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Tips for New Social Work Graduate (MSW) Students

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  Happy start of the school year! Perusing social media, I came across a NASW blog article called “Guide for the First Year Social Work Student”. This post provided lots of great information tailored for new undergraduate students interested in studying social work. I wanted to take that NASW post a bit farther and compile a list of tips specific to graduate students pursuing a masters in social work (MSW). In my opinion, graduate school is a completely different experience from undergraduate, so my hope is that these tips will serve to be beneficial. Tips for New Social Work Graduate (MSW) Students -Don’t worry about grades so much When I was in graduate school, one of my professors told a story about a straight A student who committed suicide several years after graduation. His point was that given the people we need to work with, we social workers need to focus less on being perfectionists (as demonstrated by obsessing over grades and test scores) and work on being empathetic an...
19 comments

You have got to be kidding me...

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According to an article posted on the NASW blog, actor Charlie Sheen is involved in a new project where he plays a social worker with anger management issues. The profession is already often misrepresented and poorly portrayed in the media. Having Charlie Sheen play a scriptwriter's portrayal of a "social worker" can only mean more bad publicity for our profession.

What sets social work apart from other jobs such as politicians, soldiers, doctors, and nurses is that the public has a general idea of what these professions do. When it comes to social work, our profession is often associated with child welfare. Hence, social workers are typically seen in antagonistic "baby snatcher" roles on TV and film. While Charlie Sheen won't be playing a child welfare social worker on his new show, I'm still skeptical he will provide a remotely respectable imitation of the profession.

Furthermore, many dramas and films use medical, political, and military consultants to review scripts (i.e. House, The West Wing, and Battle: Los Angeles). I have yet to hear of a social worker consultant that works for Hollywood to ensure our profession is portrayed correctly. Until this happens, expect to continue seeing very telescopic interpretations of how social work in roles written and edited by non-social workers.

I doubt I'll watch Charlie Sheen's new show, but I'm sure I'll probably have to defend social work at some point as a result. It's the least I can do to help combat the nonsense perpetuated by popular media.

Comments

  1. VikieJuly 14, 2011 at 4:51 PM

    Why does the media have to make us look by bad guys all the time? It's so aggravating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GEBJuly 15, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    wasn't this done already: they called it "The Norm Show" a conviceted tax evader, rowdy hocky player,& womanizer is court ordered to do public service as a social worker.

    episode 1 norm finds out that one of his clients is working in a "Massage Parlor".

    episode 2 he picks up a woman from a bar, unaware she is a client.

    episode 5 he fakes being an alcoholic to get a lesser workload.

    episode 9 he takes in an abused elderly man in hopes to play in a charity hockey game

    episode 11 discovering a 15y/o client has a hidden talent, Norm encourages him to fight in a boxing match in order to pay off his $10,000 debt to a bookie.
    who need charlie?
    sheesh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cheap Social WorkerJuly 16, 2011 at 2:23 PM

    @Vikie: Is it definitely frustrating to see the profession portrayed so negatively by the media, especially when our intentions our altruistic.

    @GEB: I've actually never heard of "The Norm Show". After reading your comment, I don't think I'll ever watch it.

    ReplyDelete

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