A Social Worker 's Field Placement And Internship Experience

This is Journal #9. My placement is at Weakley County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Dresden, Tennessee. The ninth day I attended my placement was on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. I volunteered from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Today, Dr. Harris stated that he considers himself a better counselor from his valuable experiences as a result of working in the trenches to assist people in making positive changes despite the challenges. According to Dr. Harris, he encouraged beginner social workers to obtain and take advantage of ta good internship experience. It is important to take this opportunity very seriously making a good first impression. This experience will present opportunities to build a good rapport and working relationship. Also, it is important not to never burn bridges; however, build good solid professional connections. Somewhere down the line, you may just need your supervisor as a professional reference. Especially over the past 15 years, throughout

I chose social working as my career because many other people go through tough situations and have a difficult time talking to relatives or friends to help them through a tough situation. I thought of becoming a social worker so I can have the ability to change the lives of others. Social work is one of those careers you can truly make a difference in people’s lives. I want to become a social worker because life isn’t about just helping yourself it’s about helping others as well, which is what social workers do for a living. Child and family social workers protect children and families in need of assistance. Many families and children don’t feel comfortable talking to just anyone about obstacles they have faced in their lives which is why

Thanks Vanessa, you did a great job defining the role and use of supervision. I did not know if you noticed that Our Lady of the Lake mission’s statement is in perfect line with the social worker code of ethics. I would like to share what I found in similarity with our mission statement. According to the National Association of Social Work (2010), the mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the professions’ history, are foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective. Service, Social justice, Dignity, Dignity and worth of the person, Importance of human relationships, Integrity, and Competence. This constellation of core values reflects what is unique to the social work profession. According to Kiser (2012) the field supervisor is key to student learning in any human services internship. Ideally, supervisory relationships are based on trust and mutual understanding. Great job and good luck.

As I prepare for the second year of the master’s program, there are three interviews that I must attend to get into my second year placement. Interviews itself can be challenging because they tend to be unpredictable and nerve-racking. The interview can take place with one interviewer or a panel of interviews. To better prepare for this challenge Professor Sears provided the class with a handout of questions to prepare for the placement interview. The three questions I am struggling with are the following:

Encouragement is always welcomed within a business, especially I feel when you are new to the business and the confidence that you have in your own

I am a self-directed volunteer as a peer community worker for disabled people in Toronto GTA. I am willing to speak with you, in groups or publicly any time about it. Nonetheless; when rough times have fallen upon my life and health in the past, I have always responded with humor and generosity since, my gratitude is the state of mind of thankfulness. Most people can describe me as being direct, humorous, down to earth and caring for the fellow humans. At this moment in time, I am the founder and manager of Peer Community Hub, as well as a social entrepreneur whose ideas, tasks and values are to build peer to peer community drop-in center for disabilities who are directed by disability people. History of street life, disability, and cornice

In this internship I expect to gain a further knowledge and understanding of best practices in working with marginalized populations. I also hope to make connections with fellow social workers that share similar passions and values.

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to pursue a career in social work. Helping others is something I have always been passionate about and I hope to be able to make a difference in the lives of those around me. Throughout my life, I have always been the person my friends would go to when something was wrong and they needed to talk. Growing up, I also experienced close family members struggle with addiction and mental health problems. I have seen how damaging these experiences can be on an individual. I have also witnessed the effects these experiences can have on family relationships. My personal occurrences have instilled in me a further desire to become a social worker.

Whenever someone else makes an accomplishment, small or large, they deserve all respect and recognition for their hard work. I constantly work to build others up and ensure that their efforts do not go unnoticed. John C. Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, notes that “If you are a leader, you should never forget that everyone needs encouragement. And everyone who receives it - young or old, successful or less-than-successful, unknown or famous - is changed by it.” As humans we are driven by the recognition of others, and I recognize the value of encouragement. By building others up, I have the power to assist others in their development as

My introduction to the field placement set the stage for short month of overwhelming responsibilities and most stressful moment of my life. This is because practical experience is more intense, intimidating, and demanding in many aspects compared to classroom theoritical perspective. I would be frank to say that my field placement was not a friendly working environment that I am used to due to the agency’s policies. However, it was difficult for me to create that balance between knowing much about the agency and understating my role as a social worker. However, this was mostly because of lack of supervision and the inability of some of the management staff to communicate well with

Social work is one of the most diverse fields in that there are so many distinct areas that social workers can specialize in such as family, children and school social work; community social work; health and medical social work; mental health and psychiatric social work; substance abuse social work; hospice social work; military social work; as well as positions in policy, administration and research. Because the field is so varied, there is no one size fits all leadership style. Each of these distinct subdivisions of the social work field calls for different leadership styles. Also dependent on the most effective leadership style in any given work environment is the employees themselves, as some may need a more transactional approach where as other may work better with a non-transactional laissez-faire style of leadership.

Though learning in a classroom setting is extremely important, there are many lessons specific to social work that cannot be learned by only reading about them; field placement allows students to leave the classroom and experience social work in an actual occupational setting. Students who participate in a field placement have the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have gained in areas of study such as policy, human behavior, and social justice. Other than helping prepare students for the working world, field placement bridges the often-assumed gap between micro and macro social work by providing tangible examples of how agencies may connect with other agencies or even legislators.

A social worker has a very important job. Social workers help children and families in need of food, homes, and health care. They help children have a brighter future. There are many different types of social work. There are mental health, child and family, elementary, and high school social workers.

I was in grade 10 when I thought of becoming a social worker. As social worker practitioner the fields that interest me to work in is domestic violence and child abuse because I want to make change to the society. Also Mahatma Gandhi was my major inspiration through this quote “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Than an idea came to me, why not involve my contribution to the wide variety of communities. My communication with school counsellors and social workers has impacted my choice of desiring to study social work. I realised that if I have had a chance of seeing a social worker when I was young, things would have been much easier and less stressful. I want to provide opportunities that I did not encounter to other people. This essay will reflect my past experience, motivation and why I want to be a social worker, values, beliefs and theory of practice.