Life is a journey of twists and turns. It is a series of lessons and experiences that lead and direct us. When I graduated from college, I did not have a clear direction. I started graduate school, initially studying Marriage and Family Therapy. After two semesters in the program, I still felt incomplete and off track. I took a year off to work and find my calling.
During that year, I worked with low-income women and their families. I was responsible for coordinating childcare and children’s activities while their moms or grandmothers were in classes learning jobs and life skills. I remember vividly a little girl disclosing abuse to me and making my first ever DCS report. This year clarified my calling and directed me to social work.
Since completing my MSW in 2004, I have focused my work on families facing poverty and low income. I started social work with a more macro focus on community organizing and development, creating job and life skills classes. I have spent the last six years working in community mental health with children, youth, and families. I have seen the effects of community violence, lack of educational resources, poverty, and generational trauma.
In my current role, I serve as the Children’s Specialty Program Coordinator for the largest mental health provider in Shelby County. I provide direct clinical services to children ages 2-18 and speak in the community to raise awareness of mental health issues facing our young people. There is a stigma in our society regarding mental health. I aim to help reduce this stigma and break down barriers to accessing services.
People are not silos; they are part of multiple systems with direct and indirect influence on their life. My work in the field tends to be guided by Systems Theory, which states that behavior is influenced by various factors that work together. These factors include family, friends, school, economic class, home environment, neighborhood, etc. Systems can have a negative or positive impact on one’s life. By analyzing each system, we can better see how they contribute to an individual’s life and work to strengthen those systems. In assessing a child or youth’s mental health needs, we must examine all the systems involved in their life and how they are contributing to the presenting issues.
There are many aspects of non-Western theories that are valuable to social work practice today. As Healy (2022) explains, post-theories tend to use the term "subjectivity" instead of "identity" in describing one's sense of self. People present themselves in different ways in different settings and with different people. Some of these can contradict each other due to the discourse or story being told at that time and in that setting. Fixed notions of identity are based on gender, race, socio-economic status, age, etc. People are more than this. As Healy (2022) stated, "Thuse, while we may draw on identity categories, such as those associated with class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity to highlight processes of social oppression and to promote coalitions for change, we must also recognize the fluidity of subjectiveness" (Healy, 2022, p. 251).
I apply this to my own work with kids and youth in Memphis by challenging the identity assigned to them. Often, the kids I see are labeled "the bad kid" or "a criminal" or "a juvenile." These are kids. They did not ask to be born into the world of trauma and chaos they are living in. Many times, they are trying to survive, trying to find their place. When the news reports, "Three juveniles were attacked" we hear the word juvenile and can automatically go into questioning the victims, assuming negative about them. This is due to identifying the term "juvenile" as a negative term associated with criminal activity. Even for "juveniles" charged with crimes, they are more than "criminals". These are children that were damaged somewhere along the way. We have to see beyond the "identity" given to them to see the full story as "subjective."
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglass
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