Specialties and career paths
Where can a social and health assistant go
As a finished social and health assistant you have broad skills that are in demand everywhere people need care and support. You can find the direction that suits you and you can develop and educate yourself further over time.
§Different work areas
You can work in many places. In home care you visit citizens in their own homes. In nursing homes and care centers you are close to older citizens over time. In hospitals you are part of care and treatment together with nurses and doctors. In psychiatry you work with people who have mental illness. Each area has its own daily life and its own professionalism.
- 01Home care for citizens in their own homes.
- 02The care sector — nursing homes and residential care with high requirements for comfort and indoor climate.
- 03Hospitals and hospital
- 04Psychiatry and social psychiatry.
§Becoming more skilled
You develop in the profession through experience, training in new tasks, and reflection on your practice. The more you work the better you become at observing, handling difficult situations, and collaborating. Many specialize over time in an area they're passionate about and become someone colleagues seek advice from.
§Further education
For many the social and health assistant is a strong foundation for further education especially within health. Others choose to stay in the trade and build deep experience and specialist knowledge. Both paths are valuable. The education provides thorough practice-related knowledge that is needed everywhere in the health and care sector.
§A trade that is needed
We are becoming more elderly and the need for skilled care and nursing staff is growing. This means good job opportunities and confidence that your expertise is in demand. It also means responsibility: you are helping to carry one of society's most important tasks — taking care of each other when we are weak.
§A meaningful trade
When a citizen gets a better day because you took time or when your observation prevents something small from becoming serious you feel why the trade is meaningful. You combine professional skill with human care and make a concrete difference for vulnerable people every single day.
“Regardless of whether you work with machine or chisel, material knowledge is the foundation. A skilled stoneworker and stonemason can read the stone — see its veins and weaknesses — and choose the right approach. It is this knowledge that makes the difference between a successful and a failed workpiece.”