To work as a mitigation specialist, you may need a college diploma, depending on your career choice. Although this position can be found in a variety of settings, the most common one is as a capital defense specialist. The majority of people in this field choose to earn two degrees in order to reduce the amount of experience required to work as a mitigation specialist. Before pursuing a Master’s of Social Work (B.S.W.) degree, you will typically need to complete your Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.). This degree is offered a number of universities, and you should research each one to see which one best fits your career objectives.
After you’ve been accepted to a four-year university, you’ll need to finish any prerequisites before you can start taking classes in your major. Because this field is heavily based on psychology, you’ll want to take sociology, abnormal psychology, and other related courses as electives. In addition to prerequisites and electives, your major’s coursework may include introduction to social work, human behavior in the social environment, and several practicums, which are intensive academic courses that include field work. Practicums are excellent experience-based courses that allow you to closely observe and collaborate with other industry professionals. To graduate and become a mitigation specialist, most B.S.W. programs require you to complete several practicums.
While pursuing your M.S.W., you might want to consider applying for an entry-level job in the field once you’ve completed your undergraduate degree. If you are a full-time student, this program will take two years, but the experience requirements to become a mitigation specialist are much lower with this degree. Theories of human development, social welfare policy and institutions, and social work perspectives on psychopathology are some of the graduate courses you may need to take. Because there are so many jobs that require this degree, you’ll want to talk to an adviser to figure out what courses you’ll need to become a mitigation specialist.
This profession is primarily based on investigation, analysis, and interviewing, but there are some additional skills required to succeed in this field. Because you will almost always be interviewing multiple people who are involved with someone in a capital case, excellent communication skills are almost always required. You’ll also spend a lot of time interacting with and working with other professionals, so you’ll need to be able to work well in a group. Because your reports and testimony may be required in a court of law, you should be familiar with evidence laws.