Being raise in a single parent family with little college education, I had no clue what I wanted to do once I graduated from high school. After many years in and out of college still searching for my career path I realized that I enjoy helping people and kids. Since taking Fundamentals of Social Work Practice I believe that I would make a good social work. While learning the fundamentals of a social worker I have become aware of some things I need to work on before I am able to help someone else like, become more confident in myself, stop judging so quickly, and my fears of failing. Thinking back of when I was a kid I believe my confident level was low. I have always been that shy and quite kid, that has stuck with me through adulthood. I know that as a social worker I will need to have confidents in myself to be able to give my clients the best help. Being in a small class where we were able to discuss and engage with one another helped my confidents grow. Learning about my classmates allowed me to hear that I am not the only one that struggles with their confident. Have role play each week gave me a glimpse of what it is like to be a helper, …show more content…
There are times when I see a mother fussing at their teenager and I say to myself she should not be talking to their child like that, or see a person sitting outside of the gas station and as I approach the person I hold my purse tight and try to make eye contact. That person could have been waiting on a friend to come out of the store. I know in the field of social work there will be all kinds of people good and bad but I have to learn how not to judge so quickly. I have started to put myself in others shoes to try to understand what they may be going through and for me not to judge them or their situation. So now when I am out, or meeting someone new I try to keep an open mind about a
This essay aims to explore the characteristics that make a good quality social work assessment in child care. Martin (2010) stated that there was “no single agreed definition of social work assessment.” Coulshed and Orme (2006, p24) did not offer a formal definition but they described assessment as “…a basis for planning what needs to be done to maintain, improve or bring about change in the person, the environment or both.” According to the Maclean and Harrison (2015) good assessments must be “purposeful and timely.” This is because practitioners need to be clear about why they are carrying out assessments and what it is they wish to achieve at the end of that assessment.
Being given the opportunity to intern with the staff at the Family Resource Center in the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) has been a tremendous learning experience thus far. The opportunity has truly surpassed my expectation of what I imagined the journey of internship would be like and how it would help me to evolve into the professional arena as a social worker. I see myself transforming and viewing the community in which I live, the clients served, those deprived, and the tremendous job that we as social workers are tasked with to advocate for those in need from a more open-minded perspective. By enhancing and developing my personal and professional skills, such as active listening, observation, and professional comportment, I will be
To provide effective social services, a social work graduate must possess a multitude of knowledge, skills and abilities. This will be a reflective paper on everything that I know for sure as a student of social work who is about to go into the world of work.
If I am doing something wrong, I want to be informed of this so that I will be the best social worker that I can possibly be in the long run. Having trust in me to complete tasks is also important to me. I will not be able to do everything in my placement, such as home studies, because I am lacking specific training, however, I still want to be trusted as though I could complete that specific task if I were to have had that training. In addition to this, I need to place trust in myself and believe that I can accomplish the tasks that are set before me. I need to take care of myself so that I am able to have a good experience in field and learn everything that I
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
My first obstacle in becoming the social worker I envision is myself. As a Southern woman, I was taught to pray, have good manners, to cook, not to display behaviors in public unbecoming of a lady, to honor my word, and that it was my duty to help those in need. These principles speak to the social work values of service by helping others, integrity in being honest and ethical in the things I say, and dignity and worth of a person, by treating others in a respectful manner.
The dictionary definition of the term critical refers to the holding of the view that something is bad or not pleasing, the giving analysis or judgment of plays or books, essential or severe. Those meanings would however not fit in the political use of the term critical social work, and it is imperative to understand the real meaning and application. In the context of social work, the terms critical social work emanated from the adoption of the critical theory which is a philosophical and sociological theory emerging from the school of social thinkers in Germany’s Frankfurt school. From the origins of the term, therefore, the emphasis of the term is not on the dictionary understanding but the sociological application.
Research is a necessity when it comes to providing services. Social Workers need it to be able to determine their clients ' needs, to see what resources/services they have access to and if their client doesn 't have much access where can they get it. Research is also used to see how effective an intervention is and whether it would be a right fit for their clients. It provides social service agents with ways to identify problems within their clients, communities, organizations, and the government. Also it helps them to create ways to aid in effective change. It is very beneficial when a social worker needs to "assess the needs and resources of people in their environments, evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people
I have also been one to have compassion towards other people, and have wanted to strive to fix problems to make others happy. Seeing other people struggle and not know where to go has increased my interest in social work. A fact says that approximately 12% of people plan on leaving the workforce within the next two years. This means there will not be enough social workers in the business to meet the needs of their clients. Many people I know personally have thought of social work as a career that you will not leave feeling happy.
For years, when I thought of Social Workers, I imagined a person coming into a client’s home and taking their kids away for neglect. Later, I found out that social workers could go into so many dimensions, such as clinical social workers, case mangers, and even administrative positions in agency settings. Furthermore, I realized that I was maturing into an adult. For example, when I began telling people of my decisions to become a social worker, a lot ...
The Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work’s research is driven by real-life problems and applies real problem solving skills to invoke positive change in today’s global society. With a long history of adapting to this ever-changing world, this school and program will give me the knowledge to make change happen. As a student, I want to grow my knowledge of best practices through research and the practical scenarios that the FIFSW will expose me to. The University of Toronto has a depth and breadth of talent and experience through its faculty, researchers, alumni, and current students which is unmatched by any other program across the country. I am passionate about receiving the best education and learning as much as I can.
I was drawn to the field of social work due to my personal experiences and the impact they had on my life. I grew up in a turbulent environment, one of two children in a broken home with an alcoholic father. Our father worked two jobs to support my mother, sister and myself to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table. Although he worked hard to provide for our family, his own demons caused him to be verbally abusive towards my mother, sister, and myself. At the same time, I was struggling with my sexual identity, and during middle and high school I was bullied because of my sexual orientation.
However, after talking with my advisor I was told that I would be able to go into psychology with a bachelor’s degree in social work. My advisor also told me that the professions are similar. I took her advice and started a new goal, to get my BSW. Coming into my first class on the field of social work, I wasn’t too sure what to expect. All I knew is that the profession was connected to helping people. After learning more about the profession and the wide range of options that accompany it, I started to get excited. I could work with many different types of people on a range of issues and changing which area I work in would be relatively easy. I have always wanted to help people with mental health issues and I thought that social workers only did that in school settings. Learning that I just needed to get my Masters to be able to do therapy made me feel great about choosing to become a social worker. Having options has made my college experience better by getting me excited for what the future holds.
Most of my fear and hesitation comes from the reactions I get from my family about the profession and their interpretation of what a Social Worker is and does. I know that the tasks that lies ahead of me is many and honestly at times I feel a bit overwhelmed. What helped me to manage this is the realization that although social work is a broad field there is specializations within it and my only obligation is to master my own branch and not the entire field. I am now aware that I need to work on expressing my emotions, maybe through therapy or peers supervisions since I tend to internalize my emotions. I
From my observation, as a social worker, I have been learning that not everyone you meet will be friendly with you like you may be with them. You have to learn how to adjust and make a person feel comfortable with talking with you. Everyone isn't going to trust you at first so you have to establish a good working relationship in the beginning. I learned in Social Work 350 the importance of developing a professional relationship and respecting confidentiality. When working with others there are lessons that you can learn about yourself that you may have never known.