What They Do
Social Work Officers are commissioned members of the Canadian Forces Medical Service. Working in collaboration with other health care professionals, the primary duty of a Social Work Officer is to deliver professional social work services in a military milieu to support the morale, efficiency and mental health of Canada’s soldiers, sailors and air personnel.
As well as the full range of challenges common to Canadian society, Canadian Forces members and their families cope with additional stresses associated with frequent moves and separations caused by service requirements. These stresses can give rise to social and family circumstances that involve complex social work interventions. As a Social Work Officer, it will be your mission to ensure that Canadian Forces members and their dependants receive the clinical social work services normally available to civilians through community mental health and social services agencies.
Your work will involve:
- Providing clinical intervention services directly to Canadian Forces members and family members
- Assisting in the resolution of compassionate situations so that career action is not required
- Consulting with and advising Commandants, Commanding Officers and supervisors on the social circumstances encountered by personnel in their units
- Assisting officers responsible for personnel career matters by investigating and reporting on compassionate situations
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Delivering preventive and rehabilitative programs in the areas of:
- pre- and post-deployment stress
- suicide intervention
- family violence
Qualification Requirements
Personal Characteristics
The Canadian Forces requires a special kind of social work professional: a physically fit individual who is socially adaptable and ready for the unusual and the unexpected. At the same time, the social work clinician needs to be professionally versatile and capable of leadership in a variety of environments, both in Canada and overseas.
Formal Qualifications
To be eligible for selection as a Social Work Officer, you need to possess a Bachelor's of Social Work (BSW) or a Master's of Social Work (MSW) degree. If you only have a BSW, the CF does subsidize the MSW for selected candidates and therefore, you will need proof that you are accepted without any condition in a MSW program, in an accredited social work school at a Canadian university (the accreditation is from the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work). A concentration in clinical practice is required. You also need to be registered with the professional social work association of a Canadian province or territory. You will also require three years of clinical experience with adult mental health as a registered social worker (psychosocial and family counselling) acquired within the last five years. Experience in cognitive behavioural therapy is beneficial but not a requirement.
You will need to meet Canadian Forces medical standards and successfully complete a selection process that includes interviews and a wide range of examinations.
For more information :
- Captain Jack MacFarlane, jack.macfarlane@forces.gc.ca, 416-937-4884
Career Development
On successful completion of Phase II, you will be posted to a base, wing or garrison to practise in an interdisciplinary setting. You will collaborate with civilian social agencies to develop appropriate referral contacts and to remain abreast of current professional development and social legislation. After a period of independent social work practice, Social Work Officers may progress to senior positions that involve supervisory responsibility at Health Care Clinics across the country and/or as staff officers working at National Defence Headquarters.
Initial Employment
Postings (compulsory relocations) typically occur every four to five years, whereupon, you can expect to be sent to work in one of a variety of settings across Canada. You will receive ample notice of impending postings, and your preferences of the type of social work position and location will be considered.
Working Environment
As a Social Work Officer, you will work in an office at a base, wing or garrison, and you will deploy overseas on operational missions.
Extended periods of interviewing and counselling may result in physical and emotional fatigue, and may subject you to unusual degrees of stress as a result of continual involvement in emotionally laden client situations. The uncertainty of caseload demands, the numerous expectations when crises occur, the frustration of limited success, and the lack of opportunity to consult with colleagues may be factors in the stress that affects military Social Work Officers.
Appropriate training, environmental clothing and equipment are provided, and Social Work Officers’ health, safety and morale are closely monitored.
Phase I: Initial Assessment and Basic Officer Training
Upon enrolment, you will be commissioned as a Lieutenant (within the Army and Air Force) or Sub-Lieutenant (within the Navy). You will then go to the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec for Phase I of your military training. The initial portion of this training will introduce you to life in the Canadian Forces. The second portion of this training is the Basic Officer Training Course (BOTC). During BOTC, you will learn the principles of leadership, regulations and customs of military service, safe handling of personal weapons and first aid. BOTC includes a rigorous programme of physical fitness training and sports followed by second-language training for those who are not bilingual at the level required by the Canadian Force.
Phase II: On-the-Job Training
On successful completion of BOTC, you will begin a period of formal on-the-job training at a Canadian Forces base, wing or garrison with an experienced Social Work Officer lasting between six to twelve months. During the on-the-job training process, you will expand and broaden your clinical social work practice approaches in order to become a more effective Social Work Officer within the Canadian Forces Medical Services (CFMS).
