What Personal Life Experiences Have Influenced Your Choice Of Social Work As A Profession?

Social work introduced itself to me at a very young, and tender age. Growing up in foster care, not being able to see my parents, watching as family members died before I could say goodbye, and constantly being called orphan in school, taught me a great deal about the scars I would carry for the rest of my life. While I tried to play the role of a normal kid, hanging with friends, telling stories of happy childhood memories, it was simply a mask to hide that I knew my scars were burning inside me, that happiness wasn’t a luxury I could enjoy. Going from foster home to foster home was a reminder of that unaffordable luxury, and soon I grew to be so insecure that I could not function without having someone tell me what to do, or reassure me that

Grief is one of the underlying reasons that people seek help from a social worker. The loss of a job, divorce, death, and one’s health are some examples. These life crises leave one to deal with the loss, vision their

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.

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.

Growing up I witnessed my sister and grandmother deal with serious mental illness. My sister and grandmother both were diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It has always been my passion to help them manages their episodes. Growing up witnessing these episodes I always knew that I wanted to help those who are struggling to cope with mental health issues. Social work is not just a passion of mine, but a solution to the struggles many people face every day. I learned my “caring and compassion” for others, from my mother. My early experiences were a driving force for me pursuing my master’s in social work. As a child, my mother took in adults, children, and families within our neighborhood and afar to aid them in difficult times. Whether it was for a meal, a night, or longer, she has spent her life caring for others. The passion my mother possessed for helping others has become my

Growing up, I was extremely fortunate to have a parent who embodied all of the characteristics listed in Carol Stuart’s “Foundations of Child and Youth Care” including passion, caring, space and time, and social competence. My mother has always been my main role model, caregiver, friend, and always treated me with the upmost respect and patience, and together we built a relationship based on trust and mutual appreciation. We would often go on long walks together, using this as a therapeutic milieu for storytelling and the cultivation of unbiased advice. For me, it was important to analyze the world outside of my own head and share in the mutual struggles of daily life with someone who understood or, at the very least listened, as I analyzed, experienced, and complained about the world. For the better part of my life, I did not see this as therapeutic or its relation to child and youth work, rather assuming all parents were capable of , and expressed, this kind of love to some degree. However, it was only by watching my friends wrestle with issues such as depression, anxiety, and body image that I realized the isolation and loneliness that can easily overcome a person without a proper role model or guidance and more importantly, that this presence is not guaranteed in everyone’s life. Through experiences with my friends and mother, I am familiar with being on either side of a therapeutic situation, acknowledged the vital role of it in personal development and decided to

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.

Our life experiences play a large role in shaping who we are as people. My childhood experiences influenced the woman that I am today. My father was abusive. He abused my mother, my siblings, and myself. Whether it was a domestic assault against my mother, slapping of my siblings, or a daily cursing session, our house has always been in turmoil. There were adults that knew about the abuse going on in my home, including teachers. However, none of them intervened for my brothers and I. I cannot help but wonder how my life would have been different if someone had. Experiencing child abuse, as well as my mother’s domestic abuse, is my greatest catalyst in pursing a graduate degree in social work. Pablo Picasso once said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Child abuse could have broken my spirit but it made me stronger. It sparked my interest in mental health, and showed me the importance of compassion. I plan to use my gift to help others improve their quality of mental health, and encourage the development of self-determination.

The decision to pursue my education in social work at Dalhousie University was not an easy one. While I was growing up, my career choice changed all of them time, but I always knew that I wanted to do something fulfilling, in which I could “help” and support people. My mom was a nurse and always loved helping people; I always figured I would follow in her footsteps, however I learned at an early age that sciences do not come easy to me. Unfortunately, my mom lost her battle to breast cancer when I was eight years old, so I hope that by me helping people socially, rather than medically like she did, will continue her legacy.

As I understand where I am going, I must understand where I have been. While my testimony can be expressed as tragic, I like to articulate it in terms of resiliency and perseverance. After a long search for my biological father, I learned I was a product of an affair. My biological father expressed feeling of love for the relationship with my mother, but he was not in a position to leave his wife. After I connected with him as an adult, he rejected the idea of a relationship with me. My mother and I have a strange relationship; we have a close relationship with some topics, and a distant one when it comes to others. I grew up with a father, whom I did not know was not my biological father until 7, who was an alcoholic and had some undiagnosed problems; I perceive as PTSD and Schizophrenia now that I am a social worker. I had an older brother who had an estranged relationship with his father too, but we have a close sibling bond. These relationships exhibited in my behaviors and self-esteem, and were the core of me having a passion for social work.

According to Pecora, Sanders, Wilson, English, Puckett & Rudlang-Perman (2014), “Every year in the USA, about 695,000 unique children are confirmed as victims of child maltreatment (US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau 2011) (p. 321). Such startling statistics suggest that child abuse is not just a public health issue; it is an epidemic. However, research reveals that prevention is possible through a collaborative effort made by parents, schools, the government, social services, and the

My mother is very healthy now. She has grown her hair once again and has gained her figure. Today I look back and see that what I did was still similar to what I do now as a social worker. Even though I was not a doctor to treat my mother during her illness, I was still able to assist her by empowering her to remain strong so that she can help herself fight through the disease. This personal experience reminds me that as a social worker I am not expected to have the solution for my clients, yet I am there to assist and empower my clients so that they can help

At the tender age of eleven, my parents did something that changed my life: they divorced. On the threshold of becoming a teenager, I felt as though I had been abandoned. Emotionally distraught and perplexed about where I fit in the universe, my parents sent me to see a counselor. In the beginning, I was quiet, refusing to share any leeway into my tender and bruised feelings. Gradually my counselor built a report, and I began to open up and share all of my anguish. Since then, I have wanted to be a mental health counselor and help others who feel like they are bearing the weight of the world.

After graduation from the Cimarron High School, I will be moving down to Portales, New Mexico to attend the university there, Eastern New Mexico University. I am going to pursue the major of Social Work and Social Sciences. The degree is a total of four years, in that time I will be staying at the dorms for the first two years. Once I start my junior and senior year my class will switch to online learning. During the time of this course I have hopes and dreams of studying abroad, if the moment arrives. By studying abroad, I have always wanted to see Russia, or go to Australia, these would be my two top places to go. Attend school in these places during my online course would greatly help me in a lot of ways, for I will be more cultured and see how other countries have their Social Workers perform. Though these are all future plans these are the plans I’m putting my hopes and dreams into, so that I can help those who need it the most.

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.