Personal Essay: Pursuing A Degree In Social Work

The Master of Social Work Program offered by the SU Falk College is truly attractive to me for many reasons. For instance some objectives motives that make it quite interesting are the option of completing a dual program in Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapy related to my background in Clinical Psychology. In addition is as a certified profession that would give me a wider variety of employment opportunities. Finally offers a part-time study, which is quite convenient when you try to combine family, work, and studies. At the same time are subjective reasons. I would mention the need to develop an occupation which I feel has a meaningful purpose every day; like support our equals. This could be helping, guiding, assisting or just let them know that we believe in their potential, so they could be able somehow to integrate and contribute to our community. In other word the Social Work as a vocation that constitutes a pillar of strength, or an approach

of work. From this experience, I believe I am an excellent candidate for this program

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

Growing up I dealt with many forms of abuse, and due to all the trauma I had a lot of built up aggression. Unfortunately, at the time I felt there was no other way to express myself except to act out. As a consequence of my bad behavior, I lost many close friends, and missed many good opportunities. As a result, I was required to go to intensive family therapy for three days a week, with a women named Julie. Fortunately, after therapy I saw a change in myself, and I began to learn new skills to communicate, and cope with my anger. Although, I’ve gone to see many therapists before, Julie was the one counselor that gave me hope, and after meeting her my life has positively changed. This experience of going to family therapy, and meeting Julie has influenced me to want to help other troubled teens who have dealt with abuse.

The human-services field is a demanding environment. Social workers need to possess variety of skills that would help their proffession, and the people that seek their advice. It’s important for them to be aware of what qualities they need to possess. They’ll be working with diverse people as their job

Before beginning the journey of my dream job, I ask myself a series of issues.. What can I offer as a social worker? Can I set aside my perceptions and values? What populations or situations would I feel uncomfortable working with if any? Am I empathic enough to not only feel, but understand? What is my motivation for pursuing a career in social services?

One must also be able to adapt themselves to their public. “Social workers have a comprehensive knowledge of community resources and are able to tap them to meet the needs of their clients” (Skidmore, Thackeray & Farley, 8). Becoming a social worker does not mean that you work with just one type of person with just one type of disability. “Some communities need more practitioners with expertise in working with small children or with clients diagnosed with both mental disorders and developmental disabilities. Clinical social workers should target those areas and develop effective practices and directly market themselves in experts in these areas” (Roberts and Greene, 7). It is very important to be able to utilize the community resources to help solve problems. According to Holly Hill Children’s Services in Cincinnati, Ohio, (2002) one must be “flexible and capable of setting firm limits and boundaries...must be able to function in a leadership capacity while working as part of a team.”

Social work is a career that finds and chooses you, rather than you selecting it. Social work has always been an immense portion of my life even when I had no recollection of what social work entailed. My life revolved around so many situations that had a social worker stepped in, my life would be totally different than it is today. Many individuals and agencies lack the compassion and empathy for oppressed people. Having been in many circumstances, has given me the experience and background that influenced me to go into social work, as well as the understanding of my role and responsibilities that I will assume as a professional social worker, and my reasons for selecting the program at ASU School of Social Work and thoughts on how the Mission Statement addresses my career goals.

I am interested in becoming a master-level social worker to gain the skills necessary to become a well-rounded advocate for change. Likewise, I am interested in having the opportunity to work with faculty who are conducting research and making an impact in the Charlotte community. As a social worker, I plan on working towards eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline, which directs youth into the juvenile and criminal justice system without taking into consideration how social problems, such a poverty, abuse, and drugs, directly affects their behavior. In addition, I would like to tackle the issues surrounding adolescent sexuality, including teenage pregnancy, STI transmission, and sex education in schools. My target population are vulnerable youth within urban cities. Since The University of North Carolina Charlotte is located in one of the largest and most diverse cities in the nation, I have decided to seek admission into the MSW program. Having the opportunity to utilize the skills I will be learning in the classroom while working hands on with my target population is of utmost importance to me. Upon graduating with my MSW, I plan on continuing my work in the Charlotte community and working as a full-time school social worker. UNC Charlotte’s MSW programs puts emphasis on serving vulnerable populations, which is congruent with the type of people I would like to work with.

One of the most important attributes I have to helping others that I hold in the highest esteem is my ability to be an empathic listener. Being a social worker we all have to have the skill to listen and respond in the best way possible. I think what may set me apart from most of the social workers who do have this skill is that it has always been a part of my life and it is not going to stop the moment my work is done. I want to know how a person’s day is going and I want to know if something is wrong. I want to hear about someone’s day being made because they finally didn’t have to sit next to the smelly person on the bus who is there on a daily basis. I genuinely care about how others are feeling and I want people to know that they

After observing the video recommended for this discussion, there are various types of characteristics for a person to possess when taking part in the social work field. As in the article, “Social work practice: Cases and principles,” social workers are devoted to “serve and altruism” by assisting clients at hand, and social workers putting their wants and best interest aside (Bisman, 1994, p. 25). What is most important is the attention, and resources necessary for clients. When listening to each of the three professional social workers, they focused on important aspects of this profession that revolves towards a client. Social workers are to assist to each client’s needs. A client’s need for guidance, resources, and clarification of issues

Starting from being a certified nursing assistant, to becoming a unit secretary for a hospital that specialize in wound care, I have always known that I wanted to help individuals in need. However, I noticed that I was not happy with helping individuals in medical need. It wasn’t until I decided to continue my education that I introduced to the world of social work. Going up with a single mother that suffered from drug abuse, my family depended on social services for a lot of assistance, from everything such as food stamps to family counseling. This life experience helped guide my thoughts on pursuing social work as a career. I know that I want to help individuals that are down on their luck, but I want to take it one step farther, by providing individual counseling to adults that may need more one on one time, than what is normally given from a social service agency. Counseling will also give me a chance to do what I love most and that is to talk and get to know the individuals that I am helping make like changing decisions. Working as a clinical social work has my interest because it does not put limits on what I can do or who I can help, and it will set me up for my future goal of becoming a licensed clinical social worker. Being my own boss and changing my community is my dream job, opportunity and goal. I am currently on my way with changing my community and living my dream, because I am currently working for a non-profit

Everything in my life that has happened thus far has contributed to the reasons why I am deciding to apply for a master’s degree in Social Work at Loma Linda University. My family’s experiences and circumstances during my childhood would led to social workers to be involved in my life. While I was growing up, my mother struggled with drug addiction to methamphetamine. Until I was thirteen I was raised by my grandma with my three brothers. At 13, my grandmother passed away. My mother was regranted custody of us. These experiences would ultimately impact my long-term career goals. My family struggled and faced adversity however, we overcame our struggles because the system intervened. My relationship with my mom has been my main motivator for pursuing an MSW. Despite her struggles, my mom has been resilient and grown in her recovery. She now has ten years sober from methamphetamine and all other drugs. My relationship with my mom has motivated my career path in many ways. I have seen her change her life incredible ways with the help social services and law enforcement. Her sobriety and involvement in Narcotics Anonymous has played a tremendous role in my life. My choice of pursuing a BSW for my undergrad was reiterated by many experiences I have while growing up in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous.

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.

After all the hard work and challenges I may face academically, I’ve learned that I may also face emotional challenges once I have my foot stepped into the career. Although I believe I have an emotionally strong personality, this career as a social worker still can be stressful. As my responsibility to make decisions about the welfare of the children and families, I may be faced with difficult situations such as not being able to help everyone in the way I hope. Some of my clients or cases may be stuck because of obstacles created by