Social Work?

For my interview onto a MSc in Social Work course I have been asked to explain why i want to enter social work. Apart from saying that I enjoy working with people %26amp; find it rewarding helping people, I'm not sure how to explain my motivations - what are they looking for in my answer?


Also, what do you consider are the challenges of becoming a Social Worker?


(I am currently volunteering in Kenya and have very limited access to books etc to thoroughly research this)

Social Work?
Social work is concerend with more than just "helping people" it is concerned with structural and system level change that contributes (causes) some of the challenges that people experience. So you will probably want to talk about social justice relate motivations (making society a better place) changing the causes of peoples challenges. If you are going to go back to Kenya or studing in Kenya. You will want to contextualize your answer in the problems in Kenya. DA
Reply:I want you to use key words like "I like working with people by empowering them, advocating for them and supporting them. I don't try to impose my person views on them as Report It

Reply:I am able to separate my personal believes from my professional conduct, although you can be used where appropriate. I am able to work with people in a anti-discriminative and anti-oppressive manner". Report It

Reply:Then you give an example of how you did this. This want to see that you are able to look at the wider people. Not just looking at what you gain from the situation but how you can help others. Report It

Reply:Social work can be very rewarding when you can see that you have made a change to someone but this is not always the case depending on what area you go into such as adult or children and family. Report It

Reply:At times, you see people hurt and you know that no matter how much things you put in place to support someone, they have to be able to receive it or apply effort to enable themselves. Report It

Reply:Another challenge in social work is working in partnership with other professionals, as each professional will have their main focus i.e. medical professions will focus on the health of a person Report It

Reply:whilst the social professional will focus on everything from their ability to live a healthy life mentally and physically. It is also beneficial to know new changes in laws, policies and legislations. Sounds liek alot but you can get this from reading newspaper articles. Report It

Reply:Here are a few links to help. Good luck.


http://www.socialworker.com/ho...


http://www.basw.co.uk/ Report It

Reply:I think you should talk a bit about your past, what expeiences have moulded your values? Have you been in situtions in which you have used Social Work type skills eg. caring for someone, giving advice. Do you know anyone with special needs, mental health issue, alcohol or drug misuse? How have you interacted with these people? What was your family like? How did you become who you are? What relevent skills do you have? Are you a good communicator? Can you reflect on your work and recognise your faults? Are you willing to examine your personality? Also think about the bigger picture and how Social Workers can influence society as a whole. Finally, how will you cope with what can be a very stressful job?





For the challenges of being a Social Worker think about tackling discrimination, huge workloads, working in dangerous areas, huge responsibility, protecting vulnerable adults, stress, emotional strain, poor public opinion etc.





This is the outline i used and i got into the course.





Hope this helps.
Reply:think about this to help you try to explain your motivations, you said that you like helping people and find it rewarding... why don't you want to be a paramedic or teacher or doctor? what is it about social work that brought you in? What aspect of helping in that way brings out the best in you?





as for challenges, think about all of the hard things you have to see... child abuse, substance abuse, dysfunctionality.


The burnout rate for social workers is very high for these reasons.





i know this wasn't really an answer, it was just to help you think critically, and hopefully get your mind turning.

dentures