are interested in. It also lets you move to another job or area. The characteristics such as empathy and communication skills remain the same irrespective of your transition. For example, you as an aged carer can also become an efficient child carer with your existing skills and traits.
- Ensuring Job Satisfaction:
Helping others and making a difference to others life is a gratifying experience. You feel satisfied and valued knowing that your efforts bring smiles on someone’s face.
This also infuses a sense of achievement within you. No wonder most community care workers are happy and satisfied with their career. You feel connected to people and have a dedication to making their life better. When you have such noble thoughts on mind, you are less likely to be worried and stressed. Unlike 9 to 5 jobs, you don’t need to get obsessed with deadlines and target.
- Changing Lives for Better:
Many people want to improve the lives of others but aren’t sure where to start or what to do. As a community service worker, you are in a position to help and support others. The key benefit of involving in community services is being able to uplift vulnerable people in your community and work for their rights.
No matter if you work as a counsellor or child protector, your role as a community service worker brings positive difference to many lives.
After all, your key job responsibility is to assist them or help them overcome their problems. While it is challenging and different than typical jobs, just knowing that your job is meaningful to others can achieve a purpose and personal fulfilment.
- Being a Growing Field:
The field of community support is growing rapidly. According to one study, the demand for community care workers will increase by 16 per cent by 2020 in Australia. That translates to about 250,200 new jobs. And with a wide range of job options, you will be able to find a meaningful career option in this field. Community services are also an answer if you are looking for a sustainable career with long term employment.
- Changing Your Perception:
Community services also make you more aware of and interested in the issues of social justice.
For example, if you work with drug-addicted people, you’ll have a chance to bust stereotypes about why people become addicted to drugs while also learning challenges that they face in dealing with society. Many drug-addicted people face prejudice that makes returning to work and earning a living more challenging.
Once you learn more about the struggles and injustices that these people face, you are more likely to want to take part in making a change in the policy and society that criticizes them.
How To Make A Career In Community Services
- Know What You Want to Become:
There are many job opportunities in community services to choose from. You can choose the area of your interest or something you are passionate about. Some of the common career fields in community services are aged care, disability services, child protection, schools, drug de-addiction, mental health, schools and emergency relief. However, make sure to take a thoughtful decision and choose the one that really appeals to you. For example, if you like to spend time with the elderly, aged care can be meant for you. If you want to guide people, you can become a consultant.
- Opt for Community Service Courses Online:
While not all courses require you to earn a college degree, some courses can be useful to get equipped with the necessary skills. From aged care, mental health care, drug de-addiction to youth support, there are many community care courses to choose from. Good thing is that most of these courses are available online, meaning that you can pursue them at the comfort of your home.
With such online community care courses, students learn methods as well as gain the knowledge and skills to become an efficient community service worker.
- Qualities to Possess:
Community service is a different career, so are the qualities required for it. First of all, you should have empathy that means to realize the feelings and experience of other people. Or you can say that you need to put yourself in other’s shoes to understand their suffering. It is important because it relates you to your clients.
Patience is another important quality to possess. This is because not all clients might follow your advice or treatment. However, you need to patient and continue to help them, even if they refuse your help. Keep in mind that community service isn’t a 9 to 5 job or typical Monday to Friday job. You might require to work nights, weekends and evening. Community care workers are required nationwide, in big and small towns, as well as rural and remote areas. Therefore, it also requires you to be flexible.
Bottom Line:
So you must have understood why to choose a career in community services as well as how to pursue it. Working as a community support worker, whether as an elderly carer or a youth support worker, is a rewarding and gratifying career. It not only makes a difference to the organizations and people being a carer but also makes a difference to your career prospects. Moreover, you as a community care worker develop civic and social responsibility skills and a sense of giving back.
However, it is important to equip yourself with essential knowledge and skills so that you can become an efficient and compassionate worker. It can be done by opting for online community care courses in Australia.
More than that, one should be encouraged to work in this field as your interest and dedication matter the most.
Browse our online community courses here.
