Personal Narrative: A Career In Social Work

For this project, I interviewed Ms. Deborah Whittemore who is a licensed clinical social (LCSW) worker located out of Greenville, South Carolina. Originally, I was looking to interview a clinical or counseling psychologist, but unfortunately there schedules seemed to be busy. After looking for other types of psychologists to interview I came across a site containing local social workers. I looked through a list of the social workers and found a few whose credentials interested me. After emailing a few of them, I got an immediate response from Ms. Whittemore. After looking over her profile on the website, I chose her to as the interviewee. With over 25 years of experience as a therapist, Ms. Whittemore helped people of all ages through

Whittemore answered questions on becoming a social worker, but strongly emphasized the questions about affects it has on her. She made it clear that her job is something she greatly enjoys, but is not always perfect. When asked if her work fulfiller her, she said, “Yes and no Yes, in that when you can help someone see things in a new way . . . No, when dealing with the mundane and always system, insurance snafus, no shows, billing, and difficult clients.” Her including the hardships that are present in her job makes her seem much more sincere. It is very important to know of the difficult situations that are present in a job, in order to know if you can overcome them. When asked about the most difficult part of her job, she answered, “Very needy patients, who would like to have access to me and call or text or email at will.” It is very important that boundaries are set with any counselor and their client. As someone who knows many intimate details about them and are in process of helping them overcome their troubles, a counselor is a person who needs to be there for their clients. One point that she emphasized that helps her with her patients is that she is in private practice, so she decides who she sees. She goes on to say, “I have 17 patients, most of whom do show up regularly and are participants in their own change . . . income is never guaranteed . . . insurance companies can take weeks to reimburse, clients forget co-pays, it goes on.” She makes a

With Ms. Whittemore, it was an easy process as she was very willing to disclose some of her personal information and insights. For a social worker it is important to stay passionate about your work and always look to learn new things. It is important to know that you are not in it alone. She emphasized that you should keep your personal life and professional life separate, and not let one affect the other. It is also important to help people outside of social work to understand that it is safe to ask for help and that everything is confidential. Making a safe environment for the client and the counselor is very important for the growth of their relationship. Ms. Whittemore seemed very eager to be interviewed and even asked for updates on the results. She is very passionate about her career and seems to have a great personality to keep her mentally strong. It seemed as she planned on continuing her social work for a while, as when asked if she has considered pursuing a different career path, she replied, “Yes, but Broadway isn’t really ready for