Health Education and Human SciencesOctober 31, 2025

UAFS can Help Achieve the Dream of Becoming a Social Worker in Arkansas

Written By: Meagan Cleveland

Are you passionate about helping people cope with life changes? Do you wish to advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves? If so, a career in social work may be your calling. 

Arkansas has roughly 4,200 licensed social workers practicing in a state of roughly 3,089,060 people. That means that each social worker would need to reach roughly 736 people for each person to have an advocate. Obviously, there is a high need for social workers in the state of Arkansas.  

What Do Social Workers Do? 

Social workers help people of all ages overcome challenges that affect their health, well-being, lifestyles, financial situations, and more. Social workers advocate for those who can’t advocate for themselves and identify the needs of each specific person. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for social workers is $61,330 per year. 

Social work is a labor of love. Social workers take on the concerns of others and find solutions that create a healthier outcome for the individual by advocating for social, economic, and environmental balance and human rights at all levels of practice with no discrimination.  

How Can UAFS Help?   

According to the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith website, UAFS offers a Bachelor of Social Work that prepares a professional and ethical generalist social worker to be a critical thinker who is grounded in the liberal arts and advocates for social, economic, and environmental justice using evidence-based strategies to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. UAFS’s BSW program is CSWE accredited, which is a requirement when seeking licensure from Arkansas.  

Graduates with a BSW are prepared to take on challenging careers as: 

• Adult/Child Protection Worker 

• Case Manager 

• Counselor 

• Geriatric Social Worker 

• Hospice Social Worker 

• Medical Social Worker 

• Mental Health Tech 

• School Social Worker 

UAFS’s BSW is designed with a cohort model, students go through advanced social work courses as a group and complete two senior-year internships to gain real-world practice experience. A second application process is required for this program. This allows students to gain hands-on experience before jumping into careers.  

How Do You Obtain Licensing? 

Obtaining licensing may seem scary, but it’s not. The Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board website offers a checklist to make the process as simple as possible: 

1. Complete a baccalaureate degree in social work from a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited program. 
2. Fill out the application and submit necessary documents.
3. Receive your provisional license.
4. Complete your background check.
5. Pass the exam to obtain your official license. 

According to the state of Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board website, the mission of the Social Work Licensing Board is to protect the public by setting standards of qualification, training, and experience for those who seek to represent themselves to the public as social workers and by promoting high standards of professional performance for those engaged in the practice of social work. 

You can access the following on the website: New License applications, License Renewals, License Verifications, Laws and Rules of the Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board, Meeting Minutes, Continuing Education information, necessary Forms, and Complaints/Disciplinary Actions. The Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board website is a wealth of information for those interested in social work careers. Though the job may come with challenges, the reward of helping others is sure to outweigh them.  

Social work is a way of heart. Social workers take on a heavy mental and emotional load for each client. A person wishing to become a social worker should have a compassionate heart with a desire to help others. If this career seems like a good fit for you, check out UAFS’s Bachelor of Social Work today to get started.  

To underscore both the need for social workers and the compassionate mission behind the profession, the UAFS BSW website affirms that earning a Bachelor of Social Work is ultimately for the greater good of empowering graduates to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those around them. 

Explore more programs offered by UAFS

• Tags:
• College of Health Education and Human Sciences
• Social Work