Eco Map For me, the eco map seemed to show the least amount of information. I know this is only due to the fact that I don’t have many external factors, or organizations that I’m involved with. The factors that it did demonstrate were school, work, friends, my family, and my wife’s family. These were all aspects of my life that I was already aware of in terms of the effect that they have on me, either positively or negatively. Obviously, school can be a stressor but at the same time it can be a positive factor because classmates can be supportive since we are all experiencing the same work load and can relate to each other. As mentioned before, my family is a huge stressor. However, our friends, my work environment, and …show more content…
We have to know ourselves inside and out before we can help anyone. This means taking our past for face value, and dealing with it accordingly. Understanding how our own lives have shaped us should be the first thing we do prior to beginning practice as professionals. I certainly learned that my past and my life experiences have influenced the population I want to work with, and the populations I absolutely can’t work with. I’ve known for a long time that I want to work with children and families in the mental health setting. Clinical social work has been my goal for as far back as I can remember. I’ve seen through my life experiences that mental health doesn’t need to be a permanent barrier, and that it can be overcome with the right resources and help. I’ve also learned that children- being one of the more vulnerable populations are also at a critical time in adolescence where just one person can change the outcome of their entire future despite any demons they may be facing. Through the death of my grandmother I realized that I simply don’t have the emotional ability to work with the geriatric population, and through the life experiences I’ve had with my mom, my self-awareness has taught me that I don’t have the capacity to work with adults who face severe medical challenges. Perhaps in the future I will come to a place where these are both populations I find myself able to work with, but at this time I simply have not come to a place where I’ve found myself able to do so. This in large comes from compassion fatigue which I’ve come to understand through my work experiences and thinking about the reasons why I can’t work with these