10 Sep Respond to one colleague by explaining how a goal or another aspect of what inspired you could compliment

Respond to one colleague by explaining how a goal or another aspect of what inspired you could compliment your colleague’s choice.

STACY’S POST:

Hello everyone, my name is Stacy and I live in Nampa, Idaho.  My past social work experience includes working at the Area Agency on Aging, as a Case Manager and an Adult Protection Investigator. I’ve been a Care Coordinator for and in home care agency working with adults and children who receive Medicaid Services. I have been a Care Coordinator for an insurance company. I am pursuing my MSW degree to become a mental health counselor. I currently work for an outpatient mental health clinic and see the changes that our clinicians make every day. I have always worked in the helping profession and have a passion to help others. Pursuing my MSW will give me the knowledge needed to provide the services needed in my community to the best of my ability.

What inspired me the most was the information from our reading material where it discusses the differences between social work and other professions. This inspired me the most because it confirmed I have made the right choice in my degree choice as previously I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Psychology and was going to become a psychologist. The reading confirmed how limiting the profession of psychology is, and other professions are compared to social work. The comparison shown between social work and psychology shows the focus for psychology on the individual is psychological issues in comparison to the social work where social workers focus on the entire individual’s needs. (Cox, Tice, Long, 2019). The video  A day in the life listed several different areas of social work, geriatric, medical, forensic, and psychiatric that a social workers have to choose from. This video shows the vast field choices social workers have available. (Walden University, 2021).

In the video  A day in the life inspired me with the personal stories shared in the video. It resonated with me because they shared personal stories where they have ran into situations where they were unsure of what to do even after working in the field for a long time and that made me feel confident that it is not just me that has this feeling of what would I do if? They encourage you to reach out for help even after graduating from a program. Continued learning never stops, whether it is professional or learning from a colleague how to handle a new situation you are uncomfortable with. I learned that each individual and situation is different no matter how similar that situation may seem to another. (Walden University, 2021).

While reading from our text I was inspired to find out how many social workers are out there in forefront as champions of change. I had heard of Suze Orman because I have seen her on television before; however, I had not heard of Dr. Brene’ Brown and did not know that Samuel L. Jackson was a social worker. I know that he is very outspoken for change but did not know he was social worker. I was inspired by the information given by Dr. Brene’ Brown on the power of vulnerability. I had never thought of vulnerability as being a power. I have always thought of it as a weakness. For me previously I had always thought of vulnerability as being a negative thing instead of a positive. Dr. Brown refers to vulnerability as a way to measure courage. (Cox, Tice, Long, 2019).  

My current professional goal is to become a behavioral health counselor at the company I currently work for. The course material helped me feel more confident in my decision to choose social over psychology due to the ability to choose from future opportunities should I decide to change my path and choose another helping field. One of my hesitations in pursuing mental health was the wide array of circumstances I may face and now I feel more assured that I can ask for help and not feel “vulnerable” about asking for help. Previously I would have used the word vulnerable as a negative word; however, after the readings from Dr. Brown I can now see this word in a more positive way and share this information in my professional career with my co-workers and clients. I am sure I am not the only one that may think of vulnerability in that way.

References

Cox, L. E., Tice, C. J., & Long, D. D. (2019). Introduction to social work; An advocacy-based profession. (2nd ed.) SAGE Publications, Inc.

Walden University. (2021).  A  day in the life [Video].  http://class.walden.edu)