Why I Want To Be A Social Worker Essay

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I am passionate about social work simply because I want to help people. Social work is an excellent profession for coming in contact with many different types of people and helping them to overcome their adversities. Specifically I am interested in the mental health field of social work. Why social work in the mental health field is important to me, the definition of mental illness, the history of mental health in social work, and what it means to be a social worker in the mental health field are the topics I will discuss in my paper.
Mental health in social work is important to me because it is something I can closely relate to, although I did not always see it that way. Finishing high school and going into college I had no idea what I wanted to major in or what career I wanted to pursue. Unfortunately, my mom passed away before I graduated high school so I started college in a fog of grief and depression and I felt even more clueless than I was to begin with. My mother had bipolar disorder and I have several other family members who suffer from mental illness, so mental health …show more content…

Specifically, I am interested in the mental health field of social work. As a social worker in the mental health field I will perform various types of services helping all types of people. Why social work in the mental health field is important to me, the definition of mental illness, the history of mental health in social work, and what it means to be a social worker in the mental health field are topics I have discussed in my paper. Robert F. Kennedy sums it up in his quote:
Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance (Kennedy,