Introduction The Profession in Social Work Practice requires us to use ourselves as a tool in an effort to help individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities obtain power so that they gain greater control over their well-being presently and in the future. However, before we can help someone else we first must make sure we take care of ourselves to ensure we do not cause harm to our clients. One of the first things that we should do in taking care of ourselves is to have a better understanding of who we are as a person. That means we must take a personal inventory of what attitudes, beliefs, bias, and past experiences that has shaped us and impacted our lives. So, let me begin with looking at my early years growing up. Demographic Data I am a 52 year old divorced African American female. I have two children a son that is 33 years old and a daughter who is 30 years old with three children. I live in Felton, Delaware by myself. For the past 5 years I resided in Dover, Delaware. I have a Bachelors degree in Social Work, certified in Drug and Alcohol counseling and Co-occurring Personality Disorders. I am employed at Kent Sussex Community Services for the last three year as a Substance Counselor with 86 clients. History I was born in Milford, Delaware on June 10, 1963. I have normal birth and …show more content…
I hated my mother for allowing the abuse and hated those men because they were not my father. My real father never was in my life. I knew who he was and every once in a while he would pop up drunk and make a lot of promised that he never came through on even to this day. Out of the entire list of boyfriends, the one that did a lot of damage to me and my siblings was ‘Tony” who was very abusive to my mother and to use. It was crazy growing up listening to the fights and arguments all night. Several times, I remember trying to fight him to protect my
I first became interested in social work when I took a human rights course as a part of my political science major requirements. Throughout the course, I was fascinated and disturbed by the historic oppression of many large groups in society, and I realized my interests lie outside of the political arena; thus, I double-majored in social policy & practice because of my desire to learn more about how to enhance human well-being, fight social injustice, and pursue social change. I soon realized I wanted to pursue graduate social work education in order to gain a more holistic understanding of social problems and human ailments and, in turn, better understand the best ways to fix them. My background in political science and social policy gives me a unique perspective on the field of social work, as I have gained immense knowledge on social issues, the law, and public policy that will be useful in my graduate school and professional endeavors to fight for social
I come to Fordham University with expectations of completing my Masters of Art degree in Social Service. As a single parent, I have faced many challenges raising my special needs child. My innovation to help disadvantaged children with social and emotional problems encompassed me to continue to pursue a career in the Social Service Profession. This will increase my chances of being a successful Child Therapist. I am aware, prepared and committed to devoting my time towards my studies at Fordham University as well as taking advantage of all the necessary resources that Fordham University has to offer. My personal, academic and profession experience has given me the opportunity
Growing up in a society where there are so many opportunities, I had no problem figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. I have always enjoyed helping others in any way that I was able too. From babysitting, raking leaves, serving as a volunteer for a number of organizations, no matter how big or small the need, I have always found it gratifying to help others. I ultimately recognized that I had to pursue a career in something that would allow me to help others, while positively giving back to the community. The heavy influence of wanting to help others comes from my very own personal life experiences, which have greatly impacted my career choices. These experiences include being an adopted child, volunteering within my community, serving as a resident assistant and
The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people. Particular attention is paid to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Social work is a profession based on enhancing the capacity of people to participate in society and enhancing the capacity of society to include all people in it. Social workers address problems related to social, political, and economic
I have always known that I wanted my life work to be helping others. Although I did not know what I wanted to do specifically, my goal was to find a career that can better lives of those less fortunate than I am, while also making a good living financially. Through schoolwork and volunteer experience I ultimately chose a path in social work, with an end goal of working with families who have been effected by addiction. I would like to work hands on with those who have the addiction, but would also love to help their family members cope with decisions made by their loved one.
Social work as a profession strives to help the welfare of those within the community whether its persons or families through advocacy. Often times clients are those who may be vulnerable and disadvantaged. Social workers aim to help people fulfill basic needs in their everyday lives and assist them by providing beneficial resources and intervention counseling. They do more than just help them in their current situation, it’s about helping them to survive and set attainable goals to live a fuller and better life for themselves, and most time for their families.
47). Social workers advise clients how to attain resources, rather than just providing them. The idea is to include clients in their journey to success and feel a sense of control in their life. I personally believe encouraging empowerment is a critical aspect of a social worker’s roles and responsibility. Engaging clients in setting their own goals is essential, and ultimately more beneficial to them. Clients should be able to access resources on their own; additionally, they can use the assistance of friends, families, communities, and organizations. One of the core values of a social worker is, Importance of human relationships. According to the NASW, “Social workers engage people as partners in the helping process” (The National Association, “n. d.”). Empowerment and advocacy are closely connected. I want to advocate for clients, furthermore, I want clients to be able to advocate for
According to the NASW Code of Ethics (2008), the primary goal of social work is to, “…enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty” (NASW, 2008). Historically, the profession
Social work is a multifaceted, ever adapting profession, which has had many purposes and identities through the years. It is imperative for the vocation to constantly evolve alongside the social climate and the new ways in which we identify and treat those who are in need of support. Social workers can be required to take on the role of counsellor, advocate, case-worker, partner, assessor of risk and need, and at times (as the government seeks to push social work further and further towards the health and education sectors) a servant of the state. The profession is dramatically subject to affection by societal change, thus demanding social workers have a duty to be up to date with the latest developments in understanding how and why people get to the point of requiring social work intervention, and how best to prevent and cater for it.
I would to begin this paper with an authentic definition of the Social Work field. Social work practices involves facilitating change—in other words, working with others, not doing something to them or for them(Dubois). Most people and social workers would always use the world ‘help’ in some way or form when defining social workers. Which is true but the confusion come in when asked where they work, who they assist and how they differ from other helping professions. Social workers can be sustain abuse therapists, child welfare specialists, and school social workers. We are not limited to just the department of social services. They can work in nursing homes, hospitals, and even in legislation.
The National Association of social workers (2008) defines the unifying primary mission or purpose of social work as “enhancing human well-being and helping meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.” (Dubois & Miley, 2014).
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen
families, and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social workers are change agents and because of that, they aim to help people develop their skills and abilities to use resources provided to them to strengthen and improve their lives and communities to resolve problems. One of the main goal of social workers is to improve the well-being and lives of the most vulnerable populations, fight against poverty, unemployment, domestic violence and the underserviced population by emphasizing on the person-in-environment and social justice model. The social work profession, considerers the individuals’ internal and external struggles, while working with the individuals to examine their relationships, family, work environment, community, and other things that might impact them and identify ways to help address problems and challenges.
I chose to go into social work because the profession is not only my dream career, but my passion as well. The ability to call myself a social worker is not just my job title, but part of my identity. I have always wanted to make an impact on our world and be a leader in my generation, and social work is where my personal skill set and strengths will be best put to use. As the last 4 years in my undergraduate studies have rolled along, I have developed my unique, personal traits alongside brilliant minds belonging to the future social workers of America. Many of which plan on going right out into the field and using their degrees to make an immediate impact in their local communities. For me, I would love the opportunity to further hone my
I obtained my Masters in Social Work (MSW) degree from India in the year 2006. As with most countries around the world, the emergence of social work in India was from charity aiming to eliminate poverty. Gradually it shifted from philanthropy to rights based approach and then to organized social work. Community organization surfaced as the most central method of social work practice along with practice of casework. Although social work is much more structured in nature now, it still operates along the conventional perspective of social work. Social work is not even recognized as a profession in India. An indicator of an occupation being publicly recognized as a profession is exhibited by