Can someone please edit my essay for Social Work?

I am applying to the Master’s in Social Work program because I realized that social work is very similar to Psychology, which is my major in undergraduate school. Similar with the exception that it puts more emphasis on helping people find their strengths, rather than giving them a diagnosis and being predominantly problem-focused. My own experience in helping people with their problems, and enjoying it, influenced me to pursue a career in Social Work.

Becoming a full professional with a graduate degree in Social Work represents the culmination of many years of personal and professional preparation.I have always enjoyed working with people and helping them with their problems. At 34, I feel that I have the maturity necessary to perform at my best level once again, as a student. I also have a high level of motivation that accompanies my current position. I work with incarcerated youth who, by the way, are mostly minorities. I am deeply saddened by the explosive incarceration rates in America, specifically the way males lead the way in going to jail, rather than going to college and working. I feel this sense of urgency makes me an excellent candidate for your Master’s Program because I am so fully engaged at my place of employment. It is my sincere hope to be able to contribute to discussions on how to best counsel and care for at risk youth. My research interest focuses on boys, especially those at risk for spending their young adulthood behind bars.

I am currently working at Harbor View Adolescent Center. I am a Youth Counselor for incarcerated youth with behavioral and emotional problems in a residential treatment facility. In my job as a youth counselor, my primary work responsibility is to serve as a positive role model for adolescents aged twelve to eighteen. The residents had backgrounds of homelessness and are also victims of physical and sexual abuse. Some of them had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, depression, and with the juvenile justice system. At times, my job could be extremely stressful. But I discovered that I had the ability to connect with the adolescents and develop strong emotional ties with them. I focused on helping them with their social skills, coping skills, and independent living skills. My main goal was to help them build their self-esteem and improve their sense of security.

The adolescents that I have worked with in the residential treatment facility could become physically assaultive at times. It was during these critical situations that I would experience problems in not knowing what the best clinical approach was to use when they were self-harming. I would like to have better tools in order to help these kids when they are in crisis and know whether the interventions are well supported by the literature. I hope that with the aid of a Master’s Degree in Social Work, I can achieve that. I want to be able to help the adolescents in their time of crisis and teach the necessary skills the kids will need to transition into a more independent way of living.

These youth need all the help and attention we can give them in order to prevent recidivism, especially African American and Hispanic males, who tend to continually come back into the system. If you were to grant me the privilege of studying in your program, I would like to research the recidivism rates of African American and Hispanic juveniles and young adults. I hope to contribute our understanding of how we can best go about saving their lives and, at the same time, ease the financial burdens on our society.

The guiding principle of my life is that each of us has a duty to help and serve others, to seek out marginalized and less fortunate individuals of our communities and offer any aid that we can. I have always lived by the motto “do unto others as you would have done to you”, and feel that the best way to do this is by furthering the ideal of social justice in the way I live and work. Social justice, as I see it, is the value system that recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of every human being and the right of everyone to be treated fairly and with respect. I believe that every individual is worthy of dignity and respect and each individual has the ability to become self-sufficient and able to make the best possible decisions for themselves. When we as a society try to see the world through the eyes of the less fortunate, we can empathize with and understand one another instead of focusing on our differences. Only when each and every individual of a community is afforded the same level of dignity and respect can a society truly be called civilized. Those who cannot demand social justice for themselves must have a voice to demand it for them. It is my hope that by earning a Master‘s degree in Social Work I can be that voice.

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