I would like to use this opportunity to give thanks to the School of Social Work and the entire committee for reconsidering my application.
My commitment and motivation to study MSW program at Memorial University are due to the school’s creative approaches to critical thinking for leadership in diverse social work practice. I am excited about the school’s inclusion of all ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds of students. As a woman of colour with a learning disability, I am pleased and honoured to be affiliated with such an esteemed school.
My career goal is to work with the Children’s Aid Society; to provide help to children, adolescents and their families in need of support. My desire for this profession began from my troubled
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Shortly after I was introduced to a social worker, he spoke in a non-judgemental manner and he reassured to investigate into the issue. Surprisingly, the social worker came to our home and spoke with my parents. He decided to remove me from the home and be placed in Catholic Children’s Aid group home for young girls.
Subsequently, my school and personal life were therefore highly traumatic. I suffered emotionally, which affected my self-esteem and self-worth. Trusting people became extremely challenging, consequently; causing one to be defiant and rejecting any positive aspect of life. I was in such a dark place that I couldn 't see past the negative. I could not have survived them without the aid of the counsellors and social workers that assisted and referred me to resources. Nonetheless, I constantly battled financial difficulties in order to graduate high school and embark on an undergraduate career. I was essentially paying my way through university on minimum wage, a monumental task. My first two years of school proved quite difficult because of this. But I persevered, overcame the obstacles and refused to be a statistic.
In my current professional position with Ghanaian Canadian Multicultural Centre. I provide case management services to youths in a broad variety of circumstances, encouraging them to cultivate age appropriate functioning in their social environments. Aside from working full time and raising three
While as a Candy Striper at Memorial Regional Hospital, she developed an interest in Social Work from a health perspective but her main interest began when she read a book “Black like me” which was about a white male who was interested in race relations in the country where he would take drugs to make his skin darker and travel to different areas to try to experience what a black male would experience. Because of this, she chose to be in the Social Work Program.
Including loosing my grandparents who were my last bit of familial support in 2014, being sexually assaulted causing me to have to withdraw from several classes, being rushed to UF Health/Shands emergency room, and being admitted to Meridian, a psychiatric Behavioral Institute, for a period of time. After a few visits to the Counseling and Wellness Center, I learned that everyone goes through something but your reaction to your circumstances is what is the determinative factor of your strength and future success. I could easily use these negative situations as an excuse for my actions, which would only make my situation even worse. Or I could accept my wrong doings and keep fighting for the opportunity that was given to me in 2012 when I was admitted to the University of Florida. Attending the University of Florida is not a want of my it is a necessity, words cannot explain the endless opportunities I have been awarded while being a student here. As a child it seemed like a goal that will never be achieved considering my severe circumstances of poverty. The reason I continue to stress the importance of opportunity is because without the University of Florida I do not know if the doors will open again or where I will end. But I know right here and right now I have to fight for the last hope I have in me,
This helps practitioner’s work together for the welfare of children. It promotes the Every Child Matters outcomes to reinforcing how important it is for all child careers to work together.
Social workers play a crucial role in many professional realms. With the focus on social workers in educational settings, I interviewed Erika Bougdanos who is a Dean of Students at Niles North High School, located in north suburban Skokie, Illinois. Bougdanos has been working at Niles North for over ten years as a Dean and holds her MSW degree and Type 75 certification (Illinois Administrative Certificate). Bougdanos mentioned that although the high school is highly ethnically diverse, the majority of the student population is White. While Bougdanos interacts with many students throughout her work week, she mentioned that the students she primarily sees in her office are those from low-income or minority backgrounds.
I strongly believe that the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work MSW program would provide an excellent learning opportunity in my social work endeavours. Aside from the faculty resources that Canada’s oldest and most prestigious school of social work has to offer, The University plays a major role in shaping the methodologies and practices used in social work practice nationally, such as ‘evidence based practice’; therefore, the MSW program offered would situate me in an academic institution that offers the benchmark in social work education. I understand that to be awarded the honour of doing my MSW at Factor-Inwentash dictates a complete commitment to the program, for which I am dedicated.
I want to become a Child Life specialist in the future. Child life specialists are trained professionals with knowledge in helping children and their families overcome some of life’s challenging and stressful events. Child life specialist have knowledge in child development and family systems, child life specialists promote effective coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities(Child Life Council). They provide emotional and psychosocial support for children and families in a health care setting based on the individuals needs. Because they understand that a child’s wellbeing depends on the support of the family, child life specialists provide information, support and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family
With a focus on the University of Pittsburgh’s MSW program, I anticipate a curriculum that will give me tools and unique procedures to analyze and understand clients’ different life situations. This program will provide me with the knowledge to evaluate and apply research methods. I will become more activity oriented to the prevention and alleviation of social problems. Upon completion of master degree, I would have demonstrated empathy along with a genuine desire to improve the quality of the lives of others. The University of Pittsburgh’s MSW program will not only offer a path of
high year, but the experience has made me who I am today. Depression overtook my life at the age of 13, and I had to be taken away for my own safety. I was a danger to myself and it had everyone worried about my well being along with me. After being sent away to a mental facility I had mastered different coping skills to help me recover from my illnesses and disorders. I spent an entire week working on just me and not having to worry about fitting in with the others or being judged, based on my flaws. As I knew I was safe and that we all had something in common being there. Later release, I continued my way to recovery with the help of support from my family and friends. Once at my best, I began to see the beauty of the world and realized how important happiness really is. I accomplished not to let the scars of my past tie me down. There was one major lesson I did learn and that was my inner strength to keep me going. Due to the fact that the medical field helped me without judgement, I know I am going to help others.
The results were obtained through surveys administered in 2010 at a social work conference, with 226 subjects completing the survey in full. The majority of the subjects were female and/or Caucasian, and a most of them had achieved at least an MSW.
On September 21, 2015, I met with Ms. Katie, a student in the MSW program at NCSU, to conduct an interview. We met at Starbucks in Cary, in the crossroads shopping center. Ms. Katie’s responses helped me learn and think about social workers in the child welfare social field. As a prospective social worker, my questions were formed based thoughts that I was concerned about my responsibilities in the social work field..
Upon entering into Barry University (B.U.), I was an insecure black African- American woman full of passion coupled with a myriad misconceptions of what I thought social work consist of. However, during my two years as a undergrad student I learned that those misconceptions had kept me stagnant in facing and understanding my past traumatic events of life that could have had an negative effected on further clients and how I interact with others. For that reason, I would say my best experience in Barry’s BSW program was an assignment that I had to partake in called the Cultural Journal. This assignment not only hope me to learned about my cohorts’ culture as a Philippine woman, I learned that our culture had a lot in common such as that the
I am interested in becoming a master-level social worker to gain the skills necessary to become a well-rounded advocate for change. Likewise, I am interested in having the opportunity to work with faculty who are conducting research and making an impact in the Charlotte community. As a social worker, I plan on working towards eliminating the school-to-prison pipeline, which directs youth into the juvenile and criminal justice system without taking into consideration how social problems, such a poverty, abuse, and drugs, directly affects their behavior. In addition, I would like to tackle the issues surrounding adolescent sexuality, including teenage pregnancy, STI transmission, and sex education in schools. My target population are vulnerable youth within urban cities. Since The University of North Carolina Charlotte is located in one of the largest and most diverse cities in the nation, I have decided to seek admission into the MSW program. Having the opportunity to utilize the skills I will be learning in the classroom while working hands on with my target population is of utmost importance to me. Upon graduating with my MSW, I plan on continuing my work in the Charlotte community and working as a full-time school social worker. UNC Charlotte’s MSW programs puts emphasis on serving vulnerable populations, which is congruent with the type of people I would like to work with.
We as people live at intersections. We have multiple identities that form the complex people that we are. It is important when providing services to others that we acknowledge and respect those intersections. As a woman of color, a Chicana, oldest child from a working class family who was the first and only person in my family to graduate from college I see the world through many different lenses. Through the MSW program at St. Catherine University – University of St. Thomas I hope to continue my education, use my unique experiences, and pursue my long term career goal of working in the mental health field providing therapy to individuals and families. If accepted to this program I would like to apply to be considered as an Area of Emphasis
Before beginning the Master of Social Work program at Laurier I figured I had a strong understanding of what social work was. However, I quickly learned that I had only scratched the surface. I knew oppression existed, but I never understood the depth of it. I now know that I was afraid of it. It was easy for me to stay silent, because it was such a comfortable position to be in. Doing nothing meant I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. This was influenced by the privilege I had.
While undertaking undergraduate studies I developed a special interest in children’s human rights and child care and protection within state care. Through my work with children living in a state run home, I found the niche where I now need to better equip myself academically in order to serve this group in the way and on the level I would like. My career goal is to work with children who are wards of the state, especially those with a history of behavioral and emotional problems. I am most interested in