Personal Statement Grad Application - Admission/Application Essay Example

Personal ment Grad Application College: Personal ment Grad Application Social work is one of the most sensitive areas of community service in the world today. Since birth, my father inspired me into the social work profession through his repeated statements that “I was born to be a social worker’. This is a word that came to stick in my mind when I grew up and it became a dream that I had to dedicate efforts to. My father has worked a social worker for over 25 years in a series of compassionate organizations. As I grew up, he worked as the director of the Federal Hill House Association in Providence RI. During this time, he allowed me to participate in their volunteer programs, where I had the opportunity to interact with people with different social challenges. This built my inner passion to stay close with socially challenged people in the society. As I pursue my academic, I feel that social work is very important as it bridges the gap between those with social challenges and those without. Being a social worker will give me the opportunity to pursue this noble task of serving the disadvantaged in the society. The mission of the school of social work is “to educate diverse cadre of professional social workers who will translate our vision into practice, to produce applied and evidence-based knowledge, to produce applied and evidence-based knowledge to push this vision forward, and to create and sustain interdisciplinary and collaborative partnerships with communities toward this vision”. The role of social workers is to fight for the social justice of those who are socially disadvantaged. Social justice refers to the protection of the rights of every individual irrespective of their culture, physicality or any other challenge that may be limiting their access to social rights. Social justice seeks to provide every person with the right of human dignity. Therefore, social workers have the role to fight for the rights of the socially secluded to ensure that they receive dignified treatment within the community. In the world today, diversity management is an aspect of the society that seeks to ensure that every person irrespective of their social, cultural, physical, colour or racial difference receives equal treatment. As an evolving social worker, I know that my work goes beyond this as I have to fight for the empowerment of the socially isolated. From my own experiences in social work, unemployment is one of the most pressing issues that stand in the way of social work. Currently, I work as a social worker at the Seven Hill behaviour Health organization. In this position, I handle the mentally challenged individuals, which is a critical aspect of social work in the contemporary society. In the modern health system, health is defined as being a state of complete physical, emotional, mental and social being. Working with the mentally challenged people in the society has given me the opportunity to understand how much unemployment limits the potential of the socially weak in the society. The problem faced by the socially challenged is aggravated by the fact that most of them are unemployed. Often, this group of the community undergoes expensive treatment but they have no way to settle these bills. Most of them lose their work immediately they suffer from such illnesses, hence lacking even a means to survive. This leaves the social worker with the challenge of having to find ways of satisfying the needs of these people. It is very touching to watch such needy victims suffer from shortage of resources while they are in desperate needs. This is an issue that needs immediate attention from every social worker and the government as well. To solve the problem of unemployment, social workers have a great challenge to define workable strategies that they can use to furnish these groups of the people with enough resources. One way of absolving this challenge would be streamlining the path of justice that is often closed to these minority groups. For instance, it is crucial to fight for the rights of the socially disadvantaged within the community. They should ensure that the employers provide insurance for the employed to help in paying for their needs when the incapacitated. Another way to solve the problem of unemployment is mobilising the society in donating resources for such members of the society. Developing practical solutions to overcome the challenges that social workers face is their duties will contribute to the formation of the society. Although I have developed areas of strength through school and application, I continue to make improvements in these areas as I move forward. I take pride in my abilities to perform as a team player, my ability to build strong trusting professional client relationships, and my ability to engage at all levels that include the "isms" (gender, age, race, ethnicity, etc..). My sensitivity and my ability to advocate and truly understand where a person is at in their life, allows me to form a bond of trust during the early stages of a client /professional relationship. At this stage as a social work student, I find that this is one of my greatest strengths. In conjunction, I understand my weak areas as well. Documentation and clinical writing continues to be a work in progress. I enjoy writing and take pride in what I write. It is because of this i am confident that I will improve as I move forward. In my opinion, my most pressing area of weakness that needs development is leading all that I do with a strong emotional base, in today’s age of emotional QUATENT, where emotion plays a significant role in motivation. The area in need of development for myself is learning to make the transition from the emotional to the cognitive in order to be a BETTER decision maker in the professional political atmosphere that we as social workers are expected to perform. Beginning social work during my young age is one of the strengths that have shaped my career in this field. At the age of 13 years, I had already developed an element of care, which is crucial for every social worker. I understood the meaning of taking responsibility for those with contained social abilities. Throughout my career, I have nurtured my caring personality, which today gives me the passion of working with the socially weak. My studies have given me an opportunity to expand for knowledge as a social worker. First, I have learnt how to handle a diverse social worker issues, and to prepare for any kind of environment. Working in Seven Hill Behaviour health facility has given me a chance to expand my experience in handling a wide range of complex problems in social work. However, working in this environment has posed a challenge to my career as I feel that I still need to expand my education in legal issues tied to social work, which at times are barriers to human dignity. I have experienced difficulties in handling legal issues such as when the victims lose their jobs following their illness. I need to develop these skills so that I can push for the rights of my clients and to get the government to intervene in solving the problems of the socially disadvantaged. Distance learning is an achievement in the education sector that has been born as a result of the proliferation of technology. Fundamentally, I have the basic computer technology including opening e-mails, using the internet and handling attachments, which will assist me in my online program. However, I have little knowledge of software programs and computer hardware. Fortunately, my girl-friend works as a secretary for a large institution, and is highly competent in computer hardware and software applications. Since she is available any time I have a challenge, I feel that she will be of great help to me. Secondly, one of my friends is pursuing an online master program, and hence I have a friend to assist when the need arises. An online program will be of great advantage to me as I can still work for some time, which will be counted as internship hours. Therefore, I will have the opportunity to acquire both skills and experiences at the same time. Apart from this, my part time job will assist me to finance my studies since I have a family to maintain. Acquiring this program will assist me to develop my understanding of social work and learn how to handle complex problems within the social work field. On this note, I am convinced that the only way to solve the prevailing social problems is to improve my education to build on my strengths and improve my weak areas. Although this will be a challenge for my family and parents as they have to see me less often, I feel that it is a worthwhile decision as I try to improve my social status and that of the weak in the society. I feel that the UNE Westbrook College School of Social work is the ideal place for learning where I can have the opportunity to improve my capacity in national building as I continue to serve the community. The institution provides the learners with the opportunity to become professional social workers, who can give dignity to humanity and work towards the development of a healthy community. My goal will be to acquire the most crucial learning that will not only empower my career advancement but also promote my expertise in social constructionism. Through the support of my family, friends and the institution, I look forward towards better service for the community in the capacity of a social worker, a dream that was born since my childhood. Read More