Social Work Interview Paper

Special Populations Agency Interview On February 16th of 2016, an interview was conducted with Mrs. Sharon Mosley Walker. Mrs. Walker is a Commission Investigator for the State of Florida. She was a former Protection Investigator (PI) for Children and Family Service of Jacksonville, Florida. She also worked as a Probation and Correctional officer for the State of Florida.

to interview, was due to the common interest I have with her as a future Mental health counselor. The specialties she works with and the population of clients she serves is exactly where and what I want to do as a mental health counselor. In addition to her specialties, she is an independent counselor, and holds membership with Emotionally Focused Therapy/EFT (smith,2015n.d.). Ms. T currently has an office located at 3307 Duke

As I read the case study of Almeada and baby Anne, I was inspired by her case manager Barbra LaRosa, she provided social care and became the “bridge” between Almeade and the systems. One function of bridging is to narrow the gap between the services being offered and the needs of the individuals who are receiving those services. (Woodside, M. R. (2015). An Introduction to the Human Services, 8th Edition) Ms. LaRosa applied social care to Almeada while she was pregnant with baby Anne, she recognized Almeada's problems in living and since she worked at the school, and Almeada had not returned from summer break, she reached out to her to see what was going on and learn more about her life.

For example services can included: investigation of allegations immediate emergency medical, nutritional, protective, and other services; case manage and risk of further abuse; alternative or improved living arrangements; assistance in obtaining benefits, including Medicare, Medicaid, and aging or disabilities services; and environmental cleanup and assistance with the victim’s pets and other animals. When dealing with the elderly “It is important for social work practitioners to understand characteristics of the older adult’s cognitive abilities, mental health and physical health to assist in the understanding of the client’s capacity to make decisions and vulnerability to abuse” (Donovan, 2010,

P4- when looking at strategies and communication techniques used with different individuals with different needs whom need to overcome different challenges many aspects must be looked at. A challenge Patrick may face may be awareness and knowledge, he may face this as well as others. Patrick may be aware that he has HIV however he may not be aware how much this will effect him and he may not be aware how to deal with it as he may lack the knowledge. In order to overcome this Patrick could educate himself in depth on HIV, this will help him come to terms with it and will also help him to help others understand HIV. A challenge Alice may face might be acceptance or belief, she may not have the determination to become alcohol free and therefore

1. What was the issue brought in by the client? What other issues came up as the therapist and client talked? The client initially went to talk about being stressed at school.

Rational for the observations The rational for using these observations retrospectively is to make sense of the whole person Amy’s life history, looking over her notes, why had she not engaged historically? Why the resistance? I wanted to understand how and why this was happening not just respond to the immediate crisis, rehouse and decontaminate her home for the behavioural pattern to be repeated. This method allowed me to explore theories of human growth and development and evaluate them with criticality (Monette et. 2014).

Prior to taking the Elders course, I had limited interactions with older adults and was not aware about the services that are needed for this specific population. Throughout the course, I was exposed to many readings, lectures and guest speakers that enabled me to gain copious amounts of new information that gave me a deeper look into the lives of older adults. I realized the importance of social workers’ understanding, and familiarizing themselves with policies that affect this population. Throughout social work schooling, students are exposed to many social theories, but this class specifically focused on the ones that directly apply to older adults. According to McInnis-Dittrich (2014), Social constructionism is a theory that people of all

Why did you choose that agency and the relevance for your future clients? Being an active duty military spouse, the military lifestyle has become a large part of my identity and I belong within the military community. Working for the Airman and Family Readiness Center as a Social Worker is very much a “calling” for me. When I was a new spouse without a support system, the stresses related to the military were much more than I ever imagined. Now that I am a seasoned spouse who will soon earn her MSW, I really want to be there for the new military members at the best of my abilities.

The quality MSW program offered at Our Lady of the Lake will enable me to conduct research into, and increase my understanding of the diversity this program entails. I know that my adaptive personality will help me to form lasting connections to further build my professional goals. I believe that I my passion, drive, having an open mind and willingness to learn will grant me success as a Social Worker. I am determined to do all that I can to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work and commit myself to improving the social and personal experiences of family’s, geriatrics, and children. After receiving my degree, I want to find a career in Child Welfare, while also servicing the geriatric

Portfolio Part B: Reflection on the overall learning within the module Prior to starting this course the MA Social Work course and the PPSWP module I felt very confident in the aspects of communicating effectively and working with a diverse range of people, and after the reading the professional capabilities framework I believe that I hold the same personal values which is expected of a social worker. The PCF6 talks about the importance of critical reflection and reflective practice explaining that it helps improve accountability, professional development and helps to you understand your own tacit knowledge and gain new knowledge, which improves outcomes and experiences for social workers. (Capabilities within the PCF, 2016) For this reflection

The career that I am considering as a future possibility is the clinical social worker. Clinical social work is a specialty practice area of social work which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness, emotional, and other behavioral disturbances. These practices can happen individually, in a group and/or in family therapy, which is common treatment styles. Social workers that provide these services are required to be licensed or certified at the clinical level in their state of practice. To become a licensed clinical social worker student who did not earn a bachelors of social work, must complete a traditional masters of a social work program that typically takes two to four years depending on whether a student attends full-time or part-time.

Introduction Person-in-Environment Framework In our practice as social workers, we are urged to view and understand human behavior as a set of complex interactions between individuals and their environment. This is known as the person-in-environment framework. This framework encourages us to acknowledge the influence of environment on our lives and provides a beneficial framework to think about and understand human behavior (Hutchinson, 2017). Understanding our work from this perspective allows us to approach our clients from a multi-dimensional stance, taking into consideration how various factors, including but not limited to, race, class, age and gender create individual identity and shapes an individual’s experience in the context of

Interning at DFCS has most certainly impacted my personal, professional, and academic goals. Before my internship, I knew I wanted to pursue my Master of Social Work after graduation and had some ideas about potential careers within the social work realm. My internship with DFCS has truly solidified my desire to pursue an MSW. While I have enjoyed my placement at DFCS, the internship has shown me that I don’t think DFCS is necessarily the agency I would like to work with after graduating with my masters. My work with DFCS (and seeing how many of our clients struggle with substance abuse) has solidified my thoughts that I would like to one day work as a substance abuse and mental health counselor.

I feel that my education at the University of North Texas has prepared me for a career in social work because it gave me opportunities to branch out of my comfort zone and become familiar with multiple populations of people. Before entering the BSW Program at UNT I was set on working with the geriatric population. I had worked with geriatrics before and was very comfortable with them, forming connections was easy, and I felt this was the population I was meant to be working with. Once I was accepted into the program though I learned that just because I had experience and was comfortable working with this specific population, it didn’t mean I had to continue working with them. My professors provided us with many opportunities to learn about and become familiar with many different populations.