At my graduate school of social work, we (all first year students) are now at the point where we’re supposed to be updating our resumes to reflect the experiences we obtained this past year at our respective places of internship. These updated resumes, in turn, will help the field placement office find us our internship positions for next year.
In addition, we need to be figuring out which social work skills we have developed and which we have yet to nurture as to ensure our taking an internship next year that will allow us to fill in any necessary gaps in our training. For example, one important skill that I have not yet been able to develop is long-term counseling experience. At my current setting, I tend to meet with most of my clients only once. Occasionally, there are a few with whom I may meet two or three times. Therefore, long-term counseling will definitely be high on my “wish-list” of requirements for next year’s placement.
Other important things to be considered for next year are the type of setting(s) that we would prefer to work in (such as a hospital, school, residential facility etc.), the population with whom we’d like to work with (for ex., all ages, adults, adolescents, young children), as well as the issues we would like to focus on such as child development, severe mental illness, substance abuse and so on.
In light of the fact that I do not have a definitive picture in my mind of what I would like to focus on next year, I am most grateful that I will be meeting with my faculty advisor next week. I could use some guidance… As a social worker in training, I’d also like to make sure that I’m covering as many of the bases as possible prior to graduating but inevitably one cannot do everything and therefore some compromises will have to be made…
Do you have any suggestions on which type of setting or experience may be a good place for my second year placement? I’d really appreciate hearing any suggestions you may have.
Photo credit: Mckay Savage
