Social Work Program - Essay Example

My dad saw me and waved, that I didn’t “see” either. My dad was, however, quite enthusiastic and cool about the whole thing, though he never actually discussed it with me, since he could see I was ashamed of what he did. The turning point came the day when he left his court, it was freezing and mum decided to drive to him and, I agreed to accompany her. I was disappointed in a way, I expected to find hordes of desperate uneducated and hopeless people at the shelter, a few appeared that way, but several of those I talked to seemed reasonable and sane enough for me to wonder what they were doing in shelters.

A young man, who told me of his dream to join college, was shattered by addiction to drugs, and he left home because he could not face his parents. He still hoped to pull himself out of the situation; that night I plucked the courage and asked dad to tell me about what he did. By the time he was done, my perspective had undergone a paradigm shift, and when I asked him why, he told me a story about his past, which I was not familiar with. For three years in his youth he had struggled with drugs and ended up in a shelter where he spent 6 months.

Someone helped him get back on his feet again, but he had decided he would always show his appreciation for as long as he could. Therefore, my dad, a hotshot banker, once depended on a shelter from sustenance, now I was ashamed, not of his past, but my closed-mindedness. From that point on, I tried to learn as much as I could about social work from my dad and my teachers. Now I can say that my dad’s example influenced me a lot and I appreciate the chance to have helped me find my true vocation.

My key values in live are honesty, fairness and compassion for everyone, I believe everyone deserves a second chance, and nobody should be judged because of their current situation, since it is important we try to find out how someone has got there. I also avoid judging or criticizing people because I believe until you know all about someone’s problems and the background circumstances, you are ill-equipped to decide if he/she is willing to change his/her life or not. Everyone should be listened to, supported and given the benefit to doubt his or her social status (Arwen, 2012).

The main strength that may enable me to become a good social worker is that I have a compassionate nature. Besides, I am an adept at compartmentalizing my issues; that is to say, if someone makes me angry at some point I will not project it on the next person I meet, since I deal with issues independently. I believe this is particularly crucial, since many of the people social workers need to face are not easy to deal with and require infinite amount of patience. I may not have it in infinite quantities, but I have enough to deal with most of the challenges a social worker is expected to deal with.

Communication skills are vital for any social worker, and I have excellent communication skills, I am a good listener who can easily assume the other person’s perspective, hence, understand their situation better. Social work requires emotional maturity and experience; in the past, I have spent many hours volunteering and, as such, I consider myself modestly experienced. I hope to join the