Child, Family, and School Social Workers: where your skills can take you
Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.
Usual study level (from US data): Bachelor degree (uni — or check Cert/Diploma + experience pathways first) · Working With Children Check and/or NDIS Worker Screening are common
Job names and descriptions on this page come from the US government's job list (O*NET). Some use American words, for example "elementary school" for primary school.
Three moves that use what a child, family, and school social worker already knows
Ranked by how much of the job's skills and knowledge carries over. Each one says what the move usually costs in study.
Marriage and Family Therapists
🧰 Your current job already uses reading people, looking after customers and clients, sound judgement and solving difficult problems.
🎓 A degree. More study than your current job. The most common level in the US is a master's degree or higher (98%).
🪪 Working With Children Check and/or NDIS Worker Screening are common
🔎 Find degrees on Course Seeker ↗ (type the job's name there)
Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems. Apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders.
Mental Health Counselors
🧰 Your current job already uses reading people, sound judgement, looking after customers and clients and solving difficult problems.
🎓 A degree. More study than your current job. The most common level in the US is a master's degree or higher (100%).
🪪 Working With Children Check and/or NDIS Worker Screening are common
🔎 Find degrees on Course Seeker ↗ (type the job's name there)
Counsel and advise individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health, with an emphasis on prevention. May help individuals deal with a broad range of mental health issues, such as those associated with addictions and substance abuse; family, parenting, and marital problems; stress management; self-esteem; or aging.
Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
In national shortage — employers actively looking (Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025)
🧰 Your current job already uses reading people, looking after customers and clients, sound judgement and solving difficult problems.
🎓 A degree. This job has its own registration. The most common level in Australia is a postgraduate qualification (77%).
🪪 AHPRA registration (Psychology Board)
🔎 Find degrees on Course Seeker ↗ (type the job's name there)
Assess, diagnose, and treat mental and emotional disorders of individuals through observation, interview, and psychological tests. Help individuals with distress or maladjustment understand their problems through their knowledge of case history, interviews with patients, and theory. Provide individual or group counseling services to assist individuals in achieving more effective personal, social, educational, and vocational development and adjustment. May design behavior modification programs and consult with medical personnel regarding the best treatment for patients.
These are the three closest moves. The full list holds 24. Answer four quick questions — how much more study, which field, what you want more of, where you live — and the list fits you. Subscribers can plan any move.
See all 24 moves →Take the free testData sources and licences
O*NET 30.3 — This service incorporates information from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. JobMatcha has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
ABS ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update — Australian occupation tags are derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics ANZSCO 2022 Australian Update correspondence tables (ABS, © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 4.0), bridged to U.S. occupations via U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics SOC crosswalks (public domain). Only high-confidence (>= 0.8) one-to-one chains are shown; other mappings are withheld as 'Australian data unavailable'.
Australian pay and shortage lines: Jobs and Skills Australia.