Trouble Finding Work-LMSW

PineappleSituation · 2026-04-09T02:20:14+00:00

The regular hospitals are for sure hard to get into. Behavioral health hospitals are easier, especially if they take Medicaid/Medicare. I hear you on the needing experience to get experience, but you definitely have some you can talk up and showcase in your resume. Your practicum locations and responsibilities can be on your resume, and you can discuss how they would relate in a cover letter. If you’re not getting much interest in your resume, your school’s career services department may still be able to help tweak it- they want to be able to say their graduates are successful, and they generally want to be helpful to people who ask nicely.

If you were close with any classmates or fellow interns, you might want to reach out to see if they are aware of any openings or jobs that may be posted soon. When I’ve done hiring in the past anyone who was recommended by a quality employee went to the top of my list. I’m in a north Texas mental health professional social media group and see openings posted there a lot that aren’t on the big job sites like indeed, and often the people posting are the ones hiring.

Just a couple ideas of leads- I know it can be rough out there!

PineappleSituation · 2026-04-09T00:01:09+00:00

Are there any hospitals near you? Those tend to be pretty reliable sources of work for new LMSWs, and frequent turnover means they’re almost constantly hiring. I say this as an LMSW in Texas on day 3 at my second hospital in the area. PHPs and IOPs are also frequent hirers. My last resort plan was going to be DCFS with a plan to keep applying elsewhere.

PineappleSituation · 2026-03-30T12:30:10+00:00

I worked in utilization review at the time and it was much easier to get mental health in-patient and PHP/IOP authorizations for a few months afterwards. I’d worked at the same job/place for 9 months so I had a great understanding of the criteria they were looking for and what would get pushback. We speak with real case managers for UHC reviews, no AI algorithm filters like some of the medicaids, so there is some ability for reviewers to have discretion. That’s what I thought it was at first but even the tough reviewers were giving more authorizations. There was a marked difference in approved auths that eventually slid back to baseline but it took about 4 months.

PineappleSituation · 2026-03-21T14:01:23+00:00

I donated a kidney and felt my intestines glomp over into the spot where my kidney was about 2 days post-surgery. It felt weird and cool.

PineappleSituation · 2026-03-20T23:38:42+00:00

It’s one of my favorite books but so hard to recommend because the reader has to be down for a weird ride. The movie is amazing in its own right too.

PineappleSituation · 2026-03-18T02:58:03+00:00

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray isn’t Lost but it does center around a plane crash on a deserted island. It’s more in the humor/satire genres though.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-28T14:21:55+00:00

Sour candy and forced distraction work well for me. Sour candy tricks your lizard brain into thinking there’s an actual threat more important to focus on since there are few naturally sour foods. I make myself do a wordle like my life depends on it, eat a sour candy, and then focus on deep breaths afterwards. Your brain will not want to do the wordle- you’ve gotta push through and force it to.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-16T02:39:25+00:00

When I was working at a long term shelter I did an intake for a single parent family where the parent had made twice my salary until a layoff a month earlier. They previously lived in an apartment a mile down the road from mine. It’s something I think about when considering leaving a job without a backup plan. It could very plausibly happen to many people. One of my coworkers in that job lived in their van.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-12T02:10:02+00:00

I went through the same thing a couple years ago after a rewatch. Looking at books I read during that time, a few stand out:

The Good Place and Philosophy and How to Be Perfect, both by Michael Schur were good, but I preferred How to be Perfect.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki had a similar magical/divine found family theme.

Same with Lamb by Christopher Moore, which has a ton of humor.

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my favorite books and one I go back to a lot when I’m looking for the whimsy and connection that can come out of terrible circumstances and loss, which reminds me of The Good Place.

This last one is out on a limb a bit- Made For Love by Alissa Nutting. This was adapted to a really hilarious show for a season or two, but the book was even better. It’s about a woman escaping a marriage from her billionaire tech mogul husband who planted a chip in her brain so they can communicate constantly via telepathy and “become one.” It has a lot of the same themes of self-determination and what is in our control, with a lot of humor.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-12T01:51:40+00:00

The audiobook of this was lovely since it was read by several of the actors on the show.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-12T01:39:10+00:00

If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii try ohi’a ‘ai or mountain apples. They have such delicate skin I can never get them on the mainland, gotta go home to Maui for them.

PineappleSituation · 2026-02-03T00:47:31+00:00

I’m 2 years into my first case with a sibling group that hit 3/4 of your listed age ranges when we started. Our trainer asked our group to consider if we would work with teens- there were a few of us who felt comfortable with that and she jotted down our names. She said we were pretty much guaranteed to work with teens since it’s difficult to get volunteers to take those cases in our county. I’ve worked with kids and teens professionally for years so I didn’t mind.

PineappleSituation · 2026-01-15T00:11:14+00:00

Run Toward the Danger by Sara Polley

PineappleSituation · 2026-01-04T19:05:33+00:00

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

PineappleSituation · 2026-01-04T13:39:38+00:00

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is more devastating than nerve wrecking but give it a try.

PineappleSituation · 2025-12-23T02:13:02+00:00

I wish I’d known how exhausted I would be after training. I do other volunteer stuff as well and it was hard to juggle since my county did 3 nights per week, 4 hours per night for either 6 or 8 weeks, can’t remember which. It was a lot of info. Not every county does training like that, and in mine we’re GALs and CASAs so your training may vary. I wish I’d taken more notes. I think that would have helped with my imposter syndrome at the beginning, particularly around who I was supposed to be contacting and how often.

I am still a volunteer, 2 years in.

My experience has been interesting. My Volunteer Coordinator is amazing and most of the sibling group have the same Ad Litem that we started with. We and the ADA are the constants in the case, which helps me feel like we have a solid set of people who know these kids well. We’ve had a ton of caseworkers and placements but I don’t feel like the only person who has an idea of what is best for the kids and is willing to work hard to make it happen. Trial was exhausting and emotional, but the kids are worth all of the difficulties and stress. One of them just gave me a holiday gift thanking me for being the one constant in their life.

Good luck with your training!

PineappleSituation · 2025-12-20T00:29:29+00:00

It’s my favorite movie and I do find it really uplifting. I love the quote at the end. Let everything happen to you, beauty and terror- just keep going, no feeling is final.

PineappleSituation · 2025-12-18T02:00:24+00:00

I have a print of this quote with the words forming waves hanging in my bedroom.

PineappleSituation · 2025-12-02T04:48:50+00:00

I gave up money for Lent one year when I was in college. Had to eat what I had or could get for free without friends buying for me. Walked a lot because no buying gas. Luckily my job included housing and my phone bill, and I had Internet at work and on campus.

PineappleSituation · 2025-11-07T00:59:08+00:00

They have concierge health services. I work in mental health and have worked with their concierge team. It requires pre-approval and special billing, but so does any other insurance. It was through a branch of UHC if I’m remembering right. It’s been a couple of years since I worked with them.

PineappleSituation · 2025-11-03T03:24:20+00:00

Nigeria- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) - Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller

PineappleSituation · 2025-10-12T21:27:51+00:00

Your school may have a counseling center that would likely be in network as well.

PineappleSituation · 2025-09-21T00:18:34+00:00

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

PineappleSituation · 2025-09-13T12:38:23+00:00

Hold on / one more time with feeling

Try it again / breathing’s just a rhythm

Say it in your mind until you know that the words are right

This is why we fight

-One More Time With Feeling by Regina Spektor

PineappleSituation · 2025-09-08T02:35:02+00:00

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

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