9 Side Hustles for Social Workers to Increase Your Income
Interested in learning about side hustles for social workers? This article includes 9 of the most effective side hustles for social workers you need to consider today.
So you’re a social worker and looking to learn about the best side hustles to explore? Whether you are looking to build a full time career or create a passive income stream, you’ve come to the right place!
You will learn about 9 realistic and social-work related side hustles to consider. These side hustles relate to the skills, training & experience you likely have already as a social worker.
As a social worker myself I understand the desire to diversify income or your skill set, and these side hustles will give you the opportunity to do just that!
This post is all about side hustles for social workers to increase your income today!
Best Side Hustles for Social Workers
1. Teaching
The first side hustle included is pretty straight forward- using your experience and knowledge to teach and train others in this field. Any social worker who has experience in the field can use this first-hand knowledge to teach others.
Often, through the education and field-work that is required from social workers, you will be equipped with extensive and sufficient knowledge to teach an entry level social work course at a local university.
And, moreso, if you have specialized experience or training, consider looking into a more advanced course to teach. Adjunct professor jobs are appealing due to the part time nature and typically come with flexible scheduling options to accommodate your other commitments (or full time job).
This is a suitable side hustle as it can be pretty low commitment. Rather than signing up for years of work, you can consider this gig for a few months at a time (think college semester schedule) and start and stop as your schedule allows.
Not to mention, teaching the younger generation of social workers & having a hand in the training and education that will shape this field can be exciting, rewarding and a fantastic way to network in this field.
2. Clinical Supervision
This is a side hustle that any clinical social worker should consider heavily due to the fact there is likely little you need to do to qualify for a job like this. If you have clinical experience and if you are willing and motivated to support others navigating their own clinical work, you would be a perfect candidate for this type of job.
Clinical supervision can be one of the most valuable parts of strengthening your skills as a social worker. I’m sure we’ve all had really good supervisors as well as really bad, and the difference in the way this can impact your growth in this field is significant.
A good clinical supervisor can change the way you think, work, reflect and relate to others and it is a valuable and rewarding part of social work practice.
It helps you build professional connections, use your experience to help and guide others in their work and can even help you strengthen your clinical skills (spoiler alert, supervisors are learning from their supervises ALL the time)!
Because supervised clinical work is required for obtaining and advancing social work licensure, this is a side hustle that will always be an option.
Clinical supervision is not going anywhere so it’s worth serious consideration. Another benefit is the flexibility of this, again having choice around how many supervises you are working with and the time commitment that it requires.
3. Private Practice
This is a lucrative and effective side hustle for clinical social workers. For many social workers, private practice may even be the full time goal. If you’ve put in the work and hours to obtain your independent clinical license, you likely want to use it and profit from it!
Private Practice is a way for clinical social workers to provide therapy with autonomy over their clients, rates, and hours and it can be a great and effective way to make money!
With the use of telehealth continuing to grow, you can consider either an in-person or remote private practice business, or a hybrid with both!
You can open your own business to practice therapy or research some existing platforms, including Headway, Hello Alma, or Psychology Today. There are pros and cons to both running your own business and working for an agency.
Regardless, if you have put in the work to obtain your clinical independent license, providing therapy through some form of private practice can often be the most effective way to increase income and become financially successful in this field.
4. Write an Ebook
If you are in the social work field, you likely have tangible experience & skills related to interpersonal dynamics, psychology, and human relationships that you can help teach to others.
Writing an e-book can be a great way to utilize and market these skills you already have! Without having to do any additional training, you can use your professional knowledge to write a guide or e-book on a subject people want to learn about.
The range of topics you could write about is so vast due to the varied nature of humans and relationships.
Some examples could be providing coping skills for certain challenges or life events; teaching people how to improve their relationships with others or themselves; a guidebook on macro social work, including policy information or community organizing frameworks..
That’s just to name a few, but trust me when I say the topics on human development, relationships, communities and the way we interact with the world are honestly endless. There is always something you can write about and teach others about!
The beauty in this option is that you likely have a wealth of knowledge inside of you that others could learn from!
With our digital age, creating an e-book is an awesome online side hustle idea for social workers that is flexible in time commitment and can result ultimately in ongoing passive income.
5. Crisis Hotline
Working for a crisis hotline or call center is a job that can easily supplement your full time career. Due to the hours of most hotlines, it can be a great option outside of traditional working outs to consider.
This side hustle can be a way to use your clinical and interpersonal skills and knowledge to provide support to others who really need it.
There is an emotional toll working in some crisis settings but as stressful as any job is, the feeling of helping those who need it most is beyond rewarding.
This is another side hustle you can do from your home, without much training or time commitment. Many agencies offer flexible hours that you can sign up for as you are available.
6. Making an online course
Similar to writing an e-book, creating an online course is a wonderful way to utilize your training and skills and ultimately create another passive income stream (yay!)
Online courses can cover so many topics related to social work, including human relationships, mental health, social policy, and private practice….but the list goes on!
Creating an online course can be a great way to use the information you already have, whether it be through your formal education and training or your tangible experience in the field.
Bottom line, people want to know how to feel better, or make improvements in their lives and we understand the complex and layered ways to do this.
Online courses are appealing because once you have put in the leg work and created the course the rest is largely passive. And don’t get me wrong, organizing, executing & marketing a course can take some time, but it can be massively worth it!
Imagine making a course this month that continues to bring in income 5 years down the line. The dream, right??
7. Consulting
If you have been in the social work field for a while, your experience & lessons learned can be very valuable for others in the field.
Whether you are specialized in a specific clinical framework, or you have decades of experience in a specific setting, you can use this to teach others.
It’s in the name, social work, but this career and field depend on socializing and connecting with others. Providing consulting services can help grow your professional network and use the tangible experience you have to inform, guide & support others in their professional growth.
The more specialized you are in the field the better this option will be for you. You can use your specializations to market yourself and teach others the lessons you’ve learned.
It can be a flexible side hustle, as you get to determine how often, in what setting, and with who you work with.
8. Blogging
As someone in the social work blogging network, I couldn’t write this article without including this side hustle.
Blogging is another way to share your wealth of knowledge and experience with the world! Cause spoiler alert, social work and the topics that fall under this category affect everyone.
This is a great online side hustle to do on your on time, from the comfort of your home or workspace. It can be flexible with how much time you are putting into it.
You could consider starting your own blog, like this one, or write freelance articles for other websites. This might depend on how much time you are willing and able to commit to it, but either option can be a great way to make additional income from home!
I won’t pretend that starting a successful social work blog is a quick or easy task, but if you have the desire to put in the leg work now, I promise, it will pay off long term.
There are many ways you can market and make your blog or website profitable. I know I keep saying it, but passive income is the goal, and blogging gives you the opportunity to make that happen.
9. Start a Podcast or Youtube Channel
This final side hustle option is another way to share the knowledge and experience you have with the world. This is because all we learn in this field, in working with systems, communities and individuals, is applicable to most readers.
A podcast or youtube channel is a great way to create content that readers can digest and learn from in a variety of formats. If writing is not your strong suit, this might be a better option.
In this digital world, people are often looking for quick lessons & bits of information. Whether that be a quick 5 minute youtube video on best coping skills for anxiety, or a podcast episode of questions to consider when looking for a therapist, these platforms are accessible and easy for many people to digest.
By that i mean that people might not have the time to commit to reading a 200 page guidebook but if you can provide an overview of that information in a 30 minute podcast episode, you will attract so many more people.
We are constantly consuming information, learning from each other, and trying to grow into the best versions of ourselves. Lucky for you, as a social worker, you have a baseline understanding of so many topics related to the human experience that people would love to learn about.
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