Now that we’re back into the case management side of ASP, and all that entails, I thought I would bring you up to speed on the world of social work, both what it looks like at ASP through case management, and in general. I’m currently in the process of getting my master’s in social work and am very excited and proud of this venture (I register for my last set of classes EVER tomorrow!!!) And whenever I go into my classes for the week, I am always struck down, and honestly downright inspired by the group of peers I am surrounded by. In social work, we focus on three settings or disciplines of work – macro, micro, and mezzo. In the micro world, you see social workers doing direct care (hospitals, schools, counseling). In the macro world, you see social workers doing community care (nonprofit, policy). And in the mezzo world, you see social workers doing national care (policy, politics, disaster recovery). And to give you a bit of reference, I am one of only two in my class, doing a macro setting, whereas everyone else is practicing in micro settings. In class, we swap a lot of stories about our worlds, we ask a lot of questions, and sometimes in class – we cry. You’d be surprised at how often social workers themselves have a really hard time asking for help despite our entire careers revolving around helping others to help themselves. It reminds me of Appalachia and the communities we serve.
I feel like often, we are hell-bent on figuring everything out ourselves. And why is that? Some arbitrary societal rule that if we somehow cross the finish line with no one around to help us, that our independence was so loud it scared off anyone who could possibly lend a hand – that we’ll receive some kind of medal when we get to heaven? Does it make the world any better to have more people so stressed from their own fear of asking for help, that they’d rather wear themselves thin doing it, going at it, all alone? No one was ever made to be an island.
There was something my dad always said when I was growing up. Both he and my mom are versed in the world of helpers, as they both have dedicated their lives and careers to helping others. He always said that the kind of good you put out in the world has a way of coming back to you. That if you lead with kindness, love, and grace – someday, somewhere, it might come back to you when you need it most.
For all the times that I heard it, it came true one random day in my life about two years ago. Me and one of my best friends were backpacking across parts of Europe, visiting some of our other friends in other countries. We were in Switzerland, and had just settled in for the night, when she realized she didn’t have her phone. My phone was only running on Wi-Fi, if we were near it, and I had no service if we were to leave a hotspot. So, at about 9pm at night, we realized we had little to no communication with the outside world, in a country about an ocean away from our home.
To make a long story short, we met an older lady, at a train station at midnight (we didn’t tell our parents all the details but I promise we were safe) who had picked up my friend’s phone and spent two hours with us on the phone (we had a strong language barrier) while we figured out where to meet her.
When we met her, my friend instantly cried, and I hugged the stranger. She smiled to me, with broken English she said, “You remind me so much of my daughter,” I had laughed, half crying, half high on adrenaline and jetlag. “Why did you do all of this for us?” My friend had said, phoning her dad immediately to tell him we had her phone and that we were safe. She just smiled at us and said, “It’s what you do; you take care of people.”
I think I’ll remember her forever. She was a real-life guardian angel. And I have had my fair share of guardian angels, strangers turning into friends and life savers, and while all of this remains true – I too still struggle asking for help.
So, how do we ask for help? How do we manage to make a call, fill out an application, or if you’re like me, decide it’s okay to ask for someone to help take care of you?
I think it’s a little bit of everything. I think it’s learning how to turn off the voices in our head that say we can win a medal if we go at it alone. I think it’s learning how to pour that goodness out too, being willing to meet someone at a train station at midnight, or helping someone build a house, or being okay asking for someone else to get up and do the speaking. But I also think it’s learning how to take care of yourself. We can get really good at taking care of other people, that sometimes we forget that we are other people too.
To be someone who inevitably takes care of others, you have to know how to do it for yourself too. And as someone who is still learning that first-hand, I promise I’m right there with you.
But I’d like to be the guardian angel in someone’s story one day, so I guess that starts with me, and I guess that starts today. So, for all my social workers, friends, and the strangers reading this – I hope you know its okay to ask for help. And perhaps, it can lead to something much greater than you can’t yet know.
–
Chloe B.
Social Work Intern & Summer Staff Alum
