Completed First Year of Social Work Field Placement

       
I had my last day of placement the other day. It was difficult for me to leave because I had gotten quite attached to the staff and most of all to the women and the work we were doing together.

The part that has been most gratifying to me is that this experience has confirmed for me my interest and desire to make this career change from marketing to social work. I feel that this type of work gives me the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives and this, in turn, helps me feel that my work/life has a purpose.

I remember when I first started my internship at the women’s health clinic back in October and how I felt so nervous and excited at the beginning. I wanted to learn all that I had to learn and do the best job that I could do and at the same time, I was terrified of making a mistake. Since then, I’ve learned that making mistakes is part of reality in being a social worker/intern.

There is no such thing as a perfect session because you can always think of things that you could have asked or mentioned after the fact. Now that I’m thinking about this, this may also be true of fully-trained social workers…

Also, the whole process of the internship and supervision or training that is part of the placement imposes on you a type of introspection that has you examine not just what the client tells you but also your responses and in so doing, you have the opportunity to not only improve your technique for the future but also to ultimately learn to isolate your personal biases and responses from the work with clients.

In short, the more you learn, the more you need to also work on yourself but the whole process is incredibly enlightening. And if you are lucky to have a good supervisor to guide you, it makes a world of a difference. The two supervisors/mentors that I had during the last few weeks of my internship helped me grow and feel supported in a such a special way.

I feel so grateful and lucky to be granted this opportunity to make this career change. I’m almost done with this year’s work. I just have some finishing touches to make on one paper and then I have one more paper to go.

How are you finding the process of making a career change? Are you having similar experiences or totally different ones? Please feel free to share any of your thoughts or comments.

Thank you for sharing your fabulous photos!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cresny/4564498311/sizes/m/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cresny/4564501183/sizes/m/in/photostream/