Personal Narrative: Master's Degree Of Social Work

Within the past twenty-five years, my life experiences have led me to become passionate about social work. Although my journey in social work hasn 't been something I’ve always known I wanted to do when I was young, a combination of personal, professional, and academic experiences has pointed me into the direction where I am today. As the oldest out of four siblings, my family has always worked hard to get where they’re at now. Knowledge of my parent 's personal; as well as, their professional struggle of not having a college degree has led them to work hard for everything they 've received in their life. Acknowledging what my parents have gone through has pushed me to receive my Associates in Liberal Arts so that I will able to graduate with my Bachelor of Social Work in the Spring 2017.

The history of mental health in the United States show a robust movement towards the mental healthcare system we have today. Prior to the 19th century, individuals with mental health issues were widely considered to be demonically possessed, thus contributing to the stigmatization of mental illness and the proliferation of poor treatment conditions. However, in the 1800s, there was a dramatic change in mental healthcare in the U.S. The government took a proactive role in treating the mentally ill, leading to the dawn of state psychiatric facilities.

I am passionate on helping people and making changes in others’ lives. Like I stated before, my mother had been trapped herself in the apologetic emotion for years. The mental burden had made her down. Therefore, I decided to help my mother get rid of the self-accusation, by using the knowledge I learned in the Human Services major. To illustrate, I was telling her that it was not her fault of divorce, and she was not showing me the negative image of a marriage. Instead, I admire her braveness of ending a marriage when it was necessary, especially in the time when people were stereotyping divorced women and at the place where people were being judgmental. Now, her self-blameless has been reduced, and she told me that she was not felt as guilty

How do you account for your interest in social work? In your response, discuss paid or volunteer experiences that support your choice of social work as a profession?

“I want to live.” She said. She lifted her feet off the small coffee table and set them gently on the floor as she continued to look through me, too interested on the inner workings of her own mind.

I believe that the best dreams are ones that you share with people, who conceive them be so preposterous that they cannot help but laugh in your face that you could even think of possibly reaching that point one day. Entering High School, I had begun taking basketball more seriously than any other sport and had the goal of earning a Division 1 scholarship. Which would be the first step in making my dream of playing professionally a reality.

As a social work student, it's difficult to come to terms with the little respect given to my future profession within academia, hospitals, schools, government, & communities. There are many misconceptions and stigmas that I will have to overcome [& with little monetary reward]. I

While there are many facets of Social Work I have yet to explore, the ability to be flexible in working in this field has allowed me the insight to higher education. With higher education comes greater responsibility while simultaneously allowing for greater opportunities to help others beginning in the field learn the same lessons learned early in my career, whether it be with adolescents in a school setting or those who have been recently diagnosed with HIV in a health clinic. There is a different level of flexibility that comes with being a Social Worker, and I’d like to ultimately share that with not only coworkers, but one day my team of workers and even greater the leaders and organizations that dictate our practice. Additional graduate level education and experience will allow me to advance my abilities to help those in need as well as help those working alongside me.

I am currently working as a Case Manager and doing my internship as a Clinician at Leake and Watts Services Inc. I need two wear two hats in one job, which make my responsibilities even greater and extensive. The population that I am working is the unaccompanied children, which are the children that are crossing the border to the United States.

Two years have passed while hours have been poured into extensive research on every avenue outside of social work, from a Masters in Public Health to a Masters in International Affairs, each seeming as though they might provide the most benefits in future endeavors or leading towards this elusive path I thought I was seeking. At the completion of countless hours of research, I found my heart and mind consistently return to the core, where I started, a Masters in Social Work. With a MSW, a multitude of positions in various specialties, populations, and settings are available, but beyond the versatility of a MSW, a social worker is simply who I am at the core and never a career path I had a say in choosing. One and a half years in the Peace

My first day on the job as a new Licensed Bachelor Social Worker and my client is about to walk through the door, my feelings would be all over the place. I would first feel excited because it took me a long time to get where I am at and I’d be very proud of my accomplishments, but then after the moment of excitement passes the feeling of nervousness comes. In the moment of being nervous all of my confidence would fly out of the window and I wouldn’t be very confident about my skills of truly helping the client with their issue. I would be freaking out and think that everything that I learned in college that would prepare me for my first time with my client was forgotten completely but really it would have just been forgotten for the moment

Later, I graduated from CCBC and was accepted into Morgan State University’s School of Social Work. Following my acceptance into the social work program I began to appreciate the practice greatly for its diversity. I learned that the social work profession would provide me with the ability to fulfill all of my career goals. I desired to be a part of a helping profession, positively impact lives, work in a diverse environment, provide advocacy and work hands on in urban communities. While matriculating through the BSW program, my interest remained the same but my idea of provision

At the age of nine my mother would leave me and my two little sisters at home to go clean these offices in plants at Boardman, Oregon. She would only work Saturday morning for five to six hours. Alone with two little girls at a young age I had to learn to cook clean and take responsibility of them. My mother had four jobs at the time since she was recently separated and left with a number of medical bills and credit card bills to pay since my father did not want to help take part of our family anymore. My mother jobs were that she was a social worker Mondays through Fridays, she cleaned a bank two nights a week for two and a half hours, cleaning countless offices, and lastly she was a full-time mother.

“Quero que meus netos para ter sucesso e ser feliz e viver a vida,” my grandma told me, this means she wants her grandchildren to be successful and be happy and live life. This makes me want to succeed in school and just succeed in everything. The person who introduced avid to me was my older brother, Anthony. He is in a state university, so seeing that he got there because of avid makes me notice that avid is a great program. When I transitioned from 8th grade avid to freshmen year avid it was very different. I thought the binder checks, the essays, and the tutor was a waste of time but now I realize it is not. Avid is a program not to just get ready for college but to life goals. Avid teachers are not just teacher, like are more, as like a friend but also a teacher's. My avid

Every worthwhile journey begins with one step. My social work journey began when I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in 2003. I thought my next step would be to immediately pursue a graduate degree. In my undergraduate career I had taken numerous classes from the College of Social and Behavioral Science and had done well in those classes. In my Social Work as a Profession course I had an assignment to shadow a social worker and write a paper about my experience. I chose to shadow my father-in-law, a social worker with over 30 years of experience, and in my paper I expressed my desire to go into the social work field. I knew I liked helping people. I knew I liked problem solving and critical thinking. I thought my 22 year-old self was ready to embark on that journey, but I wasn’t. I realize now that what I lacked at graduation was one crucial step… perspective. Over the past twelve years I have gained that much needed perspective and have taken many steps forward in my journey, and with those steps and that increased perspective, I now feel more fully prepared to begin my social work career.