My Journey Begins

   According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics

(BLS), social work is one of the fastest growing careers in the United States, with

a projected growth of 19% between the years of 2012 and 2022. With that much

growth in any one field, there is a need to specialize in order to grow to your full

potential in that field. With that said, there is a huge range of career opportunities

in the field of social work and I am finding it difficult to decide where to place my

focus. This is what led me to this blog title, and the content will be my continued

extensive research on the different roles of a social worker in today’s society.

Ultimately, I am hoping this blog will help me make a decision on my career path.

           

            My name is Jessica, and my major is obviously social work. I just started

attending Brandman University, as a junior, in August. I transferred from College

of the Desert. As stated before, am not sure where I want to focus my career as of

yet, however I believe this blog will be a great tool for me to do research, and

present what I find, and use that information to make a solid, educated evaluation

of the spectrum of social work careers that are found in all aspects of community

life such as: in hospitals, in schools, for county social services in Child

Protective Services (CPS) or Adult Protective Services (APS), in mental health

facilities, in military services or Veterans Affairs, in substance abuse programs,

disaster relief, in prisons and courts, for Tribal Social Services,  and many other

special interests organizations. In addition to researching the careers in social

work, I want to research the specific challenges each field addresses, such as

poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, illness, divorce, disabilities, death,

unemployment, PTSD and other mental illnesses, and educational problems, to

name a few. My hope is, that as my blog evolves, so will the focus of my blog. For

instance, I may find a research topic that sparks a special interest, and therefore

leads me to a more advanced examination of that topic.

            One more thing I hope to achieve with this blog, is the ability to research

effectively all aspects of my topics and effectively share all aspects. What do I

mean? Well, we all have opinions and biases about different things. Additionally,

when you go into a research topic with your biases and opinions on your sleeve,

you will find the information you are looking for to back up your opinion. If I

wanted to write about how peanut butter helps you lose weight, because I love

peanut butter, I could type “peanut butter and weight loss” in my browser on my

computer and I would get the information I was seeking, and disregarding the

information I may have gotten if I had done an additional search for “peanut

butter and weight gain”. When looking at social issues is especially important to

keep your own personal biases in check and report the facts, whether you are for

or against them. With that said, I want to develop my researching abilities, and my

ability to deliver the information I find in the most unbiased way

possible.

            Thanks for reading my blog, and welcome to my Journey into the Field of

Social Work!

Statistics found here

            

            http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/social-workers.htm#tab-

Image URL's found here

http://web.ppis.sg/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Passion-for-People.jpg

http://socialmarketing.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341c595f53ef010536a7859b970c-pi