Social Sciences, Community Development and Human Services· Beginner level

The jobs include social worker, social service worker, child and youth worker, community development officer, probation and welfare officer, youth worker, housing and homelessness support worker, addictions worker, settlement and newcomer support worker, NGO programme officer, and research or monitoring officer.

In Ghana, much of this sits with district social welfare and community development offices, NGOs, faith-based organisations, schools and hospitals.

In Canada, it sits with municipal and provincial services, child protection agencies, community health centres, shelters, settlement agencies and school boards.

One thing to be clear about early: a psychology degree is a social science degree. In Canada the title psychologist is protected and requires graduate-level qualification and registration with the provincial regulator. Ghana also regulates psychology practice through a national psychology council. If you want to be a therapist or psychologist, that is a longer route than most students assume, so find out what it actually requires before you build a plan around it.

In Ghana, the General Arts programme suits this field well, with subjects such as Government, History, Economics, Geography, Literature in English, French or Christian or Islamic Religious Studies. Credits in English Language and Core Mathematics are normally required for tertiary entry, and social work and psychology programmes may also want particular electives, so check the programme page rather than assuming.

In Canada, entry to social sciences is usually broad. English at the Grade 12 university-preparation level is standard, and a Grade 12 mathematics course is often required, especially for psychology, which involves more statistics than most students expect. College social service worker and child and youth care diplomas have their own, usually lower, entry requirements.

Be ready for statistics. Psychology and sociology degrees both involve research methods and data analysis, and it surprises people every year.

Pick one specific issue in your community. Not poverty in general, but something local and definable: where young people go after school, how far people walk for water, how a particular market handles waste, what happens to students who drop out of your school.

Use public information. Published reports, notices, what you can observe in a public place, and one conversation with an adult who works in the area, arranged by a guardian or teacher.

Write down who is affected, what help already exists, who runs it, and what you still do not know.

The ethics are strict and they matter. Do not interview children. Do not interview people in difficult situations for a school project. Do not collect names, addresses, phone numbers or photographs of anyone. Do not publish anything that could identify a household. If your project needs somebody's private circumstances to work, redesign the project.

Everyone in this field went in wanting to help. Ask about what happens after that.

Useful questions: how many cases or families do you carry at once? What do you do when you cannot fix the problem? How do you leave the work at work? What made you consider leaving? What kind of supervision or support do you get?

Ask route questions too: what they studied, whether they are registered with a regulator, and what they would do differently.

Keep your own circumstances out of the session. A mentor is not a counsellor or a social worker and cannot take on your situation. If something in your life needs help, tell a trusted adult or use a proper support service. If you are 12 to 18, agree the plan with your guardian first.

Four things you can finish in a month, none of which require access to vulnerable people.

A realistic month: finish your issue map, read the entry requirements for one degree and one diploma route, find out who regulates the profession you are aiming at, and volunteer once in an organised setting with adult supervision.

Date all four and tell someone what you have committed to.