Victims Advocate Career Analysis

My heart remains set on becoming a psychologist and I plan to accomplish that dream in the years to come. For now, I am taking an AP psychology class while I finish my senior year; I decided to get a taste for what the rest of my life will be like. Thankfully, this class has only cleared my vision for becoming a psychologist. I’ve learned that the term “psychology” itself is rather broad. There are many fields and subfields in psychology, not to mention there are psychiatrists and psychoanalysts as well. I’m not sure what field exactly I want to partake in, but I’m hoping that I will be able to make a choice when I attend CU Boulder in the

This paper will go in detail about a conducted in-person interview on a victim advocate named Christine Heer. Christine has a Master’s degree in Social work (MSW), including a Juris Doctor degree (JD). In addition, she is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and a Domestic Violence Specialist (DVS). Christine earned her education at Rutgers University and has been practicing social work for as long as 27 years and is still going strong. She is also part of the NASW Ethics committee. Christine’s work mainly involves with victim assistance services that specializes in family law, collaborative law, mediation, mental health, education and therapy. As of now, she is teaching at Rutgers Continuing Education and the Victim Assistance Academy.

The ability to remember, comprehend, apply, evaluate, analyze, and create are key components to an effective victim advocate.

Crime Victims United of California is an organization which helps the victims of violent or serious crime to regain normalcy within their lives. Besides helping individual victims, they also are legislative activists helping support laws which support victims. According to the group, they use education and legislative advocacy to promote public safety and to make people aware of what are their rights when they are victimized by crime. Within the parameters of their programs for victims, CVUC provides psychological treatment as well as support emotionally and, if needed, financially to help people. They provide everything from a place to stay if they are psychologically or physically unable to return to their homes to education on what their rights are as a victim of a crime. These are limited as the primary focus of the group is in pushing forward legislation to protect people and also in providing legal representation to those who otherwise might not have representation or are reliant on legal representatives without expertise or particular interest in the case at hand. The attorneys and legal authorities working with CVUC are focused on advocating for the victim in terms of financial remuneration and also in representing the victim within the courtroom setting and in protecting the victim from being forced to interact with the perpetrator of the crime later on, such as in parole hearings where a victim is forced to relive

Victim advocates and handlers have been around for many years and are entrusted with the responsibility and power to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of American victims. It is true that most people can relate to victims and help them to an extent. However, a Victim Advocate 's sole purpose is to serve those in need which makes them the backbone of most departments. It can also be said that victim advocates are an underrated part of law enforcement because while most people idolize detectives and their seemingly glamorous lifestyle against criminals, the men and women that call themselves Victim Advocates protect and serve those in need on an unmatchable level.

According to the National Center for Victims of a Crime (2012), “a victim’s advocate is a trained professional who facilitates assistance needed to victims during a crisis” (para. 1). The victims advocate will provide crisis intervention, referrals, and ongoing non-clinical support to the victim (National Center for Victims of a Crime, 2012). The victim is the one who will choose whether to accept the offer of victim advocacy services. The advocate is a powerful tool used by law enforcement by supporting, assisting, and guiding the victim through the process.

I've put time into researching all aspects of the job role in psychology and have a positive feeling I am well suited for this role. I'm currently in the process of completing the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care. On this course I have studied a range of units including Psychology which I found particularly interesting as we are looking into behaviourist theories including Pavlov and his Classical conditioning theory and how a person can be conditioned to behave in a particular way from a Stimulus. Another unit we are studying is Sociology which is interesting as it shows why people behave the way they do due to social impacts such as culture or social status.

My ambitions and goal in pursuing a graduate work in psychology stems from fulfilling a high school dream that I had long forgotten about. Coming from an abusive household, I had desire to help children coming from an environment filled with abuse. It was not until returning to school that I envision my dreams being fulfilled. I chose forensic and clinical counseling psychology so that I could help children in family court systems; children that are at risk for abuse or children’s' whose home condition in need of assess for risk of abuse.

What is victim advocacy? Well from my knowledge I know that there are trained professionals that are there in support of victims and they also can offer victims vital information, the emotional support (which can be hard to find for some), and the help locating resources when it comes to filling out proper paperwork.

Choosing a career is one of the most important decisions a person has to make in their life. It is so important because that is what people will have to do to support their selves throughout life. For the past ten years psychology and accounting were two of the top ten potential career choices. According to the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics up to 70,000 bachelor's degrees in psychology were awarded, and up to 30,000 in accounting all around the United States. These statistics show that psychology is a more potential career choice than accounting. Most students at the time of choosing psychology as a career think in the basic educational requirements, great job

Other jobs don’t seem to be as interesting or thought provoking as this one. I want a job that requires me to think and solve problems for others as I usually have fun doing so. I always like helping others and I believe becoming a Psychologist will best suit me. The biggest assets I bring are great listening skills and a want to help others. I also bring other things like hard work, but I believe those two are the most important.

I also like how this chapter emphasizes the fact that your first job will not expect you to know exactly what you are doing, which is why there is something called “on-the-job training”. Most careers offer on-the-job training, but it is also important to obtain appropriate communication skills, flexibility, and a versatile personality when acquiring new skills. It was stated in the text that psychology is the fifth most popular major in the nation and that the average earnings of a bachelor’s degree in psychology each year (in 2011) was

What individuals need to realize is employment figures vary by specialty. For example, those who choose to pursue a career in health psychology or counseling will likely find they have very good job prospects if they possess a doctoral degree. The same holds true for those who choose school industrial-organizational psychology careers. Regardless of which field an individual chooses to specialize in, he or she needs to be prepared to work with individuals from various disciplines.

When I was in school I was inclined towards biology and my strongest subject was mathematics since the start. After my 10th STD I choose IB and I found myself growing towards psychology. Earlier when I joined my high school my ambition was to progress in medical science. I had decided to make my career as a gynaecologist or in medical engineering. But later on when I was exposed to the field of psychology i realised Psychology is the systematic study of behaviour and mental processes. Psychology has its roots in both the natural and social sciences, leading to a variety of research designs and applications, and providing a unique approach to understanding modern society. Hence this combination of studying one’s mind and behaviour using biology and mathematics made me take a second thought regarding my career options.

Changing careers into a field that concerns of behavior and mental stability, I would have taken up courses that teach education in adult learning and psychology courses on behaviors as this varies. Taking psychology courses teaches not only others mental stability but what you can overcome within yourself as being in a field that considers you an asset in an organization. As there are two sides in industrial/organizational psychology involving what is the best match for individuals to a specific job title (Youssef & Noon, 2012, sec. 1.2). I would enjoy the role of personnel psychology as workers