Superpowers!
This blog title is a mash-up between the final, breathtaking line of Mary Oliver's incredible poem, Wild Geese, and an awesome TEDx talk one of my professors showed us ("Social Workers Are Superheroes"), and my own love, passion, crazy excitement for my profession of social work.
I've just started my foundation year of graduate school of social work, and it has been a wild ride so far. I actually thought about naming this blog that (One Wild Ride), but I also hope that in a few years it won't be quite so wild, just pleasantly exciting. And that title is kind of cheesy.
Why has it been so wild? I got back from living abroad for a year in York, England (which was life-changing and amazing), and then four days later went to Orientation for this, my master's program. It was a quick turn-around. Oh, and I had just gotten engaged! All incredible things, for which I am so grateful, but definitely a strange few weeks to live in.
I really love this crazy social work path that I'm on right now. Even when I'm exhausted, I feel so lucky to get to go to my job/school/internship each day and be a fledgling social worker. I got so excited the first time I entered a case note into ETO, I wrote an email to myself about it. (For the record, it was on September 24th, my last day of being 25!
Social Workers are pretty undervalued, in my opinion. If you watched the TED talk, you'll see how people stereotype our profession. Peace-loving hippies, grumpy nosers who peer into your lives looking for flaws, incompetent bimbos who don't get stuff done - I know what people think. But I LOVE Anna's vision of the profession, which is what I have also seen so far in school, work, and my internship.
Social workers look for the strengths in other people and CELEBRATE them. They help people find their superpowers. I don't think anyone has ALL the superpowers, but we each have some. For me, this is related to my faith. I am a Lutheran with lots of interfaith beliefs. I think that a divine spirit exists in each of us.
Social work is like the secular answer to being a pastor or chaplain. Spiritual leaders help people find their inner voice of God and listen to it; social workers help people find their inner strengths and use them. I guess I didn't really decide to practice on the secular side of things, it is just where I feel is the right fit for me. My faith is a big part of what I do, though.
I kept a blog last year, and it is one of my favorite ways of remembering my happy (and difficult) times in York, England. I love looking back on it. This blog will help me understand, reflect on, and dissect the vagaries of this profession and keep ahold of my inner sense of peace and well-being. Writing reminds me how grateful and lucky I am to be here, a master's student of social work. It feels like the utmost privilege to be in graduate school, learning about my clients' superpowers - and discovering my own along the way.
I've just started my foundation year of graduate school of social work, and it has been a wild ride so far. I actually thought about naming this blog that (One Wild Ride), but I also hope that in a few years it won't be quite so wild, just pleasantly exciting. And that title is kind of cheesy.
Why has it been so wild? I got back from living abroad for a year in York, England (which was life-changing and amazing), and then four days later went to Orientation for this, my master's program. It was a quick turn-around. Oh, and I had just gotten engaged! All incredible things, for which I am so grateful, but definitely a strange few weeks to live in.
I really love this crazy social work path that I'm on right now. Even when I'm exhausted, I feel so lucky to get to go to my job/school/internship each day and be a fledgling social worker. I got so excited the first time I entered a case note into ETO, I wrote an email to myself about it. (For the record, it was on September 24th, my last day of being 25!
Social Workers are pretty undervalued, in my opinion. If you watched the TED talk, you'll see how people stereotype our profession. Peace-loving hippies, grumpy nosers who peer into your lives looking for flaws, incompetent bimbos who don't get stuff done - I know what people think. But I LOVE Anna's vision of the profession, which is what I have also seen so far in school, work, and my internship.
Social workers look for the strengths in other people and CELEBRATE them. They help people find their superpowers. I don't think anyone has ALL the superpowers, but we each have some. For me, this is related to my faith. I am a Lutheran with lots of interfaith beliefs. I think that a divine spirit exists in each of us.
Social work is like the secular answer to being a pastor or chaplain. Spiritual leaders help people find their inner voice of God and listen to it; social workers help people find their inner strengths and use them. I guess I didn't really decide to practice on the secular side of things, it is just where I feel is the right fit for me. My faith is a big part of what I do, though.
I kept a blog last year, and it is one of my favorite ways of remembering my happy (and difficult) times in York, England. I love looking back on it. This blog will help me understand, reflect on, and dissect the vagaries of this profession and keep ahold of my inner sense of peace and well-being. Writing reminds me how grateful and lucky I am to be here, a master's student of social work. It feels like the utmost privilege to be in graduate school, learning about my clients' superpowers - and discovering my own along the way.
Comments
Post a Comment