How to become a social work and counselling professional

Official title: Social work and counselling professionals

Also called: Addictions counsellor, Bereavement counsellor, Child and youth counsellor, District social welfare officer, Family counsellor, Marriage counsellor, Parole officer, Probation officer, Sexual assault counsellor, Social worker, Women’s welfare organizer

Social work and counselling professionals provide advice and guidance to individuals, families, groups, communities and organizations in response to social and personal difficulties. They assist clients to develop skills and access resources and support services needed to respond to issues arising from unemployment, poverty, disability, addiction, criminal and delinquent behaviour, marital and other problems.

Main tasks

• Interviewing clients individually, in families or in groups, to assess their situation and problems and determine the types of services required
• Analysing the client’s situation and presenting alternative approaches to resolving problems
• Compiling case records or reports for courts and other legal proceedings
• Providing counselling, therapy and mediation services, and facilitating group sessions to assist clients to develop skills and insights needed to deal with and resolve their social and personal problems
• Planning and implementing programmes of assistance for clients, including crisis intervention and referral to agencies that provide financial assistance, legal aid, housing, medical treatment and other services
• Investigating cases of abuse or neglect and taking action to protect children and other persons at risk
• Working with offenders during and after sentence to help them to integrate into the community and to change attitudes and behaviour in order to reduce further offending
• Providing advice to prison governors and to probation and parole review boards that helps determine whether, and under what conditions, an offender should be incarcerated, released from prison or undergo alternative correctional measures
• Acting as advocates for client groups in the community and lobbying for solutions to problems affecting them
• Developing prevention and intervention programmes to meet community needs

Ways in

• University: Social Work & Community degrees, Offered by 16 universities in Hong Kong
• Licence or registration: Registering body: Social Workers Registration Board. Law: Social Workers Registration Ordinance (社會工作者註冊條例), Cap. 505. Summary by Peernovo; check the body's current rules.

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$48,000 a month
• About 1,542,900 people in 2025, and about 1,639,100 projected by 2028. (+6.2%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Sociologists, anthropologists and related professionals
• Psychologists
• Philosophers, historians and political scientists
• Religious professionals
• Economists

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Questions people ask

How do I become a social work and counselling professional?

Ways in include: Social Work & Community degrees.

Do you need a degree to become a social work and counselling professional?

Usually. 85% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a social work and counselling professional?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026