Evaluation Of A Social Worker 's Field Placement

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.

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 a vital segment of any job. I practice encouragement to maintain a high morale, it has been especially beneficial to me when doing group projects. Mrs. Bether is a great motivator, she is always encouraging her team by telling them what a great job they are doing. This is meaningful to me because encouragement assist a team work to the

My internship is at the Richland County Public Defender’s Office and I work directly with two juvenile defense attorneys. My office is at the Richland County Judicial Center. This position is very new and I am the second person to have this internship at USC, so defining my position is very complex. I do not have an on-site social work supervisor to turn to when I have questions, so, I have to figure out a lot of things on my own. Being that I work directly with the attorneys, a lot of things I see on the daily are on the legal side and not the social worker side per se. However, the attorneys involve me in the entire process when working with each client to provide a social work perspective to better help the clients and increase the quality of their services.

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.

Licensed Masters of Social Worker, Kimberley Fleischer, serves as a field supervisor for students obtaining a masters degree in the field of social work. She first attended Iowa State University and obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology. Later, she received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Kansas. She has worked in the field of social work for eleven years and has been with Richland County School District for nine years. Mrs. Fleischer currently serves two elementary schools, Lonnie B. Nelson and Pontiac for the 2016-2017 school year. She has been with Lonnie B. Nelson Elementary for three years and is currently serving her eighth year as a field supervisor. In order to identify her values, practice, leadership and supervision style, I interviewed Mrs. Fleischer 's to better understand her role professionally and personally as a school social worker. The interview was conducted through an open-ended response questionnaire. These responses were used along with information received during supervisory sessions. The combination of two, provided meaningful insight to the significance of an organization 's purpose, structure and effectiveness as well how individual social workers impact their occupational placements.

No matter how busy she is I am always met with a pleasant and courteous individual who is eager to be of assistance. I appreciate the time she spends with me, patiently addressing my questions and concerns. As I have told her on several occasions, though I know I am not the only applicant she assists, she makes me feel that I am.

Ms. Morter was licensed as a Clinical Social Worker, and was also certified as an Advanced Practice Social Worker. The Respondent worked as a psychotherapist at Sheboygan County Health and Human Services. On May 15, 2008 to July 29, 2009 Ms. Morter provided individual psychotherapy and case management services to Client T.R. On July 18, 2009 Ms. Morter was out of town, and the Sheboygan Police Department was notified of a burglary attempt at Ms. Morter’s home. The officers found Client T.R. in Ms. Morter’s driveway, attempting to operate her vehicle. Ms. Morter was contacted by the police, and she claimed she did not give Client T.R. permission to be there. Client T.R. was arrested by Sheboygan Police (Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing, 2012).

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.

Today was my second time meeting Senior Agent Wood. We had a chance to discuss our backgrounds, goals and what we wanted out of this experience. I found out that she specializes in working with women that are new releases and family drug treatment court participants. I will intern on Mondays (office days), Wednesdays (Milwaukee Women’s Correctional Facility) and Fridays (Family Drug Treatment Court). On my first day, Agent Wood and I met with Supervisor Clemmons to discuss a revocation packet that was sent back from the regional office because it needed one correction. Agent Wood was transferring out all her male parolees to other agents. It was Wednesday, and we were going to do a staffing (picking up new women to supervise) at the MWCC. Before

1) How are you acquainted with Ms. Martin? How long did you and Ms. Martin work together? I’ve known Ms. Martin since 2013 and has worked in varies roles in my department as summer graduate assistant and Student Support Programs fall, intern.

motivated to do the job and complete what is asked of them and also to

My supervisor uses Inspirational Appeal to help motivate our team to accomplish company goals. She’s a positive and an optimistic person; she inspires and encourages the team to perform with excellence. Not only does she wants to see the company to succeed but she wants the staff to succeed as well. She is someone you would look up to as a role model and she sets an example for others. This tactic works because it makes us feel that we matter and that our supervisor believes that we can deliver.