Any Nurses or social workers on this forum? (Portland, Oakland: 2010, apartment)

[calimom568]

Hello,

My husband and I are considering moving to the Portland area next year. We currently live in the Oakland, CA and we have called the Maine Medical Center and know my husband will be making 45% less as an RN in Portland than he does out hear in California. I am an LCSW and will be looking for a medical or psychiatric social work job. My husband grew up in VT and his family is there and in the Boston area and we want to be close to his family, but not too close

I'm just wondering if there are any RNs or social workers in the Portland area that can give any info about working conditions, job openings, etc. for professionals in these fields.

Thanks

[freudgirl]

I'm a social worker and I used to live near Portland. In my opinion, Maine is in great need of social workers and I don't think you would have a hard time finding a job. The cost of living in less than in CA, except for maybe the more expensive areas in Portland.
Feel free to PM me with more questions, good luck!

[mswsarah1085]

Originally Posted by freudgirl

I'm a social worker and I used to live near Portland. In my opinion, Maine is in great need of social workers and I don't think you would have a hard time finding a job. The cost of living in less than in CA, except for maybe the more expensive areas in Portland.
Feel free to PM me with more questions, good luck!

I am thinking of relocating from Rochester, NY to the Portland, Maine area when i graduate with my MSW in May 2010 with a concentration in Mental Health. I am looking to rent an apartment and obtain a job in the social work field. I will by that time have several years experience from internship opportunities. Are there specific agencies/organization I should look into where more/better jobs are available? Do you also know anything regarding becoming a licensed social worker in Maine (Is it something I should look into immediately)? If there is anything else you can think of that may help me, please include that as well. Thank you so much .

[Northern Maine Land Man]

There are many opportunities for social workers in Maine. Maine snatches more kids from their families and keeps them longer than any other state in our nation. The flip side of this is that Maine does not have the worst parents in the nation. It is not a crime to be poor. Our DHHS is a bloated bureaucracy, very inefficient and once you gain entrance as an employee you are set for life.

[kellysmith]

Originally Posted by mswsarah1085

I am thinking of relocating from Rochester, NY to the Portland, Maine area when i graduate with my MSW in May 2010 with a concentration in Mental Health.

My daughter got her MSW from USM in Portland. She must have done half a dozen internships in the Portland area during that timeframe and each time she ended an internship she would go to work part time with that agency...each time getting a pay raise. None of her internships were with any state agencies, and from what I saw all the families/children that she worked with needed intervention--of course my observations were simply that, she didn't speak of details, but you could see that there were plenty of need for social workers in our world today. I'd check with someone in the MSW program at USM. I remember at her graduation one of the speakers mentioning that many of the programs in the Portland area had been stood up by former graduates. As a side note, my daughter decided that Social work just didn't pay what it was worth and probably never would. She moved on to the Corporate world and says that both she and her superiors see the value of her MSW in the Coporate world. She says learning how to deal with disfunctional children goes a long way in Corporate America...and her superiors have complimented her on different strategies that came directly from her social work training.

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

my line of work is medical billing.....can I find work in this area?

[fvans]

I practiced social work in Maine for 25 years before moving away. Yes, there is opportunities for social work in Portland, but the pay is not so great and the financial condition of many agencies are shaky at best. Maine has undergone so many changes in the mental health field and the State of Maine often delays payments to agencies in the Spring so they can balance the budget come June 30. I left Maine to pursue my profession elsewhere and I am much happier than I was in Portland. Beware of the big agencies as you will be exploited!