Deciding to major in Social Work has been the best decision I have ever made. At first I just picked it because I thought I could help people and make a difference in the world. Now that I've taken quite a few social work classes in pursuit of my college degree, I realize that it is something even more amazing than that. It takes a special type of person to commit them self to this type of work and I am honored to be given this opportunity to try.
Social workers have a strengths perspective that they use with clients. It sounds pretty simple at first but it's actually kind of amazing. The strengths perspective is simply finding and focusing on the strengths of a person to help them out of their current situation. Social workers believe that every single person has a strength. Some may be harder to find, but everyone has something that they can use as a positive in their life. For example, a girl who loves to talk but doesn't have a lot of people to talk to may be feeling extremely lonely all the time. Thinking of her love of being talkative could lead you to try and find her a job fundraising over the phone. Taking something that they excel at and using it to their best advantage is exactly what the strengths perspective is all about.
Social work has taught me to be more creative when problem solving. There is no just giving up if something doesn't work with our clients. Most times we are their only hope. We have to exhaust all options and think creatively to try and find solutions to help. Social work has also taught me all about empowering people. It is not simply enough to just do something for someone. This isn't going to help change their situation in life. This will only make them feel like a charity case who is not able to do anything for themselves. You have to find the tools and resources to let them be able to do things for themselves. Empowering people and showing them how to function successfully on their own is so so important.
Social work has also taught me to think of the bigger picture. It has taught me to look at the reasons behind why some people do what they do. It has taught me to be more understanding and empathetic. It has taught me to find out the information first and to save the judgments for later. The more I learn about the subject of social work, the more my eyes have been opened to how complex some family situations can be. There are no black and white answers. There is no one best way to help someone. Two different people will look at the same situation and try to help in two completely different ways.
I cannot describe how much I have learned just about life from being a social work major. I am so thankful to all of my professors and fellow students who have supported me in my first two years of this life long journey.
