Personal Statement: Social Worker Licensing

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.

One thing that I have always been certain of when it comes to my future is that I want to inspire, help, and have a positive impact on as much people as possible. I want to fight for those that have no voice and create any necessary social change in my community. The field of social work would help me accomplish that. Social work is a broad field where I would be able to work with various populations of people throughout the community ranging from children to the elderly. I believe that by pursuing a master’s degree in social work I will have a sense of deep satisfaction knowing that I will be prepared to face any obstacle in my future as a social worker. I am aware that social work can be challenging but knowing that I will be able to advocate for others that are helpless and fight for social justice will be very rewarding. I first became interested in social work seven years ago, after my aunt and her husband decided to become foster parents, I would help my aunt take care of the children, and they were all very sweet kids that I will never forget. My aunt and her husband were given the opportunity to adopt a 5-year-old girl and shortly after were able to adopt her newborn sister. It was a very joyous day for our family when the adoption was finalized. During that time I met their social worker, she was a very kind and knowledgeable woman that inspired me to pursue a career in social work. I admired how passionate she was about her job and how much she enjoyed making an

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 am writing to express interest in appointment as a Core Faculty Member in Social Work at Walden University. Attached is my vita for your review.

I am interested in the MSW program at Walden University because of the objectives of the program to make sure that their students learn what it is that they are suppose too. I am also interested in the Master of Social Work program here at Walden because of the teachers working in the field and having firsthand knowledge about the field. The Master of Social Work program at Walden also have the concentration that I am interested in which is Children and Family Services. My plans for after I receive my degree is to become a license social worker. I also plan to start working at either the department of family and children services or at a local adoption agency.

I decided to apply to the social work master because I have encountered a lot of different experiences, problems, and achievements over the past four years. Similarly, I have always had a deep desire for helping others in a caring and supportive way. I faced many obstacles through my adolescent years such as: having an eating disorder, self-harm, and depression. After going through therapy, I realized that I wanted to help young people to overcome problems and to be able to help them to move forward in life. I want to make them comprehend that change is possible as long as the person want it.

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.

When I was six and placed in the Foster Care System for three years away from my mother, it made me value the importance of family one needs a young age. This childhood experience I hold with me will benefit in the field of social work, which is what I want to pursue in college as my degree. I believe one of the most difficult obstacles I had to face being taken away from my mother while not knowing the problem of the situation and learning how handle at such a young age to be away from my mother's warmth. I give complete gratitude to my mother who fought her best to win us over when the odds were against her, and to the thoughtful social workers who understood the situation my siblings and me. As I now enter college I have taken a look at

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 come from a family of 10, not including my parents. I was adopted from Haiti, by a kind spirited, Christian, couple who were doing what the Lord sent them to do. They were missionaries, and nurses, serving abroad and ended up coming home with five babies from over there. It wasn’t something that was planned, but just happened for them. In the same sense that is how I came to the Social Work profession.

From a young age for as long as I can remember, I have been interested in working with people and interested in how their social factors affect behaviour. I am very focused on a career that involves working with people as I feel it would suit my personality. Studying Sociology at university I believe will expand my knowledge, enable me to learn about the social interactions between people in different cultures and I believe it is important to study this as a basis for becoming a social worker. I understand that this job will be one of the most difficult and challenging jobs I will face and I am under no illusion as to what the job involves. I realise the demands on being a social worker: working unsociable hours and dealing with pressurised situations: with individuals at their most vulnerable point in their lives.

Psychology has been a part of my life indirectly for many years, from something as insignificant as people watching in a cafe to an impromptu counselling session for a friend with emotional trauma. I have had a real desire to work with people for a long time and have always been fascinated with human behaviour and understanding how the mind works, in order to empower individuals to lead better lives. It is this fascination that has makes psychology such a desirable subject for me.

Whenever people ask me why I want to be a social worker, all I can think about was when I was a little girl, and I was going through my Legally Blonde phase or my Corner phase. Which neither one of these career choices appear to have anything in common. Yet, the only thing that ran through my mind every single time I considered a new career choice, was I just want to help people. That's all I've ever wanted to do since I was a child and most importantly I want to help those in my community. Since Carson and Nevada as a whole is my home and the only home I have ever known. As a child, I lived a fairly sheltered life for the most part; except for when I lost my grandparents. In which was within a year and a half for all three of them. But, it

I want to becoming a social worker, because when I was doing voluntary work with Asylum seekers at PAFRAS , organisation based here in Britain. I am a reliable, motivated, and responsible student, who has the key skills and knowledge that are essential for the social work sector. I am used to working to high standards and being friendly to all people from different backgrounds; I am always enthusiastic to learn new things and interested in working with vulnerable people. I consider myself to be a good communicator, a team leader and motivator, who can get along well with people from all social, ethnic or cultural backgrounds. I am very energetic in my approach to work, and have a high work ethic, which makes me eager to get on with my studies