Interview with a Social Worker - Assignment Example

Interview with a social worker Latoya Tulloch Assignment: Interview with a social worker October 15, Dr. Page It was extremely interesting for me to interview a real life social worker since that would allow me to combine theory and practice. That is why I visited Adult Resource Center in Brooklyn and talked to Veronica Smith. This paper will present the information that was collected in the course of the interview. First of all, I was quite curious to learn about the educational background of Mrs. Smith as well as about her training. She told me that she received Bachelor’s degree in Social work and then visited some seminars in order to master the latest methods and get familiar with the current trends that exist in social work. According to her, this laid the foundation of her as a professional. I asked if she was licensed to provide social services and she replied that she was. Mrs. Smith suggested that she did not have problems while receiving the license since prior to the actual professional work she had a lot of practical experience, so she was not completely new to it. However, she does admit studying and taking the exam seriously. Since it was her goal to work as a social worker, she could not miss this chance. In addition to that she wanted to have a good professional start. Speaking about the events that brought her to this particular field of activity, Mrs. Smith said that she once read a book about Jane Addams and was inspired by her example. Indeed, prior to reading she thought that rich people would be willing to help the poor only in fiction, but the reality was more surprising. So, she claims this woman to be her role model. That is why Mrs. Smith started to be socially active from high school: she participated in different clubs that helped the community. When it was time to think about the degree, she had not doubt about what path she wanted to pursuit in her life. She worked hard and finally received her degree which allowed her to apply for a suitable job. As for the previous job experience, Mrs. Smith mentioned quite a few. She recalled working in a homeless shelter for some time in order to gain practical experience of interacting with people who need social services. She recalls this time with warmth in her voice, pointing out that she was young and idealistic. Mrs. Smith said that the latter did not mean that she did not have an accurate account of the situation, but she simply tried many options that her later experience proved to be not effective enough. Then there was another place where she worked in – the community center. In spite of the fact that the working conditions were better, she did not enjoy the work very much and soon started looking for a different one. Concerning the question of the activities that she had to perform as a social worker, Mrs. Smith noted that they are written in her job description, but she would gladly provide me with a list. One of the major ones was to provide psychological help for the people who visited the center. Thus, she had to identify the issue and put her efforts into eliminating the negative consequences of it or at least reduce them. As for other activities that she had to perform is to provide the clients with a list of places where they could receive adequate medical care, legal support and similar help. The professional role that Mrs. Smith is expected to play focuses on providing the clients with various information that will help them cope with their problems both in the short as well as long term. It is obvious that she does not have to know everything, but she is obliged to direct the people towards the sources of information or at least places where they will be able to receive help of specialists. While performing her work, Mrs. Smith is supposed to be a leader and encourage the clients to cope with all the problems that they might face. The question about target group was a difficult one for her. Mrs. Smith replied: “Just about every person who feels that one is in need of our services”. Indeed, being a generalist, she is expected to deal with any kind of situation that she might encounter. As a result, she does not specialize at one particular group of clients, but seeks to help everyone. What is more important is that Mrs. Smith has had training in different fields so that she would be able to help a wide range of people, not only those who are commonly expected to need assistance of a social worker. That is why she does not make a difference between people that she has to work with. The range of services that is provided by the organization where Mrs. Smith works is also important for the understanding of the peculiarities of social work. Thus, the center that she represents provides people with temporary shelter. It is temporary, because the people are required look for a suitable replacement in the near future. The center also provides the clients with psychological support. Every person who feels like talking to a specialist about some inner problems could do so in this facility. What is more important, the center provides people with information about other agencies where they could turn for help, this way showing them the path that they should follow in order to cope with the issues that they had. In the course of the conversation, Mrs. Smith revealed that she preferred to work with individuals rather than groups. According to her, individual activities allowed her to use her potential to its fullest. That is the reason why the help that she provided in one on one meetings was generally more effective. In addition to that, Mrs. Smith earned a reputation of a successful worker who could help to solve almost every individual problem. It is obvious that she did not refuse to take group activities and did her best to help people in this format, but her preference was to work individually. The professional development was the topic that Mrs. Smith wanted to talk a lot about. According to her, a social worker who does not focus on professional development will never be successful. In addition to that, it may be advisable not only to read books and relevant articles, but exchange the knowledge with colleagues, especially who work in similar or rather similar circumstances. In this case, a social worker will learn about situations that are taken from real life and about successful ways of coping with them. Moreover, this knowledge should not be considered to be excessive, but quite helpful, especially under unexpected circumstances that were not mentioned in the job description. After all, the ability of a social worker to find unusual solutions to various problems is extremely valuable. However, in the course of performing professional duties, it is rather important to think about self care. One of the advices that Mrs. Smith shared was to keep an open mind and never take problems of the clients too close. It is obvious that this should not affect the quality of help that she provided. Quite the opposite: in every case she should be a professional, but it would be advisable to forget about the problems when she needed some time to relax or “to charge the batteries” as she put it. Mrs. Smith pointed out that there was nothing wrong with taking a step back and spending some time for self care. It will only help contribute to the quality of her help. Read More