Personal Statement On Social Work

I began my social work studies over twenty-five years ago at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. I never questioned my decision to pursue a career in social work; I loved my classes and worked hard to learn as much as possible. But the information I gained in undergraduate school simply opened the doors of my education. Most of my learning has come through constant questioning, personal research, and especially through work and life experience. Through these experiences I have encountered the challenges faced by individuals, families, and society and have been able to further access and develop the innate personality traits and abilities that originally led me to study social work as well as learn and practice the many skills necessary to be a successful mental health counselor.

Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi once stated, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”. This simple yet powerful quote motivates me to remain steadfast in the mission of aiding others. I’m pursing a Masters in social work because by working in this field, I can educate, advocate, motivate, understand, and encourage resilience to clients from every walk of life. It is a profession that will allow me to practice both on a micro and macro level simultaneously. Lastly, working in social work gives me the capacity to challenge policies affecting disadvantaged communities.

For a majority of my life, I wanted to be a pediatrician when I grew up. I had wanted to be a pediatrician due to my passion to work with children, in addition to enhancing the lives of children. As I continued to grow up, I realized that science is not my strong suit and I would never survive medical school. I do not recall how I learned about the profession of social work, but around the eighth grade I have known that social work was the profession that I wanted to pursue. The idea of helping others is what initially struck me as compelling because I did not understand social work in it’s entirety, but I knew that I would relish a life of helping other individuals.

The pursuit of a doctoral degree is both exciting and humbling for me. It is exciting that I have a clear vision of the career I want to pursue as an academic, and humbling to think of the great opportunity I could have to teach future social workers. Early motivation to enter the field of social work was in response to adverse childhood experiences with domestic violence, parental substance abuse, poverty, and homelessness —further complicated by foster care intervention. My foster care experience included five foster placements, enrollment in countless schools, countless lost relationships, and a failed adoption. Though these experiences created much hardship, they have certainly promoted resilience and helped lead me to my current ambition of seeking a Ph.D. As a recipient of foster care intervention, I exited state custody through legal permanence. Through education, advocacy, and direct social work practice with youth in residential treatment, I acquired new skills and insight to addressing social and child welfare problems. I am excited for the opportunity to promote the field of social work in the classroom and improve the lives of youth in the foster care system through my research.

I value my education and I take my studies very seriously. To be given the opportunity to study Social Work further is highly significant to me and I intend to work for my master’s degree after graduating with my Bachelor’s in social work from Bennett College for Women. I am passionate about social work and I look forward to getting my MSW and making a difference in the community as well as people’s lives. I know that with a social work my goals can be accomplished and I will enjoy my career. I have gained some insight into Sexual Assault while being at an all women institution and seeing my peers take care of their own situations. My Bennett sisters who were victims of sexual assault suffer from depression, left the school and or wanted to commit suicide because of multiple reasons that made them feel unsafe. The difficulties they faced on a daily basis while suffering because the person that assaulted them did not receive any penalty and was allowed to still be on our campus. Another experience was a family member who was a victim and was told to keep it a family secret and could not rely on anyone to protect them. I also have a heart for working with Domestic Violence. During my adolescent years, I both witnessed and experienced Domestic Violence. This had a profound effect on me and after a process of soul searching as to the best use of my skills whilst at the same time satisfying a need to give something back, These personal experiences instilled in me further the

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 a 19 year old college student who grew up in Aurora, Illinois. Right now I’m going to college at Northern Illinois University to pursue a degree in family and child studies. By achieving this degree, I hope to become a social worker, and eventually work with children in the foster system. Over the past 19 years many things have grown me into the person I am today. This last sentence is what I will examine through sociological imagination throughout this paper.

As a teenager, I once came across a woman who said, very softly, "I wish to die" as I passed her. It changed my life. I could have dismissed her comment as my imagination, for there no obvious sign she was in distress, and carried on walking. However, knowing people who suffer from mental illness, including a teacher who committed suicide despite seeming 'perfectly fine', even then I knew mental illnesses weren't always obvious.

I would like to study in the area of Social Work because I would like to make a greater impact with this system that has seemed to be crumbling down. This has grabbed my attention when I have learned that my friends have been in the system as a ward of the state and was in foster homes until a home was found for them. I will be honest that I haven't studied any class that has social work because I didn't think it was relevant, but with my personal feelings on how I always found that I love to help people before I help myself I would like to put my time and effort into helping young children or children of any age. I have come to realize that my passion lies in helping people who are less advantaged than I am. I am applying to Tennessee State

From an early age, I have accompanied my mother as she lent a listening ear to sex workers, feed the homeless, and visited the elderly in nursing homes; these moments instilled in me a strong desire to help others. Throughout my undergraduate years, I debated whether I would help others on a macro level, by studying economics, or an individual level, by studying psychology. Although both of these fields increased my awareness of systematic and personal issues which kept people oppressed, neither focused on alleviating the conditions of those most in need. After researching several fields, social work appealed most to me because it’s a practical evidence-based profession focused on helping others rediscover their strengths.

Witnessing social injustices, homelessness, child abuse, discrimination among those disabled has made me empathetic to others and has motivated me in wanting to create social change. While working at Borough of Manhattan Community College[BMCC] Admissions office, I have been able to see the many factors that make it difficult for many to make it through college among them lack of resources, social challenges. Lack of effective communication between students, teachers and school also contributes to the difficulties I see student face the majority of time. Students who have a disability are restricted, placed in awkward situations due to insufficient accessibility within schools. Ignorance, lack of awareness, discrimination within students, staff members makes it problematic for these students to seek help resulting in alienation. Having the opportunity to work with students daily, helping them transition from high school to college, advising them, becoming aware of daily issues have resulted in my desire to serve students and families.

I have decided to apply for a degree in Social Work. I see it as a future career and that it is destined for me, I am confident it will lead me towards my ambitions. It interests me that I will be working amongst other social care professions which will enable me to learn new skills along with my own profession. All through my life, I have seen myself as that individual that puts others first. It gives me a deep feeling of comfort when I am making a difference to people’s lives.

First I wish to properly introduce myself as Melissa Morgan. I’m native of a little town called Statesboro, Georgia. After high school, I joined the Army in 2008, and did my first tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2014. While serving within the military, I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology minoring in sociology from Georgia Southern University.

Helping students to receive and education is what I want to do as my social work profession. I understand the public schools system and how the students function inside, it was interesting to learn theories that would be most beneficial for school social workers use. Some of the most commonly used theories for school social workers are based on the client, family, and environment such as: Person-in-environment, brief solution therapy, behavior settings, family systems perspective, social behavioral perspective, micro, mezzo, and macro. The school social work theory’s that makes the most sense to me right now early on in my social work education, when dealing with students and family would have to be person-in-environment, social behavioral

If one were to ask me six years ago what I would like to pursue as a career, I do not believe that I would have ever been able to answer them ‘a social worker’. While in high school and in my earlier years of post-secondary school, I did not have any knowledge of what a social worker was let alone know what duties they perform. It was in 2012 where I discovered the profession of a social worker. The profession came to my understanding when a situation came upon a particular family that attend my local church. This particular family felt in their hearts to take in two nephews into their home. This situation came about for them due to the condition of their home and the lifestyle that their single mother was