SWK 2000 Introduction to Social Work Interview with a Practicing Social Worker

Introduction to social work has taught me about the history of social work. It has also

taught me about the different I interview Sherita Jenkins, who is a medical social worker at

(place of work). She gave me helpful insight about the profession and how it works. I asked her a

few questions about some of the roles that she plays in her place of work. Sherita Jenkins has

answered my questions about the good times, bad times, barriers, myths, what she does, difficult

parts of the job, age groups she worked with, what inspired her to be a social worker, and advice

she has for future medical social workers. This class has given me a chance to find out what

social work is about and the different ways I can help. This part of the class clarified what I

should expect from medical social work in the field just from having the interview with Ms.

Sherita Jenkins. Introduction to social work has changed my whole perspective about the career.

My first initial thoughts were that there was not a lot of jobs out there in that field, school social

work was the only job out there, and that they are just psychologist. There are so many job

opportunities in social work such as medical, school, teaching, child protective services, and

much more. When I pursue my goal of being a medical social worker, I will want to move up

into teaching it to the new workers that come into the workplace.

SWK 2450 Human Diversity & Populations at Risk Culturally Competence Practice
Presentation

In Human diversity and populations at risk we talked about being culturally competent.

We must be able to communicate well with people who have different cultural backgrounds and

need to be aware of the different cultural backgrounds so that we will not offend clients in any

possible way. Populations could be oppressed populations, different ethnicities, LGBT

populations, people who have disabilities, and more. This class has taught me that there are so
many different problems within different populations such as racism, sexism, ableism, etc. If you

make a mistake or offend somebody cultural it is okay to say I apologize and recognize that you

should not make that same mistake a second time. Avoid making assumptions about the clients

because it will seem like you did not care to begin with or that you did not do any kind of

research about their beliefs.

SWK 3450 Human Behavior & Social Environment I Human Development Theory Paper

For the Human behavior and social environment I class, we learned about human

behavior and the different theories. This paper will discuss the research and findings on social

learning behavior. In addition, we go into the aspects of the human behavior paper, talking about

the authors Erikson, Freud, Newman and Newman. Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory, Freud’s

Psychosexual Theory, and Newman and Newman’s Life Stage Theory discuss the different

phases people go through in their lives, finding the approach understand them, and comparisons

between the different theories. Looking at the theories, it will also explain the strengths and

weakness of majority of the theories. This paper will also talk about my personal life and how

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory compares with it. The theories try to make an accurate

connection with how people live their lives and what situations they deal with as they age.

Erikson, Freud, Newman and Newman try to plan the different situations people through as they

get older. The theories however are not written in stone because people are different. These

theories do not dictate a person’s life and some may experience their psychosocial-crisis earlier

or later as life goes on.

SWK 3480 Social Welfare Policies and Programs I Social Policy Analysis Paper

Social welfare policies and programs taught us about the different policies that are in

effect in the world. This class shows us that sometimes certain policies, if not carefully read, and
lead to a lot of problems in the future. We were also taught how some officials just pass certain

policies because they do not want to read more than twenty pages and if they do not read through

it that is where hidden policies come into effect. My paper was on the HIPAA health policy.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is a policy that was

created to keep client’s medial history private and safe. HIPAA was also known as the Kennedy-

Kassebaum Bill. Before this law came into action anybody could access other people’s health

information. Before 1996 there was not a law to protect the privacy of client’s information.

Privacy and trust is an important factor for clients. HIPAA in a way enforces confidentiality.

HIPAA policy came into law August 21, 1996. Bill Clinton took the initiative to have the law

signed and the U.S. Congress passed it and created the law, but Congress found it difficult to try

and regulate private health information, so they passed it on to the HHS (Health and Human

Services). HHS made the proposition of making it privatized regulation and became final in

2000. If there was not a policy to protect private information, then there would be major

complications regarding trust and can lead to health care issues.

SWK 3710 Writing for the Social Sciences Literature Review

Writing for the social sciences we focused on finding proper literature review by using

the google scholar articles and academic search complete, which is one of the school’s main

websites to find articles. We learned how to properly create and organize our papers. My topic

was “Healthcare in Latino Population.” In my presentation I talked about the top five leading

causes of death in this specific population which are in order: cancer, heart disease, accidents,

cerebrovascular, and diabetes. The treatments are chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy.

Latino population face many health risks, and do not want to seek treatments due to trust issues.
Just by looking at the number of deaths just in North Carolina may increase throughout the rest

of the states. Language- 74% of the Latino population are Spanish speaking. (Social worker

versus client) Myths- Being deported on the spot. Comprehension- (Education and expenses).

Culture- (Going to the elders for medical assistance). Fear- Being deported which follows the

myth. Trust- Most Latinos have a bad history with social workers. There are multiple barriers

that social workers face when working with the Latino population. Social workers must be able

to work against the barriers and provide care for the Latino population. Whether it is language,

insurance, culture, myths, or comprehension and understanding. Social workers should be

providing the best answers to all questions and concerns, without damaging the relationship with

the clients. This class was effective in helping me with typing and APA formatting. Writing is a

very valuable skill in the social work field.

SWK 3800 Social Work Practice I Process Recording

Social Work Practice I has helped me to understand the various processes of social work

and how to help not only the people, but the community as well. Social work teaches us about

communication, understanding, compassion, empathy, cultural awareness, and how we can work

through different barriers that we may face. In this profession, we try to better the client any way

we can. We also help them to become independent and prepared when they are ready to move on

in life and no longer need our services. The three major point that I took from this class was the

helping process, attending behavior, and interviewing skills to focus on the client and their

needs. During the recording process we had someone who did not know about social work to be

the client. This strategy of learning helped us to go with the flow and to teach us that nothing is

rehearsed or stays consistent all the time. It helped us to also be aware of what we are doing

visually, how we present ourselves, and how or what we say to clients. You will deal with clients
who have different emotions, ideas, and frustrations. In social work practice I we also talked

about the skills like leading responses, paraphrasing, open-ended questions, closed-ended

questions, and clarification. Another subject we talked about was attending behavior such as

facial expressions, use of body positions, tone of voice, silence, and furthering responses.

Learning how to talk to clients and gaining their trust is a huge step into helping them.

SWK 3850 Social Work Practice II Community Needs Assessment

Social work practice II class gave us insight on how to work with more of a specific

population. For our project we split up into groups with about five people in each group. We

focused on a specific population that needed help. Community needs assessment (CNA), is

where we volunteer, interview, and research what needs to be done about the organization. In my

group we had Lavirsa Smith, Matthew Miles, Joshua Peele, and Steve Musick. Our topic for our

paper was “Veterans Affected by Limited Resources in Rural Communities.” The paper explored

the issues that veterans face while living in rural communities with limited resources. Robeson

County is observed through a community needs assessment of the barriers and resources that

veterans desperately need within the community. Throughout the research service gaps have

been found that negatively affect Robeson County veterans. Statistical Information as well as

potential goals are examined when discussing rural veterans in Robeson County. Understanding

and examining this information will be beneficial in establishing professionally guided change

for the veterans of Robeson County and other rural communities. There is still more work to be

done. We took a major step by bringing it to people’s attention. I learned that the veterans in

rural areas, though they have benefits, are not able to get those benefits due to the lack of

transportation.
SWK 3910 Understanding Social Research Evidence Based Practice Assignment

In Understanding social research, we learned different ways to collect data to support the

studies or population you want to focus on. The class focused on sampling, measurements,

groups design, single subject design, and data analysis. We decided to do a paper where we

could focus on a specific population while using specific tools to collect the data and statistics.

The topic of my paper was “Rheumatoid Arthritis Research in African Americans.” Rheumatoid

arthritis can leave an emotional and physical toll on African Americans. Some children face

early joint problems at age 3, but some signs can show up later as the child matures. African

Americans who experience rheumatoid arthritis at a young age struggle to fit in. In this research

the studies and findings will give us more background and possible solutions to help this

population, research on the population with the condition must be done. Rheumatoid arthritis in

African Americans is a serious condition that needs careful attention with all the negative effects

and after effects that comes with the condition. Children who suffer from this disorder are

growing up with pain and other problems mentioned before. The articles provided plenty of

information and interventions bringing more ideas to social workers. Trying to find more

interventions that will work to fully benefit clients with rheumatoid arthritis. Though the

psychosocial intervention was the strongest intervention compared to the others, it still needs a

few modifications, more research, test trials, and patients that will take part in the intervention.

Starting the intervention process may cost money to start and make it available to anybody who

needs it within reasonable location for those who cannot travel. Hopefully be a success for those

in need of this intervention.

SWK 4450 Human Behavior & Social Environment II Theory Paper

Human behavior and social environment II focuses on multiple theories. We talked about

the different social aspects and what is going on in the world (current events). Our professor also

had us engage in different topics about social norms, scenarios on social justice, and celebrity

conflicts regarding sexual abuse and why did people wait until twenty years or longer to tell

somebody. The topic of my paper was “Disabled Population are Oppressed.” It focused on how

disabled people are treated unfairly in society. They are overlooked for benefits, face

discrimination, not cared for, and do not get the same opportunities as well abled people.

Focusing on the theories would bring more insight to why disabled people should be helped and

cared for. As social workers, we must open more possibilities for them to be treated fairly. Social

workers are doing their best to combat against injustice for the oppressed disabled population.

The use of theories will also help social workers to be ready and engaged to be change agents

and representatives. Conflict theory and community organization theory can both bring about

positive change when focusing on the oppressed disabled population. Conflict theory will help to

fight against social injustices and bring about positive change. Community organization theory

will help the community to come together unified to stand up for what is right and helping them

to gain knowledge and understanding to create change and bring about a more positive

atmosphere in the environment that the youth, teens, adults, and elderly live in.

SWK 4600 Social Justice and Practice Ethics Ethical Dilemma Paper

Social justice and practice ethics taught me that not everything is fair or equal. There are

still people who are not getting the social justice they deserve. Social justice is supposed to
protect everybody from situations such as discrimination, false accusations, unjust school

punishments and much more. For this class I did my paper on “School Policy for Change.”

School policies are meant to be more positive and regulate how the school should run, but when

we look at it more closely, there are certain sections that need to be adjusted or changed. If we

modify the policy and keep doing updates on how we can improve it, it can be more effective for

schools. This will be focusing on attendance, punishments, discrimination, what students expect

to learn about in school. School’s policies have certain errors and confusion for some students.

The policy is supposed to discuss the proper ways to handle certain situations regarding school

and students. There are several instances where a child is basically being punished because of

different situations. There are multiple outcomes on the effect that it will have on students in the

future. Changing the policy will hopefully improve and benefit the school systems. This class has

also talked about the different scenarios regarding taking legal action or choosing the proper

judgement call for the client. As social workers we cannot just make rash decision without

consulting the Code of Ethics and paying very close attention to what is taking place at that

moment.

SWK 4800 Social Work Practice III Single System Design Project

Social work practice III, we focused on how a social worker should appropriately act

with clients, what we can do versus what we cannot do, and how to maintain a relationship with

the client. Another aspect of this class we focused on is dealing with clients who have been

drinking or using drugs a lot and correlating this to their lives on how it could really harm

themselves and others. For our paper we focused on motivational interviewing. My topic was

“Motivational Interviewing to Decrease Stress in College Students.” Clients who tend to stress a
lot are usually unhappy, depressed, and tired, because they either work too much or have a lot on

their mind. Clients need to find more balance in their lives to be able to relax and have time to

themselves. This motivational interview will hopefully help the client to decrease their stress

levels and maintain a more healthier life for them. We also got a chance to graph different

behaviors like smoking, behavior, stress level, and eating habits to see where there has been a

major change or fluctuation in the pattern. Sometimes when we graph behavior our interventions

are not the making the change, but other influences or life changes events for the client are. For

example, if a client is supposed to stop smoking and you see that they lost their job which lead to

the decrease in smoking, that is something else which make it a threat to validity, getting us the

results we want, but through something else.

SWK 4910 Field Work Mid and Final Evaluation

IN PROGRESS!!!