Linda Houser: A Career In Social Work

On September 21, 2015, I met with Ms. Katie, a student in the MSW program at NCSU, to conduct an interview. We met at Starbucks in Cary, in the crossroads shopping center. Ms. Katie’s responses helped me learn and think about social workers in the child welfare social field. As a prospective social worker, my questions were formed based thoughts that I was concerned about my responsibilities in the social work field..

For this assignment, I decided to interview my aunt because she has been a social worker for about thirty years, and has a lot of experience. She attended Dominican college in Orangeburg, New York where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then went to graduate school at Montclair State in New Jersey where she received her master’s in psychology. After this, she decided to go back to school for her MSW, which she received from SUNY Albany. Since she graduated, the only profession she has worked in is social work, and she is now a licensed clinical social worker. She loves what she does and is glad that she made the decision to become a social worker.

In response, Sophia told me she felt that it was a great reward to see even the smallest positive change when working with a family or community but challenges could be the exact opposite, working endlessly to advocate for change and not seeing, or being disappointed with the result. In her fieldwork she feels that the reward of being part of any small positive changes are all her successes and with this, she knows she is doing what she set out to accomplish in social work practice. As a definition of social work provides much confusion for

Social Work is a career defined as “work carried out by trained personal with the aim of alleviating the conditions of those in need of help or welfare”. Social work varies in several fields, social workers work as part of multi-disciplinary teams with child welfare organizations, adoption and foster care agencies, hospitals, schools, prisons, mental health institutions, and more. Social work may leave the impression that it’s an easy field because it is assumed that all social workers do is serve others and manage paperwork but that is only a small chunk of the job. Social workers must deal with the ethical and emotional aspect of helping others. As a social worker, it is critical to comply with the National Association of Social Workers

As I have a passion for helping children and an interest for pursuing school social work, I decided to interview my mother’s co-worker, Belle Walker. Belle is an exceptional children’s (EC) social worker for Union County public schools and works directly with students and families who need assistance finding resources to help them succeed in the classroom. Belle is a very passionate person and loves her work. During her undergraduate, she held an internship at a transitional homeless shelter working with families. As she attended graduate school in Illinois, Belle worked in a domestic violence shelter as a counselor during the nights. After graduate school she decided to move back to Charlotte and found a job working with A Child’s Place as a caseworker for homeless families through the school system. She has now been working with Union County public schools for three years and plans to work with the school system for as long as she can because she feels that she has found fitting.

During this practicum at the Durham Children 's Aid Society (CAS), I have taken advantage of numerous learning opportunities to develop skills and enhance my social work practice. These assignments align with the goals and tasks outlined with in my Learning Agreement and relate to the organizational, community, social work, and professional contexts of practice. This summary will highlight how I have met each of these key learning outcomes.

Social workers have many different practices and approaches to draw on for work with individuals, families, communities and society as a whole. These approaches and techniques can be varied depending on the distinctive

The implications for social work from this evaluation of this program is that it is a way to help social workers empower the clients to take care of themselves. Social workers are largely concerned with empowering people to be the one in control of their own development (Sogren, Jones, Nathaniel, & Cameron-Padmore, 2012). Because this program is built on education and knowledge it is empowering in and of itself, but when workers are able to build upon the knowledge with therapy they empower the client even more than the class alone (Sogren, M., Jones, A., Nathaniel, K., & Cameron-Padmore, J.

Social Work is an occupation that once was assumed in a negative view to the uneducated and misinformed, as being “baby snatchers,” yet over time; the role has established its status, displaying significance, and competence, by advocating for individuals, children, families, and groups. It is clear that this profession is highly qualified when addressing the needs of adults and children, and social problems that arise, by offering qualities that generate from a magnitude of Social Work values, principles, and standards.

I aspire to become a licensed clinical social worker so that I can have an in-depth method for assisting clients. I believe that social workers are afforded an awesome yet overwhelming task of helping individuals through the course of their lives. I hope to inspire my clients in knowing that challenges are the stepping stones to becoming resilient and that challenges are not meant to break a person. All in all, it is important for social workers to constantly reaffirm their dedication to helping their clients by taking time to care for themselves, seeking continuing education so they are kept abreast of current information, realizing that the steps to change and change itself is often uneasy, messy, difficult but necessary for the advancement of all

Sonnie is a hardworking, driven individual with aspirations to be a social worker. Her strengths focus on the skills that would best equip her in her future practice. She is empathetic, a good listener, and knows how to work well with others. Sonnie is also independent, but knows she can count on the support of her family and friends when she needs them the most. They encourage her when she is doubtful and always know the right things to say. The closeness she feels to her loved ones really motivate her to be great at what she wants to do in the future. Sonnie has an overall strong networking system that lends their support for opportunities to advance in her career.

Maurice William’s understands that social workers get tired because of their relentless job responsibilities, therefore, she makes sure they don’t experience burn out since it is her responsibility to keep the families intact (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Since she is not out in the field visiting the homes, she puts her faith in her upper management team to be able to listen and pay attention to any problems or potential future problems (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011). Since she is unable to be out in the field, Williams uses her supervisory skills to train her staff to be able to identify potential problems and also to report back to her what the problems are. If there were problems out in the field (i.e., foster parents, foster children), she shoulders the full responsibility to make sure that the problems are addressed and resolved, or modify changes that are in the best interest of the children.

My goal in coming to SSA was to gain the theoretical knowledge and skillset needed to be an effective social work administrator at the federal level. Specifically, I wanted to learn the research and best practices for supporting and empowering some of our nation’s most vulnerable populations—children, mothers, and women living in poverty—in order to implement effective social policy. I strongly believe that to be an effective policymaker, I needed to understand the needs of human services policy beneficiaries and service-users and how these individuals are shaped by their social, physical, and emotional environments. The direct practice curriculum exposed me to a variety of tools, such as anti-oppressive practice, cultural competency framework,

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) is a national association of educational programs and individuals that confirms and improves the quality of social work education to become a professional job. CSWE puts in a countless amount of effort to strive for this mission by setting up a bachelor's and master’s degree programs in social work. On the other hand, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with approximately 132,000 members. To be more specific, NASW has a determination to intensify the maturity and developmental process of its members. The main goal is to retain professional standards and to create fair social policies. NASW progresses

For this reflective journal, I have decided to draw parallels between approaches to social work that I have learned in my placement, and what I have learned during my academic career at Carleton University. Placement thus far, has been an eye-opening and rich experience, which has taught me about the profession that I aspire to be a part of. I am a third year student, and much of my time spent at Carleton, has been studying theories, and becoming exposed to different schools of thought. Theories are incredibly beneficial, to teach and inform the practice of the next generation of social workers. However, placement has provided me with the opportunity to apply theoretical ideals, to real life social work practice.