[Guide] American MSW guide to becoming a social worker in the Netherlands
DISCLOSURE: I'm not benefitting in any way by posting this. Even the link to my blog is not monetized or anything. Maybe karma, if you consider that a benefit.
I've noticed a lot of social workers the last few months on this sub so I figured maybe I'd write a guide. My situation is very unique, but in the past few years of being active on Reddit I've gotten a lot of questions so maybe this will help someone. I'm an American social worker with an MSW and 1 year after I graduated my husband decided he wanted to go back to his home country, the Netherlands.
So I came on a partner visa, which I know isn't relevant for a lot of people here. But aside from a partner visa it might be relevant if 1) you are eligible for EU citizenship by decent, 2) if you have dual EU/US citizenship or 3) if you have a spouse/partner coming over on a DAFT visa. In those cases you will enter the Netherlands with a right to work.
Alright down to answering some basic questions:
How does the profession of social work in the Netherlands differ from social work in the US?
With some very, very small exceptions social work in the Netherlands is a bachelor only diploma. Social workers here go to a 3 year college out of high school and that is it. There is no such thing as an MSW here. Additionally, there is no official registration for social workers. There are some independent registration institutions that specific employers may ask you to sign up for, but there are few CEUs.
Social workers here cannot practice privately or clinically. For that you would need a psychology masters, which is an incredibly rigorous masters that includes a lot of topics we do not study in social work. It's a lot of neuroscience and lab science. If you have an MSW and your bachelors is not in psychology, you may have to start back as a first year bachelor of psychology and do your masters all over again in order to practice clinically.
However, the clinical/casework divide that we have in the US does not apply here. Here, the divide is between clinical therapy (as in sitting someone on a couch and giving them a named therapy like CBT or EMDR) and everything else. Social workers pick up that role of everything else. So even though you can't do therapy, you can do:
- One-on-one mentoring
- Motivational interviewing
- Crisis intervention
- Cognitive skills training classes
- Psychoeducation
- Program development
- Case management/case planning
- Child welfare (although you need extra credentials)
One specific example is "begeleiding". Begeleider is a general term that means "mentor", "leader", or "one that shows you around". It is also a professional term for someone who works one-on-one mentoring people in care. Basically everyone in the country who needs intensive treatment will have a begeleider. Begeleiders work in retirement homes, mental health (clinical and outpatient), forensics, refugee centers, rehabs, etc. These jobs are easy to find, have union contracts, and are open to a wide variety of different fields. Psychiatric nurses can be begeleiders as well. Your job is basically a mentorship, coach, and case worker in one. Because these jobs are so easy to come by and so understaffed, they are relatively well-paid and a good place to start out. I got one of these jobs when I was just barely a B2 speaker. Which brings me to my net heading:
Do I need to speak Dutch to be a social worker in the Netherlands?
Yes. There is absolutely no getting around it. You will have to speak Dutch fulltime even if your clients speak English. You will have to speak Dutch full time even if your coworkers can speak English. Trainings are in Dutch. Notes are in Dutch. Meetings are in Dutch. 99% of the clients speak Dutch. The workplace is in Dutch. Even my coworkers who can speak English do not do it at work because it's generally understood that you are working in a Dutch workplace. Yes, even in Amsterdam. Yes, even in the refugee camps. You need to learn Dutch.
The good news: Dutch is the easiest language in the world to learn if you are a native English speaker. I passed the B2 exam within 12 months of arriving in the country. When I got my first social work job, my Dutch was still very rough, but my employer took a chance on me because (as it often goes in social work) they were terribly understaffed and wit a master's degree I was terribly overqualified. I think with a lot of effort you could do it in a year for sure.
Right after I passed the exam in 2019, I wrote a little post about it (my blog is not monetized): https://expattoimmigrant.wordpress.com/2020/02/06/how-i-learned-dutch-in-less-than-a-year/
Do I need to translate my diploma?
Yes. If you are an MSW from an accredited American university your diploma will be translated to a HBO masters. Which is basically a master of applied science. This degree does not exist in the Dutch educational system, but it will let your employers know that you have additional education above the typical social worker. You can do this through NUFFIC, which is the generally known diploma translator. Employers may ask for this, or they may not. Most do.
Can I get started on my career before I speak fluent Dutch?
Honestly it's kind of fucked up to say that you need to volunteer before you can work in the field, but it's kind of true. The system is unfair, but I volunteered during my first year in NL and it gave me a leg up on the job market. Basically every major employer of social workers also has a volunteer corps. I volunteered at a halfway house and a refugee camp before I was 100% fluent in Dutch and I probably would not have done as well on the job market if I hadn't.
That said the Netherlands puts their volunteers to work. There are volunteer positions (particularly when working with refugees) where you will be using masters-level social work skills.
What are the benefits of being a social worker in the Netherlands?
In the Netherlands, unions negotiate an overarching contract for the entire field. So, as a social worker you will get a union contract and even be able to ask for advice in employment matters, even if you are not a union member or paying union dues. This is nice because they make sure salaries keep up with costs of living, build in important benefits like grief benefits and extra maternity benefits, etc. You get something like 25-28 days off a year. If you are working in health care you get a HUGE bump for every hour you work outside of the regular 9-5.
What does it pay?
Salaries in the Netherlands are not comparable to the US so saying specific numbers won't help really. You will start out just under median income for the country and you will probably top out at about 150% median income at the end of your career. So you can have a nice life, even a small house and vacations and stuff on a single income, but like the US it does not pay well, and you will not have private practice to supplement your income.
What are the negatives?
My biggest negative at work is I'm the weirdo immigrant who speaks with an accent and Dutch workplaces don't typically take kindly to outsiders. So I deal with a ton of microaggressions and discrimination on a daily basis, more from my coworkers than clients. If you mention it, it just further marginalizes you, so you have to just grin and bear it. I just left a job because of this, and it has at times made me ready to rage-quit this field and want to go into something more international, but I'm just so in love with the work it's been hard to leave.
There's also not a lot of room for growth. Like I said, no chance for private practice and a social worker is a social worker. You don't really move your way up. And it's not a hierarchical field like in the US. So theres not a lot of guidance on ethical issues etc. It's also not an intellectual field like in the US. So you can forget intensive CEUs, conferences, doing a PHD, etc.
AMA!!!
This is all I could think of right now. If you have any questions or need any guidance finding networking or volunteering opportunities, let me know.