Essay Example. Personal Reflections on Becoming a Social Worker

During this semester and all my life experience as Psychosocial Student have gained knowledge and appreciated that the content which was covered never failed and it made me gain a new perspective on many topics and the issues affecting societies today (Asch, 1984). Before I made the final decision to join social work, I had very little information about social work except for the few journals and movies which I watched about social work. My opinion about the social worker was of a person trying to help members of the society who were in abusive situations and conditions, and to my surprise on my idea was that even though the social worker was trying to help but they couldn't manage the situations.

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I always viewed social workers as different from society and their client without knowing that the social worker always becomes part of society in order to have complete solutions of the problems and the situations which their client are faced with. I firmly believe that the principles values and role of any social worker must include being a rock and must always be a person of strength who is ready to give support to those who don't have enough power in society. The social workers in the community have the responsibility to support, listen to people, and then provide advice on the best step or solutions to take for the situations.

People are faced with different social problems in society, so social workers must be ready for different situations and challenges (Gibelman, 2000). The media and the community have always portrayed the social workers as immune to their client's life and the problems which their clients are facing; these assumptions, according to men, can be correct to some extent (Hawk, 1997). Social workers are always in a position of solving the problems that their clients are facing (Gold, 2012). I would also compare a social worker with a coach who is working and needs positive results in all situations. A good example is where a social worker must always know the resources which are available within the community to counter any pandemic. MacDonald & MacDonald (2007) like any other carrier, there are several controversial issues which are with the social work profession, and some people assume that all social workers can handle a lot of pressure with ease which might not be the case. Still, it will depend on the individual personality and the ability to handle stress.

What motivated me most to join social work was my desire and goal to work with people by being in direct contact with the community. I have always lived with the morale and motivation that one day ill will make a change to the community by even putting an impact on the homeless and the street children and make them smile and feel loved and welcome within the society. My desire to help motivated me to join social work professions, which would allow me to change the world. During my childhood had always admired how social workers would relate with people and understand different people with different economic backgrounds, this made me to always wanted to be like them. In life, for one to make critical decisions, there must be several motivating factors or the change which the person is willing to bring to that particular field.

Zufferey (2013) social work has allowed me to deal with people in my daily activities and in a very professional, constructive manner while working together with the people to help them solve the problems. I always admired developing excellent and immeasurable counseling skills, and the best opportunity where I could improve my expertise was in social work. I admired counseling skills as it could help me listen to other people and get their stories and learn from their accounts.

I was also motivated by the fact that social work is becoming a fast-growing carrier, which is having intelligent and ambitious professionals who are ready to assist more significant populations with different needs and challenges. I joined social work because I needed it most, and I was prepared for the difficult circumstances, helping the poor who were facing the hard side of life.

The policy of everyone matters is among the words which pushed me as a social worker (Weinstein, 2014). As a social worker, I had the urge for lasting significant change, which requires collaboration with other people, thus at the individual and community having mastered that the roles of a social worker are dynamic and it changes according to the situation I had to prepare to adapt to although and soft conditions as a social worker. Being that the social worker is evolving and shifting from intervention to prevention measures as a social worker, I had to be flexible and ready for change.

A social worker student, I knew very well that I had to set time for work experience in a community-based social care center, having in mind that the knowledge I gained from the school experiments would not be enough. I had to apply to different organizations as a support worker in the adult day services, where we assisted in taking care of people who were having different social challenges, which included relationship problems and minor illnesses. I participate in both paid and unpaid contracts, which helped me gain field experience as a social worker. The constant interaction with people builds courage and the interaction skills needed in the social work field. Being able to complete the contract gave me vast experience in different services and assisted me in understanding social care and mostly social work. Listening to the service users and ensuring that they were at the center of every activity that is conducted at the center were among the necessary and essential values (Yip, 2006).

I also participated in private social care, and during this time, I had to encounter different people from age to sex with different social challenges. As a dedicated student of social work, I had to add a lot of effort and work extra hard on delivering to the community. There was a time I contributed to the community fundraising program, which transpired as my major project during the training period. My ability to manage time and to divide my time between different community social services gave me an insight into looking for different service users who could make me gain different experiences.

Benefits of Being a Social Worker

Being a social worker, I'm always wearing scars and being driven by my ability to hide blemishes and not easily expose my feelings to the public, who believes that I'm the solution to their problems. The judgment and professional consequences always make me appear bold and courageous to face my clients (Forrester, Westlake & Glynn, 2012). Even though the fear of being judged is not warranted in our profession, this is because the professions require those people who are ready to face any form of difficulty. I have always assisted my clients in very professional manner to deal with the issues and social challenges they face in life. I have contributed to the community with my love for volunteering, and this has lived with me from the time I was a child. Many people have benefited from the donation drive, which I created to provide shelters to children and single mothers on the streets.

I always feel motivated, and it is a significant benefit to me when I'm in the position of striving to create positive changes to the disadvantaged people within the community. For me being a social worker has been part of me for a very long time, and my dream to continue serving the city will be alive for life. On a personal level, when relating to my friends, I realized that a lot of my efforts were going to assist people who are in need. I always struggle to bring comfort to my friends, and this character of a social worker developed into a profession. Being a social worker, I always dedicate my time to listen to people's stories, no matter how horrific or unique the story might appear to be. I listen to my client's stories genuinely and without any sign of being judgmental to come up with an unbiased judgment. The moment of listening to stories from different people, I develop my skills of experience and the power of being, therefore, other people.

Mattsson (2014) just like have given directions to friends and relatives on social activities, social work has given me the upper hand of professionally relating to the community and being a service provider and servant to the people. Social work has given me the skills and ability to be an advocate in society, and this has helped me in bringing peace amongst different groups and families are in misunderstanding situations. In a community with different families, there is always disagreement, which requires the mediator to provide the necessary solutions, and has ever given my best to the people. I have always trained the community on how to leave and understand the LGBT member who is in most situations being rejected and judged; this has always been a challenge to me but has worked all my effort to educate my clients on togetherness and understanding each other.

Even though I have been motivated by a number of factors to be a social worker, there are a number of challenges that I have experienced during my training and life. We are always required to speak with other people about the skills and challenges that we are facing around all boundaries of psychosocial work. The challenge I'm always faced with is dynamic between the professionalism and relationship-building with society. Most of the time, I put a lot of focus on social work education, which makes me be reluctant to do other life activities. As a social work student, I always try to set my priorities on what to do and what not to do and also how to continually build warm, compassionate with other students or the other members of the community.

I have always thought deeply about how to overcome the barriers being created on my way to be a professional social worker. I had to organize my time and set my priorities throughout the day and monthly plans to help me do the unnecessary activities. During my family assessment, which happened a few weeks ago, I was asked by my family members how prepared as a social worker to help solve the crime within society and the issue of drug abuse amongst young people.

Even though I was not ready for the challenging questions, being that I determine a student of social work and being prepared at all times is my motivating factor, I provided convincing answers. I explained to my family members that the leading cause of crime and drug abuse amongst the youth is due to lack of employment, which is making them extra time to participate in illegal activities. However, much the questions were not well researched, but the answer which I gave at figure tips convinced my father, and he promised to provide me with all the necessary support as a social worker. The social worker should always be ready to give the answer and solutions to the problematic challenges within society (Gold, 2012). The responsibility is invested in the role leads which I provide to the community and the society in problem-solving.

The problem which I faced during my teamwork as a social work student was on clarification of the roles and responsibilities of the team members. Team collaboration is the power and strength of social work. The power dynamic is among the barrier which I identify to hinder our partnership as a team of social workers. The power inequities affected our contributions and voice when giving participation and ideas about the improvements to be made (Pullen-Sansfacon et al., 2012).