The beginning of my career.

It was the end of my fourth semester in college, and I had to make an important choice. After all the different internships I had done, my semester was going to end, and I still didn't know where I wanted to work as a future intern in social work. I had so many choices to choose from and each had advantages and disadvantages.

Choice 1 : Child Protection Worker.

Choice 2 : Addiction Counselor.

Choice 3 : School Counselor.

Choice 4 : Mental Health Care Worker.

Choice 5 : Crisis Counselor.

Choice 6 : Correction Social Worker.

Child Protection Worker.

At the end of my fourth semester, I chose an internship as a child protection worker. Since I had already been working as an intern for a similar position, I thought it was going to be an easy path. Everything I had learned in the past came in handy. I was happy during the on-the-job-training, but as soon as I was left on my own, I felt overwhelmed. I was working overtime most of the days since they had a lot of vacant position and the job itself was stressful. I loved working with children, but I never thought it was going to be this difficult working with their parents as well. I had to stay on top of my game the whole time, even when I was working with child abuse cases. It was hard, but after two months, I felt like I was learning the ropes, and I was able to put aside my personal feelings.

Write a choice here.

Addiction Counselor.

It was the end of my fourth semester in college, and I chose an internship as an addiction counselor. I felt a bit overwhelmed when I stepped a foot in the door, but everything I learned during my substance addiction class came in handy. I was prepared for every possible case with the help of memory cards for every substance. A few weeks passed, and I was able to pull off a sensitization class by myself for drug abuse. I had clients come to me with specific problems and even though I didn't have an income, I felt fulfillment.

Write a choice here.

School Counselor.

After my fourth semester in college, I chose an internship as a school counselor. They had to do a background check since I was going to be working in a school. On my first week as a trainee, I felt dreadful because I had no idea what kind of work I would be doing. During the first month as an intern, my superior, who was the only school counselor, had to take a leave of absence, which made me the new school counselor. I had a meeting with the school organization. Since they didn't find anyone willing to take this vacant position, they asked me if I was willing to step forward and take the position. I was given a compensation package for taking the position. The weeks after that, I thought the job had a lack of purpose. More often than not, my days were simply filled with organization, filling and writing in logbooks.

Write a choice here.

Mental Health Care Worker.

It was the end of my fourth semester, and I chose an internship as a mental health care worker. During my first month, my superior kept deterring and undermining me because I was too anxious during meetings with patients. The job itself was really hard and time management was important. I had to schedule at least three meetings with patients and one with my co-workers every day. I had a constant fear of misconduct and the patients had many cases, so it was hard to keep up. More often than not, I felt invaluable, so I stepped aside. It was maddening. After this dreadful first month, I felt for the first time useful. I had to revise everything I had learned in college about mental health and that is when time management came in handy. My shifts were always in the evening, which left me the whole morning to study.

Write a choice here.

Crisis Counselor.

It was the end of my fourth semester, and I chose to do my final internship as a crisis counselor. During my OJT, I learned to provide help and support to individuals who had lived a crisis. If I couldn't provide the support, I helped them find new resources that were specialized in their sort of crisis. When I started on my first day, I gave a cursory glance to the job description. I had a lack of interest because I didn't properly understand what I would be doing as an intern. I thought I wouldn't be able to work and gain experience on my own, but right after my first month as an intern was over, my superiors offered me a position. I accepted right away, and I was finally getting an income, instead of feeling like I was volunteering. They gave me a document on their office politics to read and told me all about misconduct.

Write a choice here.

Correction Social Worker.

At the end of my fourth semester, I chose an internship as a correction social worker. During my first week, I was doing a dreadful on-the-job-training with another intern. They told us about the job description and gave us access to every client's logbooks. We were always supervised by a professional correction social worker, since the clientele had, more often than not, a high risk of misconduct. After my first week on the job, I participated in a meeting with a client. I had to find goals with the client, such as going back to school. Since part of the job is helping clients to achieve their goals and to find them some sort of hobby, I was most of the time in direct contact with the clients. I had to pay close attention and observe everyone's behaviour. After a few weeks, I was put in contact with a client who had a background of sexual harassment. I felt really anxious, but since my superior was next to me, I was able to set aside any feelings I had. Throughout the meeting, the client kept acting in a flirtatious manner, so my superior ended the meeting. The convict was sent to his room and I never saw him again. Overall, my internship thought me a lot of different things about social work.

Write a choice here.