How To Start Your Career In The Community Services Sector

As the old saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child”. But this isn’t the only context where a village of collective efforts can make a world of difference. In truth, a healthy society is dependent on everyone caring for each other. And those of us who work in the community services sector are driven by a passion to contribute to the health of our society.

Some groups of people may need more care and support than others, including children, the elderly, and people living with disabilities. Supporting these groups as well as under-resourced families, teens, low-income earners, and those who are otherwise disadvantaged, falls under the banner of the community services sector.

Working in this sector takes compassion and flexibility, as well as qualifications in any and all relevant fields. With easy access to online or in-person study options, completing studies in social work, or undertaking aged care courses, or even doing a combination of different community service credentials is simple – with flexible study options often available for students of all ages. 

Let’s run through the main roles in the community services sector and what you’ll need to kickstart your career in the industry. 

What are community services?

There are myriad ways to work in community services as it encompasses a broad range of social issues. Community services fall under seven main areas: social, health, welfare, education, families, disability, and aged care. 

Social and welfare support

The role of a social worker is to assess the unique situation of an individual or family, provide crisis support, offer counselling and guidance, and to advocate for clients. Workplaces include schools, hospitals, crisis services, child protection and in the justice system.

Jobs include mentoring or facilitating mentorship programs, running individual or group counselling sessions, including on drug and alcohol dependence, managing community outreach, and welfare officer in Out of Home Care.

Community health 

Those working in community health provide services to the community that are not offered by public hospitals or private clinicians. Services include mobile health clinics for the homeless and disadvantaged, child health nurses in schools, kinders and maternal support clinics, and pop-up immunisation clinics, often run by local councils. 

Facilitating education

Education opportunities in the community can be informal, formal, paid or unpaid. Jobs can be in teaching, administrative roles, student support, tutoring and mentoring.

In public libraries, community centres, church halls and civic centres around the country you are bound to come across chess clubs, English Language lessons, computer literacy programs, tutoring  or study groups, or more formal vocational study and training. 

Caring for families 

Services that primarily cater to families often have some crossover with social welfare. However, by focusing on the family as a whole alongside the needs of each individual family member, a more accurate understanding of the family is built and supports are more effective. 

Roles include mentoring, family and relationship counselling, crisis and intervention officers, community outreach, youth drop-in centre worker, maternal and child health nurse, and community playgroups and child care. 

Disability support

Workers with disability-associated training might work in universities and schools to advocate for equal access to education, and provide assistance where needed. Specialist disability roles are common in the healthcare system, housing services, community outreach, and the justice system.

Aged care

Similar to disability support, working in aged care as a community, social, or personal care worker can happen in the home or residential care, through community outreach programs and in advocacy roles.

Starting your career in the community services sector

Community service careers are, unsurprisingly, people-centred, and require patience, empathy and relationship-building skills. As a worker in the industry, you have a lot of responsibility as you are deeply involved in others’ lives and can help determine their futures. Regardless of your qualifications or role, you must keep the privacy and safety of those you are working with your priority.

First aid certificates, police checks and Working With Children Checks are not always compulsory to a paid or volunteer role, however it is highly recommended to have both so you are prepared.

Volunteering

Before commencing any study, volunteering is highly recommended to give you a sense of what is required and to build some experience. Many states and territories in Australia include compulsory volunteering as a requisite for graduating high school, but it’s never too late to start if you have not done any before. 

Volunteer roles include operating an op shop, taking meals to the elderly or disabled, and having conversations with community members attending a free community morning tea.

Study

There are many different study routes you can take to enable you to work in community services, and study, training and experience in one area can often be applied to other domains. For most roles, you need specific qualifications, however for some positions you might only need some expertise and a passion to support the community.

To be a professional social or community worker (which can be applied to all areas of community service) you need at least a Diploma in Community Development (or a similar field) and 400 placement hours. Some roles require you to complete a Bachelor of Social Work, or a bachelor degree in human or community services.

For other roles, such as peer mentoring, personal support assistants, advocacy and volunteer management, a certificate in the relevant field may be all that is required. This may include a Certificate IV in Aging Care, or a Certificate III in Child Care. 

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Working in community services is exciting and  rewarding, albeit challenging at times. If you have a strong drive to improve and enrich the lives of people around you, however, then you may find that a career in the community services sector is just as fruitful for you as it is for those who are privileged enough to experience your care. 

With volunteer experience, qualifications in your chosen area, and an open and caring attitude, you can commence your career and contribute to the health, happiness and safety of our community.

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