Hi,
I am submitting my personal essay for an MSW for comment - any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you!
I am pursuing an advanced degree in social work because I am at my greatest potential when helping others reach theirs. I excelled in my academic studies as well as in my professional work. I graduated with honors from XX University and presented a thesis on children's human figure drawings (Draw-A-Person or DAP) in the assessment of emotional disturbance. The results show that children who did not draw happy faces (e.g. frown, mouth omitted) on their human figures were considerably more withdrawn than others. We concluded that the DAP could be a useful tool in diagnosing depression in young, inner-city children who may find other means of expression limiting and frustrating. I have also gained knowledge through working directly in the mental health field for almost ten years. I have worked with very challenging cases including developmentally disabled autistic children at XX and emotionally disturbed inner-city youth at YY. Although I will admit these positions are hard and have tested my patience more than once, they have been the most rewarding experiences in my life. Through my employment not only have I had the opportunity to help people during some of the most difficult periods of their lives, but they have enriched my life by an immeasurable amount. Promoting empowerment, individuality, identity, and self-esteem within my clients has in turn made me a deeper, more compassionate person. I have felt the greatest pride in the some of the smallest achievements I have witnessed. Yet these seemly small achievements that I have helped create have been some of the biggest steps in the lives of these children. In this, my clients have taught me that there is potential for learning and growing within every setback experienced. I hope I am able to encourage those I work with to develop an ability to take challenges in stride and create healthy, lasting relationships.
Since emotional hardships do not acknowledge society's boundaries, my work within the mental health field over this last decade has traversed all types of cultures, religions, and life styles. Furthermore, between my years in school I have taken the opportunity to travel and to live across the United States giving me a greater insight to the stress and strains that we face. However, it would be idealistic for me to think that race, religion, lifestyle, and socio-economic status do not factor into emotional and psychological disturbances. These factors unfortunately play a major part in our lives. Societal pressures are a major influence on our emotional soundness and these pressures can cause us to develop mal-adaptive behaviors that restrict our sense of well-being. In my work I try to encourage others to shed the negative views of themselves and to develop constructive means of dealing with the issues they face. My present employment gives me an opportunity to do this. Although I come from a significantly different background than the children I work with, mostly poverty-stricken young African-American boys, I can still see part of myself within them as they struggle to find their own identity within a chaotic world. It is not these boys that have failed but the traditional systems that have. Unfortunately, the public school system, especially in low-income urban areas, inhibits educators' abilities to promote academic, developmental, and emotional health in children. A properly funded and resourced school can play a crucial role in identifying children with behavioral, emotional, or mental health issues. Schools that are underfunded do not have the ability to seek out proactive, preventative measures for those at risk. A life consumed by abuse, poverty, drugs, and gangs alone can be overwhelming, but many of the children I work with also have severe mental illness. All together the emotional weight can be too much and the children often end up acting out aggressively. At this point they are arrested or hospitalized and then sent to a non-public day treatment school like YY. If our school systems were not tied to the financial health of the community they could construct multi-disciplinary mental health teams and successfully intervene before the child reached a moment of crisis. Ideally this team would work one-on-one with the clients and within the classrooms providing a nurturing academic environment that ensures adaptive emotional development and success later in life. A school system that cannot provide this often sees children who feel isolated, frustrated, ashamed, and scared. In order to navigate the disorder of their world these children have depended on aggression as their only means of protection physically and emotionally. At YY I try to provide these children with a predictable, supportive environment where they can safely test the world and themselves. Unfortunately, understanding the inequities these children face can make this work even more difficult. It is a significant challenge to help people cope with burdens that seem unfair, unevenly distributed, and undeserved. However, the role I am choosing to pursue as a social worker is to help my client overcome hurdles by strengthening their ability to handle life's difficulties in the most constructive and positive way within their own, ever growing, skill set. The absence of problems in life does not guarantee bliss but the ability to deal with problems effectively can give us a sense of peace and eventually may lead to happiness.
These complications, however, cannot be solely handled by social workers. Life requires us to interact with others in a myriad of arenas. If given the correct tools the clients I work with can be increasingly empowered by various supportive figures. It is critical that social workers continuously meet with other members of the client's community and therapeutic team. At YY I am constantly discussing the behaviors of each student with psychologists, caseworkers, nurses, psychiatrists, counselors, intervention specialists, teachers, and family members. The exchange of ideas about the progress of the client among this supportive group is vital in improving the quality of life for each child. As a social worker, I would view my role to be not only a therapist but also an advocate for my client in all the different dimensions of their life. I would welcome the chance to communicate the emotional and psychological needs of my client with as many supportive figures as possible. As a result of being a member of an interdisciplinary team, I would consider each perspective that is brought to the table and would welcome any concerns or criticisms that my client's other advocates might have. Constructive conversations encourage the consideration of alternative or possibly better solutions to a problem that we are all striving to help the client overcome.
As I anticipate my acceptance into the XX MSW program, I look forward to returning to YY for my graduate studies. I have had the opportunity to live in a variety of locations and this has demanded open-mindedness, adaptability, and understanding. I would bring this acceptance to my studies and fieldwork. I appreciate the growth I have made while taking on my own challenges in life. However, returning to family and having their support emotionally and financially while I pursue a graduate degree will be truly appreciated. I plan to further finance my education through loans and part-time work. I expect the graduate program at XX University to be demanding, challenging, and rewarding. I anticipate that I will feel pressure from a multitude of angles during my career as a graduate student. I am confident that I have acquired adequate skills to successfully confront these challenges. I have already proven to myself that I can juggle all the academic demands of higher education. XX University is my first choice in an MSW program not only because I enjoyed attending it as an undergraduate, but also the MSW program offers exactly the type of professional training I am seeking. I would like to focus my studies on Interpersonal Practice along the Psychodynamic track. I feel this would prepare me for a career as a therapist working with children and adolescents coping with severe mental illness. I look forward to this experience from an intellectual and applied point of view. I am confident that my studies as a graduate student in social work will help me to develop into a stronger, more diversified person and more importantly into an exemplary social service provider.
