+

Shawna Quattrocci

Human Behavior in the Social Environment

Community College of Vermont

Kelly Strunk

+Social Work

“The social work profession promotes social change,

problem solving in human relationships and the

empowerment and liberation of people to enhance

well being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and

social systems, social work intervenes at the points

where people interact with their environments.

Principles of human rights and social justice are

fundamental to social work.” (International Federation of Social Workers)

+Career Exploration Project

I have always been interested in working with young children. I

have worked as an Early Educator for 4 years now and love it.

However, my career path interest is focused more directly with

family social work. I used the website: www.onetonline.org for

my job researching. On this site I was able to search through

several categories, the two categories that were most interesting

to me were:

“Child, Family, and School Social Workers”

“Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors”

+Child, Family, and School

Social Workers

“Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being

and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents,

arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address

such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and

truancy. May also advise teachers.” (2)

School Social Worker

Family Service Worker

Case Manager

Foster Care Social Worker

Social Worker

Family Protection Specialist

Youth Services Specialist

Case Worker

Caseworker

Child Protective Services Social Worker (CPS Social Worker)

Job Description

Sample of Reported Job Titles:

+Substance Abuse and Behavioral

Disorder Counselors

“Counsel and advise individuals

with alcohol, tobacco, drug, or

other problems, such as gambling

and eating disorders. May

counsel individuals, families, or

groups or engage in prevention

programs.” (2)

Counselor, Substance Abuse Counselor (SA Counselor)

Chemical Dependency Counselor (CD Counselor)

Addictions Counselor,

Case Manager,

Clinical Counselor,

Drug and Alcohol Treatment Specialist (DATS),

Chemical Dependency Professional

, Assessment Specialist,

Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (ADAC)

Job Description

Sample of Reported Job Titles:

+

Substance Abuse and Behavioral

Disorder Counselors

Child, Family, and School

Social Workers

Distribution of Educational Attainment

+

Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

State and National Wages

+

Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors

Child, Family, and School Social Workers

State and National Trends

+Job One:

Head Start Home Visitor

“Early Head Start Home Visitor General Statement: The home visitorworks with an assigned caseload of families to support parents instrengthening their skills as the primary educators of their children. TheEarly Head Start home visitor is expected to develop and apply expertisein prenatal, infant and toddler development, assessment andimplementation of individualized services. The home visitor workscooperatively with other Head Start staff in a specific service area todeliver quality services to all enrolled families and to further the mission ofHead Start. This position requires some evening and occasional weekendhours.”

+

Job One:

Head Start Home Visitor

+Job Two:

Family Support Specialist

“This position works in partnership with families, social workers,and services providers to promote safety, permanency, and well-being for children referred by the local child welfare agency. Usesa variety of family engagement strategies to coach, educate, andsupport families. Care coordination, including assessment,developing and monitoring plans, linking community resourcesand crisis support, is provided in concert with children andfamilies and community partners.”

+

Job Two:

Family Support Specialist

+ Interview

Amie Witcomb

Easter Seals

Family Practice Worker

I had the opportunity to interview Amie Witcomb, she is a

Family Practice Worker who works at the Department of

Children and Families building, in Middlebury VT. Amie

has been a Family Practice Worker since 2011 and says

it is the hardest job she has ever done. The job is high

stress and demanding. I really enjoyed talking to her and

seeing what her day to day work is like. She had a lot to

say and it really made me think about what goes into this

kind of work.

+

Family Time Coaching

“Working with families with an open case with DCF or their child is in custody”

Family Safety Planning Meetings

“Supporting families in moving on and making a plan to do so.”

Family Group Conferences

“Bring families together to make a plan around adolescence who are struggling with law issues, stealing, drug use, etc. most of the time the child has been through issues in their past and need their family to step up and support them.”

Family Finding

“Sometimes families who have adopted children run in to circumstances where they are no longer able to care or support the child. So they ‘return her’ to DCF custody.”

What Does the Job

“Family Time Coach” Entail?

+Questions for Amie

I have always been interested in the Social Work field, morespecifically family and children social work. Amie’s position as afamily time coach sounds very interesting and it was intriguingto see what her job was about.

What are some of the most challenging pieces to this job?

“Mental health issues, substance abuse, not letting your own values and biases take over. Everyone is doing the best they

can 99% of the time.”

What advice do you give me, a full-time student looking to work in a related field?

“look at every family in your work, these are people who are doing the best they can with what they have. Look at the

families, what do they have going for them, focus on relationships, understanding their needs and figure out their struggles? Learn how to build genuine relationships that are

meaningful.

+ My Favorite Response

Are your personal morals ever challenged in this

particular profession?

“Everyday! Every single family presents something new. It is my

responsibility to understand and respect what they are saying not

what the voice in my head is saying. I think it is really hard, it’s

the biggest thing, we are all people so we all do things

differently.” Amie Witcomb

I thought this was a really good response because it

reminds us that we are all human. We all have personal

values that may not relate to other peoples values. This is

one of the biggest and hardest pieces of the Social Work

field. We need to be able to step back from our values and

respect other peoples.

+Reflection

Amie Witcomb is an incredible person and great family advocate. Ihave had the pleasure to work with her for a short time while shewas the director of my center several years ago. It was a greatexperience to re-connect with her and learn about her job as aFamily Time Coach. Amie is a strong woman and learning about thechallenges of the job was interesting. I believe this was one of thebest and most meaningful interviews I have done because it allowedme to gain so much perspective about how challenging this fieldreally is. It gives me the opportunity to figure out if being in the socialwork field is really the right career choice for me. Amie mentioned alot about her family and how it has causes strain on them. She hashad to work long and sometimes unexpected hours, which meanssometimes she misses important family events. “My kids hate myjob” she told me. I loved that Amie was willing to tell me the truthabout her job so that I really have the right information. It is nothelpful to have a sugar-coated answer when you are talking aboutwork that directly affects the lives of your family and the families youwork with. I gained some very helpful knowledge through thisprocess that will be helpful in my career path in the future.

3) Has doing this project changed your mind about the direction you may take in the field of human services

generally or social work more specifically? If so, how? If not, how did this project help solidify your thinking about the

direction you may take in the field?

As I said briefly in my reflection, Amie was very blunt about the challenges in her field. So it did give me some perspective. However, I

am ready to experience the challenges and see how this kind of work challenges me. I am aware that the job will not be easy, but I

believe in my passion for supporting children and families and feel confident that I will be happy helping people. This project most

definitely helped me decide where I want to be in the Human Services field.

4) What connections do you see between the information you learned through the completion of this assignment

and the readings and discussions of social work history, the code of ethics and the standards for cultural competence?

One of the questions I asked Amie was “How do you feel ethics fit into your position as a Family Time Coach?” and her answer;

“They are a priority – professionalism, confidentiality and boundaries are huge. Knowing your role and professional boundaries,

cultural humility, basic work ethics, being on time and respecting clients Relationship is everything in what I do.” I think this is very

relevant to what we have been learning since we talked about ethics in the field and this question is directed at this. Also, as we know,

ethics are very important in the work field no matter what, but very specifically in the Human Services field.

8) What challenges did you encounter through the completion of this project? What went well? What would you

have done differently were you to do this again? What additional resources or supports might be helpful in the future?

The challenges I faced were gathering the information. I wanted to find information that actually was relevant to me and what I want to

do. I wanted to get the most out of this project, as it really is my future. There was so much to be learned here. I loved being able to

interview someone in the Human Services field. It was a challenge to find time to meet with Amie. I work a full time job so when she

was available it was hard for me to be available. In fact we set up a few different interview times that ended up not working. Thankfully

I was able to work with my director at work and encouraged her to allow me some extra time before work to do the interview. Typically

people in the social work field are very busy and it can be a challenge for them to find time for an extra things. I really appreciated the

time Amie found to meet with me. The only other challenges I faced was figuring out how I wanted to organize my presentation. I must

have moved slides around and clicked copy/paste over a hundred times.

Reflection Questions

+References

"Definition of Social Work." International Federation of Social

Workers. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2014. (Slide 2)

"Build Your Future with O*NET OnLine." O*NET OnLine. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 18 July 2014. (slide 4-5)

Vermont Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 July 2014.

(slides 9-10)

Interview with Amie Witcomb (slides 13-16)