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jobs with Health and Social Care

I really love being able to help people and make a difference but I know that I do not want to be a nurse.
I have looked at Health and Social Care BA(hons) but I would like to know what job opportunities you would get with this degree.
To be honest I think that's a really general degree that won't get you anywhere. You're better off getting a job as a support worker and being supported to do your nvq / diploma that way.
Have you thought about getting work experience or volunteering to see what you would like to do?
You can work with children, adults, mental health, learning disabilities, addiction, teenage expectant mothers, the elderly, there is a massive scope if you know you want to work with people.
There is occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, nursing, psychology, psychiatry, the list goes on.

I would recommend volunteering with st John ambulance, samaritans, red cross, nurseries, summer schemes etc to see where you want to work long term.
The health and social degree is very generic and does not lead to a qualified career as such. As the ones mentioned above need a degree in that area, ie SALT.
Best of luck.

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Reply 2
Nothing specifically. I had a look and it does seem to be a course designed as a bridge between sixth form and actually deciding what you're going to do as a career. Some might call it a waste of time or money. You don't need a degree to help you make that kind of choice.*

Get on the NHS careers website if that's what you're interested in. If you don't want to be a nurse but you do want to be doing a people-facing role, then consider things like occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, physiotherapy and diagnostic radiography. Then there's things like paramedic science as well, which is different to nursing. You could also consider things like counselling. You may not want to do nursing but psychiatric nursing might appeal to you and it's a very different role to general adult nursing. Big stepping stone to other things. Mental health worker is another one.*

There's obviously something like social work and, like all the others, it can be studied as a first degree. There's also teaching and such but I'm guessing given that you're over here in the healthcare forum, it's probably not something you're terribly interested in.

Making a decision really does just depend on what you're interested in. If you're interested in language and communication, go for speech and language therapy. If you're interested in helping people do the things that matter to them, do occupational therapy. If you're wanting to help people recover and maintain their mobility and independence, do physiotherapy. If you want to help people recover from mental or physical trauma using music or art, do music or art therapy. It's just about matching your interests and skills to the job and going for the specific training required. If your understanding of professions where you help people is limited to doctors and nurses, it sounds like you're in for a very pleasant eye-opener.*

But don't do a degree like health and social care just because it's there and you're not sure yet. If you're interested in these kinds of jobs, do some volunteering to get some experience. Or try to get to some open days at universities to check out some courses. You'll find something. ***

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