Narrative
It is with all honesty that I struggle with this section of my portfolio, on what should be presented here. I have decided that I shall devote this space for an explanation of why I have chosen to devote my life to helping those in need.
I have not had the easiest of lives, albeit, mainly due to the decisions that I have made. If there was an easy way to accomplish something, I choose the route that faced in the opposite direction. I have been known to be stubborn and headstrong. Because of the path that I have traveled in life, I have been direly poor. I know firsthand the guilt and shame that comes with being such. The tears that are shed while one goes hungry so that their children may eat as much as possible.
It was when I began helping with the volunteering side of charitable organizations that I discovered many had grown a touch bitter, believing that some who come and receive services ask to volunteer only to get better or more food. When I used to go to food banks, not as a supplement of my pantry but as a means to have a pantry, I would help. Not to get more, or to get anything better, but as a way to alleviate some of my own feelings of inadequacy.
I know how hard it is to smile through the pain and depression. Attempt to focus on what is required of me to prove my own financial ineptitude and ruin all the while struggling to solve the very real problem of how to feed my family for dinner and how to afford the gas needed for the appointments. Yes, I know the language of the poor for I have spoke it myself.
The issues surrounding mental health and poverty are so entangled that I decided that I could not just simply become a mental health counselor, I wanted to be able to do more for people. I wanted to be as much of a resource as possible and found that a degree in social work was just the way to do that.
When I was young I only wanted to be a social justice warrior, someone who would fight the wrongs with the world. That passion did not die, it matured, and it is with that maturity that I begin my journey through the MSW program with an eye on the future.
I have not had the easiest of lives, albeit, mainly due to the decisions that I have made. If there was an easy way to accomplish something, I choose the route that faced in the opposite direction. I have been known to be stubborn and headstrong. Because of the path that I have traveled in life, I have been direly poor. I know firsthand the guilt and shame that comes with being such. The tears that are shed while one goes hungry so that their children may eat as much as possible.
It was when I began helping with the volunteering side of charitable organizations that I discovered many had grown a touch bitter, believing that some who come and receive services ask to volunteer only to get better or more food. When I used to go to food banks, not as a supplement of my pantry but as a means to have a pantry, I would help. Not to get more, or to get anything better, but as a way to alleviate some of my own feelings of inadequacy.
I know how hard it is to smile through the pain and depression. Attempt to focus on what is required of me to prove my own financial ineptitude and ruin all the while struggling to solve the very real problem of how to feed my family for dinner and how to afford the gas needed for the appointments. Yes, I know the language of the poor for I have spoke it myself.
The issues surrounding mental health and poverty are so entangled that I decided that I could not just simply become a mental health counselor, I wanted to be able to do more for people. I wanted to be as much of a resource as possible and found that a degree in social work was just the way to do that.
When I was young I only wanted to be a social justice warrior, someone who would fight the wrongs with the world. That passion did not die, it matured, and it is with that maturity that I begin my journey through the MSW program with an eye on the future.