Melissa

Billings
SW 1010-400
Personal Growth Paper 1

What are your life goals?
Wow This is a big question. Being older then your average college student, my answer to
this question is very different now then it would have been when I was in college the first
time. Coming form a place where I have adult children and I no longer have the worry of
raising them to be good people, they already are, my life goal in that area is to see them be
happy, wherever that takes them. I have a wonderful marriage, we just celebrated our 20th
wedding anniversary, and so I am all set as far as a life companion. We are very blessed that
my husband is able to provide us with a comfortable life as far as finances go. My life goal
now is to have a career that will fulfill me, and one where I know I can make a difference.
What are the reasons you are considering social work as a profession?
From the ages of 13-16 I struggled with depression and making choices that were not
always in my best interest. I started seeing a L.C.S.W, and she helped me so much. That is
when I decided that I wanted to become a social worker. I wanted to be able to help
someone as much as she helped me. When I got to college at age 18 I originally was
studying psychology. When I came back this time, last semester, it was a toss up for me
whether I would go into psychology or social work. Taking this class has shown me that I
definitely want to go into social work. I am enamored with all I have learned about the
profession. It is so much more than what my experience with a L.C.S.W. was.

What do you envision social workers doing?

So much more now than I did before the start if this class, and there is still so much to
learn! As I have said before, my only experience with a social worker was seeing a L.C.S.W.,
so I though social work was all about individual counseling. The social work profession
encompasses so much. Working in child welfare, which is what I would like to do, working
in a school, working in the mental health and addiction fields, working in a hospital, or a
senior center, or even an adoption agency (Farley, Smith, Boyle p.11; video On Any Given
Day). Social works help address problems and help find solutions, find resources for those
in need, and help those in crisis, just to name a few services social workers provide.
What is your experience working in the social work field or with social work
populations?
The only experience I have with anything close to the social work field is I co-facilitated a
support group for pregnant and parenting teens, under the supervision of a licensed social
worker. I did that for a year. We did everything from teaching the girls about healthy eating
for themselves and their babies, to having a dentist come in and teach them how to care for
their childrens teeth. We talked to them about concerns they had about gaining weight
while pregnant and how to safely lose the weight after baby was born. We had to write
lesson plans and have them approved by the social worker in charge, and then write follow
ups after the lessons were given.
What are your values/beliefs/comfort level with cultural, gender, socio- economic,
and sexual orientation diversity?
I identify myself as a Christian, but believe that everybody has the right to their own beliefs,
and realize that those beliefs are at times be very different than my own, however, we

should have respect for each other and not condemn one another. My values are simple: be
kind, be fair, and treat others the way you want to be treated. As I always told my
daughters, you dont have to like everybody, but you do have to be polite to everybody. My
comfort level with different cultures, genders, socio-economic, and sexual orientation
diversity is high. I love learning about different cultures, I have no problem with men or
women, I understand what it is like to struggle with money and what it is like to not have
that struggle, and as far as sexual orientation, I believe that you are born with your sexual
orientation, so I have absolutely no problem with any sexual orientation.

Works Cited

Farley, O. William; Smith, Larry Lorenzo; Boyle, Scott W. (2012). What is Social Work? In
Introduction to Social Work (12th ed. p.8-11)

On Any Given Day, Social Workers Help Video module #1