The Development Of A 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.

Explain how you became interested in social work and why you chose social work as a major.

For this assignment, I decided to interview my aunt because she has been a social worker for about thirty years, and has a lot of experience. She attended Dominican college in Orangeburg, New York where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then went to graduate school at Montclair State in New Jersey where she received her master’s in psychology. After this, she decided to go back to school for her MSW, which she received from SUNY Albany. Since she graduated, the only profession she has worked in is social work, and she is now a licensed clinical social worker. She loves what she does and is glad that she made the decision to become a social worker.

Part I (Autobiographical Essay):  What were the significant factors that influenced your choice of social work? What skills and experiences do you have that will contribute to your success as a graduate student and social work professional? How is the GCSW a good place for you to build on those skills? 2 pages, double spaced, 12 point font

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?

My passion for social work originated in my senior year of undergraduate school. During my senior, year my single, adoptive mother had passed. A couple of months following her death, I found myself homeless. I had just turned 18 and I was a jobless high school student sleeping from couch to couch. During this time of my life there was one individual who supported me. The high school social worker was a strong support for me. I didn’t have any family support and thus fell on hard times. A college professor once told me that people who choose social work as a major do it because that had someone in their life who influenced them to become a social worker. If that person wasn’t in my life, my personal growth would have differed completely. It was at this point that I realized it only takes one caring individual to hugely impact someone 's life for the better. To be that person to someone else is my highest aspiration in life.

When I first started into the Social work field was because of my son, Evan, who has a medical diagnose of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. In the past 11 year of his life, I have worked with many professional from teachers to councilors but it was not until my family and I moved to Colorado, that we meet a School social worker that was very helpful in navigating the school system with a child with special needs. I started the social work program at Pikes Peak Community Collage because I wanted to work in the school systems and help children and their parents navigate the public school system insuring that the child is receiving all support and services guaranteed by the Americans with Disability Act. I did not want another family to not have access to life changing resources just because they were never informed of them.

1. Why or what led you to become a social worker or select social work as a career.

In this paper, I will be discussing of an organization that caters social services and contributes to the social work field. In addition, I will go in details where the organization is financed from and what is the mission of the organization. Moreover, I will discuss of the structure that the organizations conduct to accomplished their missions and explain the organization 's different services provided under their organizations umbrella. Furthermore, I will discuss of the organization accountability to their services, overall impact, and the power in organization. Lastly, I will explanatory the workers role in the organizations and discuss of my overall experience referring to my future social work profession.

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.

My interest in social work began while working as a child mentor at Valley Youth House. It was during this time that I fell in love with helping others and thoroughly enjoyed helping the children that I mentored. At the time, I was attending Northampton County Community College and had changed my major numerous times and had left it undecided for a while but almost immediately after starting my job I knew that I finally had identified what I wanted to do, I wanted to help people. I researched what type of careers would allow me to help people and I came across social work and it was exactly what I what I was looking for.

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” This quote in itself explains my reasons for wanting to become a social worker, which is so that so that I can use my past experiences and work towards the future, so that no child feels forgotten. Also, this quote explains my goals, which are to either be a school or military social worker when I graduate. As well as, this quote explains my perspectives on different conversational topics. This paper, will explain how the reality of my life led me to want to pursue social work, my dreams after graduating and my thoughts on various subject matters.

I was in grade 10 when I thought of becoming a social worker. As social worker practitioner the fields that interest me to work in is domestic violence and child abuse because I want to make change to the society. Also Mahatma Gandhi was my major inspiration through this quote “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Than an idea came to me, why not involve my contribution to the wide variety of communities. My communication with school counsellors and social workers has impacted my choice of desiring to study social work. I realised that if I have had a chance of seeing a social worker when I was young, things would have been much easier and less stressful. I want to provide opportunities that I did not encounter to other people. This essay will reflect my past experience, motivation and why I want to be a social worker, values, beliefs and theory of practice.

In this essay I will be giving a brief introduction to the history of social work practice, by introducing the laws that contributed to its development. Explaining how the sub divisions divide into specialism 's within the variety of social work settings, using both public and private sectors to show understanding. Also, demonstrate knowledge of different legislation that has been introduced to social work practice over the past 25 years and why it is used in particular areas. Then to finalise using protection issues, how to justify why legislation was used by assessing the likely impact of results.

Social Work is a field of interest to me because of the positive effort it contributes to society. Within the social work profession individuals are striving to improve the welfare of those in need of assistance. Social Workers assist a variety of individuals; from children, young adolescents, older adults, mentally ill, substance abuse individuals, and many other minorities; as in LGBT members, veterans, homeless people, and low socioeconomic status individuals. The broad mix population fascinates me because within this field one will always be able to work in a flexible environment. Social Work is used in multiple settings as in hospitals, nursing skilled homes, mental health and substance abuse clinics, schools, correctional facilities, community centers, child welfare agencies, employee assistance programs, and private practices.