I see myself transitioning very successfully from student to developing professional. I am very excited to apply the skills and knowledge I have gained over the past three years in the field. I am also excited and eager to begin my life as a social worker. I have learned so much from my professors as well as from working with my peers. As a student, I have learned how to be culturally competent when working with individuals/families that come from different cultures and learned skills to help make them feel comfortable working with me. A specific example of this is in working with indigenous people. Indigenous people have a large history of being marginalized and taken advantage of. It is important to keep this in mind in order to effectively …show more content…
A big thing I learned as a student that I will be keeping in mind in the transition into developing professional is I can not be working harder than my client is. It is not my job to solve their problems or make decisions for them. Social workers are there to help guide our clients to resolve problems themselves. I also learned that I can not bring my work home with me. As a developing professional I will need to learn how to separate my work from my personal life and set boundaries so my work does not begin to consume my whole life. I am a very passionate person in everything I do so this is a skill I am looking to practice. Burnout is very common among social workers and I have learned how important self-care is when working in this field. As a student, I have learned many different ways to practice self-care and as I transition to developing professional I will put these tools to use and make sure to always take time for myself. Some ways I will practice this is getting into a good sleep routine to ensure I am always getting enough sleep as well as making sure I do not take on more work than I can handle.
As I transition from student to developing professional I want to improve my time management skills. Time management is very important in the social work field and I sometimes find myself struggling with this. Although I am never late to events and always get my work done on time I find myself rushing to do so. Having to rush things causes me more stress and sometimes means I am not always doing my best work. I am frequently second-guessing myself or thinking that I did something the wrong way. As a developing professional I want to become more confident in my abilities and knowledge as a social