Personal Narrative: A Career As A Social Worker

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

Previous experience of criticism and rejection has an impact on the way of thinking and service users feel that the current involvement of the worker will be similar to the past. Ability to recognise this kind of conversion of feelings enables the worker to explore the view of the service user and utilise interpersonal skills to ensure that current communication and relationship is not affected by them. The PCF (BASW: no date) ‘knowledge’ domain requires social workers to have the knowledge and understandings of the theories and models of social work practice, drawing upon my knowledge of theories and different approaches, I decided to employ the task centred practice. I concentrated on the most important and particular problems prioritised and identified the tasks to resolve the problems and issues (Adams et al: 2009). Trevithick (2012) also suggests that when a service user is surrounded by many problems it could be particularly useful to involve the person in dividing the problems and prioritising into small, controllable and manageable listing. The immediate risk was the breach of the tenancy agreement, I liaised with the housing association and negotiated the postponement of issuing the notice to Mr M. The housing officer appeared to be very judgmental, and indirectly implied that I was wasting my time with Mr M. I realised that he was known by his alcoholism

There are a set of multiple skills that I believe an individual should strive to possess when pursing Social Work. An individual working in Human Services should have the desire to help, be self aware, objective and remain unbiased, genuine, empathetic, and patient. Apart of being self aware is acknowledging the values, attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and past experiences one has and how it can affect their thinking, behavior, and relationships. Being able to identify these behaviors and change them is crucial for Social workers to do in order to avoid any interference when working with clients. Its important for a Social worker to be objective and evoke no judgment when evaluating clients and their situations. By doing this Social workers are

I am a Social Worker and community organizer with a 20+ year history of assisting children, individuals, and families from diverse backgrounds in achieving their goals. I am familiar with social media, promoting, advertising, and as well, working with young adults, under-served population and those with HIV/AIDS and other physical and or mental disabilities. I have over 12 years of working with the LGBTQ community, organized, facilitated and hosted various panel discussions and films on race, sexuality, gender, social justice matters that impact our community. I have led several marches for a call to action for unity within our community- the “Unity Walk in the Grove.” I as well, served on the Pride St. Louis Board and Prior President of

There was a point in my life where I had no idea what was I going to do with my life. In July 2014 I landed a job at Garland Independent School District at the Enrollment Center Clinic, as a translator for the social worker. That was also the day that I found my spark in life. I wanted to become a clinical social worker and serve my community. My biggest aspiration is to be able to attend the University of North Texas and get my masters as a clinical social worker. I would be a great candidate for this university because I am committed and highly driven.

Serving in the military is an honorable career, but after seven years I knew it was time for a change. My desire to become a social worker grew in my last years of service when I was introduced to a military clinical social worker. She opened my eyes to the different opportunities I could pursue by becoming a social work. From working with children, families or the elderly there are many avenues to choose, but I decided to specialize in supporting veterans transitioning back to civilian life. Being a veteran myself I know first hand the struggles of reintegration.

Having a strong desire to help others has been a part of me since an early age. As a social worker I feel that I will be extremely beneficial in this career choice because of my ability to have empathy and compassion for others in need. Often people find themselves in situations that often times do not come into mind for the individual. I can relate to a person in an unforeseen situation due to personal issues that were forced upon me. While dealing with these issues I was forced to apply for public assistance. Having to do this I often experienced the harshness of rude employees that made me feel that I was less than human. It was at that time that I decided that if given the opportunity I would do my best to make sure that anyone that I encounter that was in an unforeseen situation and I could possibly help. That I would do what was need to assure the person that there is a better future for them.

1. The development of my interest in social work originated my senior year of high school. Due to a series of events I ran away from home shortly after the passing of my adoptive single mother. Although I was adopted, my relationship with my family was close to nothing. On account of my weak family ties, I quickly became a homeless high school student with a nonexistent support system. As I struggled to find stability in my life, the school social worker had reached out to me. During the mist of my turmoil the school social worker, Mr. Hawkins, was a valuable support and lifeline. With his encouragement I was able to achieve stable housing and employment. Within a year I was able to graduate from high school and I started my first year in undergrad.

I do have 7.5 years work experiences into the social work field. I started my career as a case manager with AIMS in 2014, in 2015 I worked with Life Without Barriers as a Case Coordinator, afterwards I joined Save The Children Australia as a family support worker. Currently I am doing case management services with Life Without Barriers. This prolonged journey of my career is reflecting my commitment towards work in serving the people.

People always ask you the same question when they find out that you want to pursue becoming a social worker and it is often accompanied with an elaborate, somewhat frightened facial expression – “why?” But like most other passions, it is not an idea that randomly registers as you are examining eggs on aisle 14 at your local grocery store or appears as some sort of revolutionary epiphany. As a child, we hear young minds express their interest in becoming fire fighters, police officers, or even doctors but it is rare to hear a child exhale his or her curiosity about social work. Deciding to embark on the path to a profession that requires an individual to face real-world experiences that often lead to poor mental health, rare human behaviors,

When we’re asked as children what we wanted to do with our life, it is usually not what we end up doing at all. My life experiences and challenges have pushed me to do and think about a career that I would have never thought nor known about. Social Work has had an enormous impact on my life and has pushed me to pursue a career in it. Although it is not a well-known or popular major, it is where I feel as if I will succeed the most not only in my career, but also in my life and goals. Growing up, I had dreams of being an artist, but as I experienced life, I realized I wanted to do something with my life that positively impacted others. My adolescence could be considered a rollercoaster; with lows as far down as losing my parents, and highs as far up as succeeding in high school and getting accepted to my top choice

Being a social worker will not be an easy job but it will be a rewarding job. The reason I chose this field of study is because I have had a few different family members whom have children and failed to care for. One family member, in particular, has been in and out jail for drunk driving, drugs, and domestic abuse on several different occasions. She has three children and only has full custody of one of them. The other two children live with their dad and they come and stay with my grandpa every other weekend. The one she has custody of is the little boy that is 10 who lives with our grandpa, who just recently found he has cancer and is only expected to live two more years. My grandpa does not have any legal custody of him but has taken care

Between the dates from September 26th to November 9th, there was perfect attendance by all of the members of the group and the facilitators. Knowing that the facilitators worked on the mezzo groups with much dedicated, pushed each member to show up on time every session. Speaking for myself, I enjoyed having a social work student facilitate over the group because there was an option to discuss topics only related to social workers. For other classes, the topics discussed within a group could not be related to the profession I plan on pursuing. Also within our group, there was a sense of bonding since we worked with these students on a weekly basis. Knowing that each of us will be helping out each other within our career at James Madison was

Throughout my time at Centre, I served as an Orientation Leader, Resident Assistant, Student Body Government Member, and Sorority Chapter President. In these leadership roles, I worked with an array of individuals that came from many different backgrounds, family structures, religious views, race/ethnicities, etc. In many of these leadership roles, I had to learn how to create an environment that welcomed everyone while also taking into consideration the needs of the group. As I reflect on my various experiences, I cannot help but see the parallels to the field of social work. In the field of social work, I understand that there will be a variety of individuals, situations, and circumstances that I will encounter. Like my time as a student leader, I will do my best to meet people where they are and act as a resource to help them reach a desired goal. In my life, I have also learned that there are times when the best made plans do not work out or a person does not respond well to help. In those situations, I have learned it is important that everyone goes on their journey at their own pace, and it is my goal to help them process and move forward when they are ready. There are some lessons and principles that the classroom and leadership roles cannot give and I learned those lessons through life experience my senior year of college and

Social Workers can approach middle schools and high schools to develop a preventative CBT evidence based program to improve resilience and coping skills in the students. This process would include developing a screening process, speaking with the parents, students, school psychologist/social worker, teachers, and any other additional clinical staff that would be working on the prevention program. Once all members agree to participate in a CBT based prevention program the social worker would then administer the ASEBA and the SDQ assessments. The results of the assessments would provide the social worker and school psychologist information on the students that are at risk, to include those needing additional assessment for possible mental