MSW Personal Statement
How do you think our increasingly global society impacts social work as a profession and your life? What should the role of social work be from a global perspective?
Social work professionals are the main vessels that drive the communities that we live in today (Thompson, 2015). During my previous years in the social work field, I have been elite on many things that have been going on in the world we live in today. Social work professionals play some critical roles in our society. Some of these things have brought awareness to mental health issues within all cultures, child abuse, child neglect, elderly abuse, elderly neglect. However, these topics can be some very touchy subjects to deal with some people. These things somehow shape the society we live in today. Social work professionals help these people find their way in the world as well as bring awareness to many unspoken topics (Truell & Jones, 2017). Social work professionals are always willing to go the extra mile to help those people get the help that’s needed. Therefore, social work is not something that you chose; it is something that accepts you.
On the other hand, my interest in social work developed during my senior year of high school. It is when I was a part of a club known as FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). Within the club, we would sponsor a food drive for the elderly and the least fortunate in the community around the holidays. However, I wanted to do more for those people. I needed to know how I can help them receive food not just for that week or those few days but until they can get back on their feet. Hence, right then and there, I knew social work was the career path for me.
However, what influenced my decision to seek graduate social work education at Jackson State University is the need to continue my knowledge of social work. I feel the more experience I receive in the field, the more I can do for families in my community and surrounding areas. I also think that the knowledge that I will receive on a graduate-level will allow me to work in various areas in the field of social work (Thompson, 2015). The preparations that I will receive in graduate social work at JSU will not just be necessary. I know that it will be things I can exercise in an executive setting and life itself.
Additionally, Jackson State University has an excellent social work program about my research of many different grad schools. According to my study, Jackson State graduate social work students have various educational events to attend. For example, the child welfare conference that was at the Marriott. JSU has also produced very productive people in my family who went through the MSW program as well as the BSW program. Another thing that influenced my decision to seek graduate social work education at Jackson State University was also the advance standing program.
Meanwhile, my particular interests and career goals are to pursue my long-term passion for giving back to my community and becoming a community social worker. These social work professionals administer community programs and help clients secure materials such as grants to build homes, home repair, parks, and playgrounds. (Hill, 2016). I want to provide as many resources I can to give to the needy families of my community. I am pursuing my master’s degree to provide clinical service and or manage programs in this area.
Meanwhile, my life experiences contributed to my desire to practice social work. In all honesty, I grow up in a single-parent household; my mother works two jobs to make ends meet. I had three other siblings that grow-up in the same family with me; one, in particular, is a handicap from a car accident. My brother was 22 years of age at the time the accident occurred. The accident left him paralyzed for life from the waist down.
My mother did not have resources or support. She also did not know where to go to retrieve these things. There were things throughout the house that needed to be adjusted to accommodate my brother’s disability. In addition to that, things changed for everyone in the household. I was no longer happy to come home from school; being at home was stressful. Before the accident, my brother always helps my mom with things around the house, being that she had two jobs he would help my other siblings and I with homework, cook, clean, yard work. After the accident, my brother stayed in his room all the time. All the things that he usually did around the house vanished. However, most of my mother’s attention went to my brother. She worried about him even more because he stops eating and taking his medication. Sometimes he would lock her out of his room. She would get so frustrated with him, not understanding the process he was going through, as well as not knowing how to manage the process she was going through herself. My brother tries to commit suicide twice, so he could no longer be left at home alone. In the process, my mother ended up losing one of her jobs to take care of him.
Having one income coming in, we were low on everything, such as food, soap, tissue. However, with the one income that my mother did have coming in, she proceeds in adjusting things herself, a little at a time. She tried to do herself because money was at an all-time low at the time. As she was trying to hold things together, physically and mentally, she was falling apart. As a result, she had a mild stroke which landed her in the hospital for a few days. If she had someone to help her seek the right people for resources for my brother, maybe things would not have happened the way they did. Furthermore, if my family would have perhaps sought counselling after the accident, perhaps everyone could have better. To cope with all the stress that was hanging over our heads at that time.
Meanwhile, intellectual and personal qualifications that will enable me to practice social work successfully will be more so on the owner than the intellectual (Truell & Jones, 2017). Intellectual I cannot see any qualification enabling me not to practice social work successfully. However, personally, two things can allow me to practice social work successfully. The first personal qualification that will enable me to practice social work would be my motherly instances. For example, I am a mother of two, and to see other children being harm by their parents or caregiver bothers me.
As a mother, I go beyond for my children to make sure they are in the nurture and well-taken care. However, being in the field of social work, I have observed many home settings where parents and caregivers are not as loving and supportive. I feel that all children need to feel safe, love supported and care. Therefore, children are my weakness and mistreating them is one thing that I will not accept. The second personal qualification will be the mistreatment of older people. As a certified nursing assistant, I have work with the elderly community for eight years. To work in that particular setting, I was able to observe how vulnerable the elderly can be. They are like children, but they are not children they are adult that carry the same objective as children. For example, the elderly community needs to feel safe, love and care. With all things concerted, my sensitivity toward the elderly population and children will enable me to be a successful social worker. The limitations that I see in my work experiences, attributes and skills that would need to be in addressing. To practice would be me giving a person too many chances. In my previous experiences in the field of social work, I was that person who provided a person with two or more opportunities before saying, “okay, that is it.” However, I do not like to give up on people so quickly. Lastly, I also need to address the way I go overbroad, helping people. I am learning that there is a difference between helping someone and crippling a person. I have to discuss these things because, in my supervisor, “people will take your kindness for weakness.” Therefore, these are some limitations that I need to address to practice social work successfully (Litwin & Levinson, 2018).
Meanwhile, being a full-time mother, wife and student while I was completing my bachelor’s degree is a perfect example of my balancing ability. However, I cannot take all the credit; I am thankful to have a great support system. For instance, when I was in the process of getting my bachelor’s degree, my husband would pick the kids up from school. He would also do other household chores, all while working a full-time job. My mother also came up to stay with my family and me to help out from time to time. She is also a great addition to my support system. When my mother came to visit, she would cook, get the kids ready for bed and made sure I stayed force on everything about school. With a great support system in effect, it allows me to get study time as well as complete other things such as homework, research papers and group projects. My husband would also tag along with me from time to time for different public educational events on and off-campus when I was an undergraduate student at The University of Mississippi. With that begin said, my husband and other family members support me in everything I set out to complete. Having a great support system helps me balance outside responsibilities as well as academic responsibilities.
References
Hill, R. P. (2016). Poverty as we never knew it: THE source of vulnerability for most of humankind. Journal of Marketing Management, 32(3-4), 365-370.
Litwin, H., & Levinson, M. (2018). The association of mobility limitation and social networks in relation to the late-life activity. Ageing & Society, 38(9), 1771-1790.
Thompson, N. (2015). Understanding social work: Preparing for practice. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Truell, R., & Jones, D. N. (2017). Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development. In Encyclopedia of Social Work.