• <br/><br/>If you want to promote social change in your community and improve people's lives, social work may be the career option for you.

"There's a difference between psychology and social work: psychology studies people, and social work works with people," says Kelly Rollins, a licensed social worker for the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Rollins is one of nearly a half-million social workers who work for America's hospitals, police departments, schools, mental health clinics and government organizations to improve the lives of abuse victims, the elderly, the terminally ill, substance abusers, the disabled, the homeless and endangered children.

"I've worked in so many different settings," says National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Vice President and veteran social worker Stacie Hiramoto. "I've worked in a police department. I've worked in a shelter workshop. I've worked at the [California] State Capitol and now I'm working at [Sacramento] County's mental health department."

Hiramoto's career is reflective of the variety of positions available to social workers. Medical social workers work with chronically or terminally ill patients and their families in hospitals and hospices to make sure they receive adequate long-term outpatient care. Child and family social workers work closely with children and parents, and in some cases place children in foster care and arrange adoptions. School social workers, like Rollins, help troubled students with emotional, social and economic problems. Clinical social workers specialize in counseling patients in mental health facilities or substance abuse rehabilitation facilities. Still others work for policy change and spend time researching issues and developing social programs and systems to solve societal problems.