Community | Intervention | Practice
When I began the upper division program in the College of Social Work, I quickly learned the three main areas of social work practice: micro, mezzo, and macro. The micro level has always been my favorite. I enjoy being face to face with clients, offering them encouragement, direction, and leaving them with an instillation of hope. Case management with individuals and families seems most interesting to me. Whenever I case manage clients, I get to take ownership of those people and walk them through the good and bad times. This always gave me a sense of purpose at my internship, because I was the only one aware of the most current events in the lives of my elementary school children. Mezzo sparked my interest as well, allowing me to work with communities and organizations.
As my time through the program continued, I was forced to spend time learning about macro practice. Before senior year, I avoided macro social work at all costs. I knew I never wanted to work in politics or spend all my time reforming policy. However, this year, I have learned macro social work is much more than policy. Throughout my courses, I have had the opportunity to complete a community analysis, an intervention and grant proposal, and a research and advocacy project. The community analysis was my favorite macro assignment, because my partner and I researched the community around my field placement internship. This assignment made my practice more real and allowed me to conduct research-informed practice, as well as practice-informed research. The project gave me insight on the Kingswood community strengths, resources, and needs. The grant proposal allowed me to problem solve the biggest issue I saw in the community - a lack of communication and engagement between parents and teachers in the school. The intervention and grant proposal requested five thousand dollars to create a Parent Involvement Center in order to increase the education quality at Sandel Elementary School. While I would not be comfortable writing a grant for an agency on my own, I now have an understanding of what these assignments entail and how to go through the process of requesting financial assistance for a project or organization. During my last semester, I have also learned the value of creating an advocacy plan. I chose to research immigration in the United States, especially immigrant children. I spent hours researching this social problem. I read through countless scholarly articles, the executive orders from both the Obama and Trump administrations, DACA policy and the Dream Act. I finally decided to edit the Dream Act policy for my assignment. All of this research gave me an updated knowledge on immigration in America and provided me with a way to tangibly fight for social and economic justice for immigrants.
In my new job, I will be case managing individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. I will use macro practice to educate myself on the newest policy surrounding people with disabilities. This ongoing education is important because policy is constantly changing and understanding this policy will help me better serve my clients and their families. Psychosocial and cultural issues also play a huge part in policy. Every client comes from a different background, family, culture, neighborhood, etc. and every client is the expert on their own life. I hope to use all of this classroom knowledge as a foundation for my work in the real world of social work. One day, I want to work with children. Maybe I will be able to analyze a community with a large immigrant population and write grants to secure funding for a community immigration project. I don’t know what job I want in the future, but I know my education in the field of social work is the perfect background for me since I love working with diverse and oppressed populations!