Personal Narrative: My Experience As A Social Worker

Watching this video only reassures me of the passion I have to work in this field. It makes me reflect on the reasons why and on my past personal experiences that have brought me to this point. There is a saying that most social workers are “wounded healers.” Meaning that we have experienced trauma or unfortunately have had to be around or seen those kinds of situations. I consider myself to be a wounded healer. As a child for many years I experienced many situations that no child should have had to endure. Therefore, for me being a social worker means that I will make change happened in a child or families lives. Just like that one social worker out of a couple that went out of her way to positively affect mine.
Towards the end of the video Shane Saulter states that he wanted to stay far away from the social work profession.
We were a low income family. Not forgetting to mention my mother was an immigrant who couldn’t speak English. How were we supposed afford getting our own counseling? I was still so hurt and I wasn’t sure those ten counseling sessions where enough to uncover my distress. I could tell my mother was still lost towards the end. They left and the visitations were over; I guess because we had met all those checks on their papers or perhaps because of the conclusion to the court hearing. Reflecting on my childhood and listening to Mr. Saulter it only makes me want to discover the how’s and why’s of the system in place. I know there is going to be times where my hands are going to be tied. Those times where someone isn’t going to help me, help them. Consequently, due to my experiences I want to try harder and look extra hard to see if I can do more than what a piece of paper tells me to check off. Sometimes it can just be the words you say or the gestures of care you offer that will positively impact a child or a family for the rest of their