My personal mission statement is based on the foundation of the personal strengths that I bring to my future career as a social worker. I consider myself to be a very good communicator and in return I am a great listener. I take my own personal life experiences, good and bad and learn from it. I try to implement them into my daily life; I take the negatives and turn it into something positive. I feel that this will help me with clients in the future. 

     I was raised in a small community, where everyone knows one another. My community was predominately middle class Caucasians and very few African Americans. I was lucky to get a slight form of diversity from having an African American uncle. I do not feel like it was enough to make me cultural competent. I come from an upper-middle class family and hung out with the same type class, so I wasn’t really aware of what poverty really was, because I was never exposed to it. By entering the social work program, my classes have enlightened me on several aspects of diversity and what it really means to be culturally competent. I have a lot more to learn, but I feel that I am on the right track. 

     Critical thinking is something that most people don’t grasp right away, because it makes you go outside of your comfort zone and actually think. This is something that I have had to work really hard on, because I fear being wrong. One thing that my classes have taught me is that there is no right or wrong answers. I have always relied on my classmates for constructive criticism. 

     My developing practice philosophy is that I will approach individuals as well as groups with respect and a non-judgmental attitude. I feel that if I treat everyone with the same respect, they will trust and respect me. Most of my classes have made me face my own bias and fears that I once had. For example, I once thought that homeless people could go and get a job if they really wanted to, and that they were just being lazy. I soon found out that this wasn’t always the case. It is so easy to become homeless overnight, but it takes a long time to get out of it. You can become homeless from a natural disaster, being laid off, and losing someone that makes the main income. I wish I would have known then what I know now, because I would not have been so ignorant. 

     I have identified several things that have begun to transform me into a cultural competent social worker. I have learned to be aware of my own bias and now I am better able to view them constructively. I am also more open-minded to new things like; diversity, critical thinking, and views that I might not always agree with, but it doesn’t make it wrong.

     My plans for future learning include continuing to be a member with NASW and finding the right graduate program so I can get my MSW. I also plan to get licensed as well and attend at least one professional meeting or event each semester till I graduate.