Hunger & Poverty In America

All Social Work Classes......Panic Attack?

I was suppose to write this post for Monday but I was too tried to write. Monday was my first day in my Social Work  Seminar class. After being in that class, I am really nervous because it seems like so much work in so little time. I am going to have to be very organize this semester because I do not want to be behind or staying up late trying to finish my  assignment. I want to be ahead of all my classes and get all A's. I want to make sure that my GPA stay above a 3.0.

I think this semester will be very intense and busy for me. This week I will be getting organized for all my classes with my calendar. I just pray and hope that I will go beyond what I thought I could do despite all I will be doing.

Home Visits? Not sure....

In the summer of 2010, I had an internship at Child Abuse Prevention Center. The agency did a lot of home visits. I went on a couple of home visits and they were okay. One day, in our weekly meeting, a social worker asked me "how I feel about going on home visits?" I personally don't know if I want to be a social worker that goes on home visits. I feel as if I am invading someones territory (their home), thoughts of it not being safe comes to mind, and feelings of nervousness. Visiting a client  in their home is completely out of my comfort zone.

Recently, in New York, a client stabbed their social worker when she was doing her home visit. It seemed that things got out of hand and an argument occurred. I pray that the social worker gets better. This story makes me even more not to go on home visits. But, I know that in the social work profession that I will be put in moments that are out of my comfort zone and I must overcome my fears. I think it will take time for me to have my mind changed about doing home visits.

Question for the social workers, what could be advantages of home visits?

Grad School Choice Num. 4

My 4th choice would be Georgia State University. While doing my research, the graduate program learns about issues facing urban communities. They focus are is on health care, child welfare, and non-profit manangement. If I choose this school I would proably go into the non-profit managment. When I did my internship at Child Abuse Prevention Center, I saw all that went on in a non-profit agency. I think it would be great to me able know more about non-profit agenices as they help their communities.

First Day Back at Internship

I started on Thursday and it was great. I got back to flow of things for example,  calling parents, answering phones and talking to my supervisor about goals I hope to accomplish this Spring semester while at internship. I will have the opportunity to hold a group session with parents. I'm not sure what topic I will focus on but I was thinking about "handling temper tantrums from the children" or "teaching children with everyday surroundings." I am still looking for possible topics that will help the client group of people I work with. I came up with goals I hope to accomplish. I wanted to know and understand the government assistance programs for example, TANF and Food Stamps. I want to become more aware of CPS and Immigration laws. I also want to work my communication skills as I talk to parents of children attending the agency.

First Day of Classes

This semester I have all social work classes. Today I had Social Work Practice with Organizations and Communities. The focus of this class is gaining the skills and knowledge of working with communities and organizations. On the first day of class, we had a short quiz about the definition of generalist social work practice, list the seven plan change process and list the six values. One thing I learn is the importance remembering all I have learned from all my classes.  In this class each student will have an chapter to present the class and teach the class. This class seems interesting and I am excited about what I will learn about communities and organizations. At my internship, I will be also learning all the goes into helping communities in particular the parents of the children that attend the Head Start. I can't wait til the classes that will come ahead.

Grad School Choice Num. 3

My third choice would be  Clark Atlanta University. I first must say, I'm not sure if I could see myself living in GA except for the "heat." I know it's probably not a good reason to move to another state. I really don't like the cold and New York is cold. But I do have family in GA and maybe moving there want be bad. I did look at there social work program and it seem to be okay. They offer Child and Family, which is an area of social work I want to go into. After reading there Program Goals, it seem to to be a possibility of a college to g to.

To be honest the only reason that would play into rather I apply to this school is because it is a "all Black school". I have never been to an all Black school in my time on this earth. I have always went to schools that were VERY diverse. Even the college I go to now is diverse and I love it that way. I just know that the world is diverse and I want to be around by all types of people not just whites or just blacks. But I do plan on visiting this school too when I visit my family in GA. I hope that I will enjoy my time there. Who knows maybe I would want to go there.

Grad School Choice Num. 2

My second choice for a grad school is Temple University. This school is PA and I think I like the programs that they offer in Masters Program. I plan to have my concentration in clinical work with families. Always wanted to work with children but since I have been doing my senior year internship, I want to work with families. Being at my internship has taught me importance of not just helping children but their family members that take care of the child. I hope to go visit this school so I can tell if I can see myself living in PA. I'm not sure about this school, but who knows maybe when I visit the school I will know if I REALLY want to go there.

My Top Grad School

I started looking for grad schools last year and now I have at least four schools that I am interested in. I REALLY want to go to University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. I get so excited just think about the school and their social work program. One of their focus is families and I know that I want to work with children and families. I have a heart to help low income families and to provide them with services that will help them in society. As I look through all the programs and the activities that UMB offers, I know that this  is where I belong. I like is that they offer graduate students a chance to study abroad in India. I have always wanted to study abroad and I believe it would be great to study social work in India.

I can't wait to visit this school. I think I will also LOVE the city of Baltimore.

First Time in a long Time

I have decided to pick up this blog and start making new post daily. I first started this blog because of my social work class called "Understand Diverse Populations" in which we had to make journal post of what we read in our class books. I want to have this blog to put information, my internship experience, possible graduate schools I am looking at, and much more. I am glad about my new blog and hope you are too.