The Joy of Service TO Others

The Joy of Service TO Others

My interest in social work begun while I was in the United States Army. The 15 years I spent in the army enabled me to realize the world more humanitarian services from the experience I understood after being assigned to different regions on numerous social work assignments.   In my life as a soldier, I realized there is more than we can offer than peace. I was able to understand the needs of people by interacting with people from different regions with different cultural backgrounds. As a result, I realized that we have different needs, and tricky situations can befall anyone anywhere.

The foundation of my social work began in the army, where I was an Advocate for Sexual Assault responder. My responsibility was to protect the victims of sexual assault in the military and coordinate their care. Sexual assault victims were mainly women in the army.  I took care of many women soldiers victims.  I had already developed a passion for being a social worker and helping people in various ways. However, I got an injury that ended my Army career abruptly.  It was an injury that would lead to lifelong disability.  Disabled people in the army face many challenges, especially the veterans.  An example of the problem is knowing how to navigate a federal system that has been insufficient and does not have the necessary resources as well as personnel to provide much-needed services.  Besides, many veterans are unable to understand the complexity involved in finding options for care outside the VA process.  These circumstances enabled me to understand the need for more social workers that can assists veterans in many ways.

One of the social work experience I experienced was during my transitioning out of the military. I become a caregiver to a veteran who had a very poor diagnosis after being struck by a stroke. Although stroke recovery is a complex process, I was there to stand by him.  I supported him to come out strong in a broken healthcare system that lacks resources for such individuals like him in society.   When I began my services to the veteran, my objective was to give him a fair chance for recovery.  I collaborated with various doctors, managers, and other social service workers to assist this soldier.  By constant physical exercise and motivation, he was able to come out strong and regain some mobility.  He could dress, eat, and move in and out of bed.

Despite being out of the army, my objective is to advance my education.  This is possible due to the VA benefits that will enable me to get access to education. I aim to pursue a degree in social work. The VA benefits will cater to my higher education degree program’s costs and expenses.  This will enable me to concentrate fully on my studies.  I further aim to pursue a Masters in Social work program. This will be the best platform for me to access higher education.  Pursuing a master’s program will enable me to provide professional social work services to veterans and others with severe mental conditions.  Moreover, a master’s in Social work will expose me to both theoretical and practical frameworks of social works. My objective after this program is to make an impact on the social work field and development of services that can change peoples’ lives and society in general.

Nevertheless, while pursuing my higher education, there is a need to manage my personal and professional obligations.  While pursuing my field education, there are several ways through which I can manage my personal and professional obligations. Time management is one of the key things I intend to perfect on. This will enable me to allocate time to my studies as well as working as continuing to work as a social worker at the veteran center.     In other words, discipline and time plans will enable to juggle between personal and professional obligations effectively (Yarbrough et al.  2017).

References

Yarbrough, S., Martin, P., Alfred, D., & McNeill, C. (2017). Professional values, job satisfaction, career development, and intent to stay. Nursing Ethics, 24(6), 675-685.