Personal Issues In Social Work

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Personal issues that I think may influence my ability to establish relationships with clients or someone from a different racial or ethnic group is shyness. Shyness had been an issue of mine since my younger years while growing up. I have a hard time trying to compose myself to feel comfortable, relax, and be talkative. I feel that when I tackle down my shyness and be more talkative I may say something wrong. I also feel that I will be misunderstood. I think the reason why I feel shy and do not want to be misunderstood is because I am afraid of being rejected. In addition, I am afraid of being put down. For instance, earlier of this year my volunteer’s place there was a current project that required screening clients. I was nervous and shy. …show more content…
The first few clients I screened were marvelous and by their kinds words I began to ease my shyness. I was doing fine until I came across two clients who did not want to interact with me. While I was screening them, they said to me that I made no sense to them; they did not understand why they had to talk to a person who cannot even speak English properly. Before I can even finish my individual screening with them, they abruptly got up and start shopping for food. I felt hurt and confuse. I was unsure of what I did wrong to cause them to act such manner toward me. I felt at one point that I should of really just hide in my shyness and not try to break through it. As for having to learn and experience in the Social Work field, I understand that I will have to grow out of my shyness. Indeed, I am afraid my shyness will impact and have me be unable to show empathy and corporate with clients or a person from a different racial group. However, the experience I had slowly gain over the months at work had somewhat help me overcome my shyness. I continuously hope to improve and completely overcome my …show more content…
It amazed me how much my class group had grown closer over the months. I remember when we all attended the Social Work Program orientation we did not even know whose was who. While, I did not even remember or knew some of my classmates existed in Metropolitan State University or in the Social Work Program orientation. I officially met my entire class group on the first day of class. I felt nerve-wrecking and shy on the first day, because I was unsure of whom to approach and formally introduce myself to. I remembered the first two week of classes my entire social work cohorts began their development stage ‘forming’. During that development stage, I saw how my cohorts were still in the ‘preaffiliation’ stage. They were getting to know one another and “test out whether they really want to belong to the group through approach and avoidance behavior” as stated by Donelson R. Forsyth in Group Dynamics. As we progressed toward our mid-terms I notice many classmates started to step up and developed into the ‘power and control’ stage. For instance, Forsyth stated “Member begin to take on certain roles and responsibilities. Norms and methods for handling group tasks develop. These processes lead to a struggle as the members establish their places within the group. Each member seeks power, partly for self-protection and partly to gain greater