Is It A Calling?

by Daniel Jacob, MSW: Founder of Can You Hear Me?

Here we are again... The week has kept me moving like many of you out there, and with that I have been able to support others while receiving in the process.  My thoughts today are inspired by a recent question that was brought my way, "whether I think being a social worker is a calling or not?  In response to this question I can only speak from my own experience, observation and what I have come to understand.  As social workers (helping others change for the better) something or someone has impacted our decision to move into a career that can be rewarding and challenging at the same time.  

We all have a story, and if you've been following my community of support it's quite clear that I am a big advocate of sharing our stories.  You know, the stories that include the influences and experiences that have greatly inspired our decision to pursue a helping profession.  For myself, the catalyst towards a career in this field began from my own exposure to physical and emotional abuse as a young boy.   The affects and effects of this experience as a result provided me with a tremendous amount to learn from and overcome.  Through the opportunities to embrace challenge and adversity, I was given an opening towards growth and change.  I was motivated to better myself, which in turn led me into the field of social work and the opportunity to help others.  I know I am doing exactly what I was meant to be doing, my social work runs deep and there are many influences that impact, empower, and inspire my practice!

As uniquely different we as social workers are it is not too difficult to see the difference between a social worker that is in it for all the right reasons with something special to give, and those who just haven't committed to the necessary work in order to become the social worker that...   So, let's just say that some social workers are exactly where they should be, and some others may have the best intentions, but there are certain factors that are preventing them from maximizing their best potential.  I will let you decide whether it is a calling or not, hopefully I have given you some insight into how I see it all... 

As always you are a participant in this process, so please feel free to add to the discussion as you may.  Until we connect again may this find you well with your head up and heart open!




About Author

 
Daniel Jacob, MSW Email
Founder of Can You Hear Me? External Field Instructor at University of Southern California School of Social Work MSW@USC. Daniel has a Masters in Social Work (Families and Children Practice/School Social Work). He is currently nearing the completion of the LCSW testing process.
More about the man behind the mission ⇢

Helping Professionals with Gratitude!

by Daniel Jacob, MSW: Founder of Can You Hear Me?


Helping Professionals with Gratitude!  I'm pleased to be back and as my fingers glide across the keys, I'm connected to my internal drive to help others change for the better.  This week I'm inspired by the gratitude I embrace as it pertains to my model of support, helping those that help others in need.  Helping Professionals are either working for, training in, or learning from organizations whose mission is to help others change for the better.  The support that I have chosen to provide gives me purpose.  As I move through opportunity I'm  investing myself into the emotional states that motivate, inspire and empower me to accomplish my said goals.  It is through challenge and the process of overcoming such that I have been given choices.   As with all moments that cause us pain we can choose to understand it and accept it.  I honestly feel that we are all capable of embracing our own suffering in a manner that can educate us, inspire us and ultimately motivate our will and ability to change for the better.  Helping Professionals with Gratitude affords me this opportunity, one that not only empowers others, but also provides me with much opportunity as well!

In the field of helping others change for the better one may become solely focused on the person/population you are trying to reach.  Yes, this is the nature of your work but what goes into this work is so greatly influenced by your availability, sense of self and what you are able to give to the process.  So I ask, what about that helping professional?  What about their well being?  What about their working environment/system, support network, etc.?  What about their capability and ability to effectively provide positive support and services to those in need?  Many in the field of helping others choose to suppress their pain and suffering as it pertains to their role as and career of.  Think about it...  You are a trained and educated professional in the business of helping others change for the better,  the expectation is not to show your own vulnerability.  So, how do many cope with this?  Many will suppress, avoid and resist, moving closer into that "survival mode" and a way that just gets one through the day...  They will lose sight of (or just not have the energy for) positive self-care and well-being support.  They will increasingly break down while venting to their co-workers, friends, spouses, etc. in a manner that only demonstrates their frustration, anger, apathy, and complacency within a situation that feels as though no solution is in sight.

Helping Professionals with Gratitude is where my support services come in to action as I strive to empower, educate and support these professionals.  To be able to inspire others through my own plight, my own challenges (in and out of the career), while promoting one's ability to stay available and present is a truly rewarding opportunity.  It is through this mutual process that I am able to help my fellow professionals identify, understand, and thus address the challenges they are facing in the field of helping others change for the better!  I don’t always get the opportunity for feedback, so when I share it is always an opportunity to reflect, process and embrace that I am exactly where I need to be.  What I do know is that it is my true desire to support Helping Professionals so that they can move closer to helping others change for the better.  If I can accomplish this I am able to impact two different populations; the helping professional as well as the clients they serve, both of which are in need of support! 

This in itself is what I see every day with intention, purpose and action!  If you are a helping professional and you are suffering, you can not be available and present for those in need in a positive, effective and sustainable manner.  It is a reality within an already difficult field that usually begins with immediate challenge.  So, I ask you, why create more challenge if you can choose not to?  It begins when you start, while committing to the necessary work so that you can change the outcome, one that will be a truly transformative process...

I'm just gonna keep putting it out there to the universe, and if my efforts open the door towards change for the better I am Helping Professionals with Gratitude!  Until the next time my words meet your availability you breathe well out there!



About Author
 

Daniel Jacob, MSW  Email

Founder of Can You Hear Me? External Field Instructor at University of Southern California School of Social Work MSW@USC. Daniel has a Masters in Social Work (Families and Children Practice/School Social Work). He is currently nearing the completion of the LCSW testing process. More about the man behind the mission ⇢

Another Opportunity...

by Daniel Jacob, MSW: Founder of Can You Hear Me?

Another opportunity to help you help yourself!  I was contacted recently to write an article about Compassion Fatigue, the ever present phenomenon that helping professionals are exposed to, and vulnerable of by the nature of the work we do to help others in need.  My hope by writing this piece was to give the audience a clear and concise understanding of how your own capacity for compassion can impact your well-being, while becoming informed and aware of the how, what and why behind that fatigue that holds on to your compassion in ways that you are not always able to let go of... Continue Reading >>

About Author
 








Daniel Jacob, MSW Email
Founder of Can You Hear Me? External Field Instructor at University of Southern California School of Social Work MSW@USC. Daniel has a Masters in Social Work (Families and Children Practice/School Social Work). He is currently nearing the completion of the LCSW testing process.
More about the man behind the mission ⇢

All About Resilience!

by Daniel Jacob, MSW: Founder of Can You Hear Me?

All About Resilience! It is fair to say that as helping professionals we are in a great position to be that agent of change, helping others move in directions that they often view as impossible to achieve.  We all have our uniquely different approach that is influenced by such common sources as education, training and experience... What I want to speak to today is how resilience, with its many influences can shape and develop our abilities to become that source of hope.  When I look at my own practice, the story that I have lived and continue to add to, I know that resilience has been such a strong influence and motivating force.  The way I look at it, resilience is the ability to handle adverse situations with persistence and hope; wisdom, character, and strength often emerge in the process.  Therefore, how can this influence not impact our ability to reach others, it's all about resilience!

As many of us (helping professionals) know, often we are trained to keep self-disclosure to a minimum, as it's all about the client and their needs, not so much about our own story.  With that being said our actions, availability, presence and wellness are as much a part of our resilient being as the story that we hold close to our hearts.  Therefore, we as helping professionals can utilize the traits of wisdom gained from our own critical life experiences in order to add to our ability to help others help themselves.  The insight that we are given through resilience allows for the courage to recognize the suffering of the heart, and our own story (and experience) can be the catalyst of this process.  It's all about resilience, and we are afforded the opportunity to model it on an often basis as long as there is availability to connect with it, a belief in it, and the intention to deliver it!

As I write, I reflect on the ever present challenges (in life and practice) that I see as amazing opportunities to learn from that only add (not subtract) to our personal self and professional practice.  When you are able to look at obstacles not as problems, but as a resource towards a solution, than your mindset is all about resilience.  Our role in this profession can always be impacted by various influences that we can not control.  We can either let it define us, or we can embrace these setbacks as guides, not brakes.  If you can allow yourself to see the significance that your own resilience can play on those you strive to reach, then you will empower.  If you can allow yourself to embrace the importance that resilience can play on your self-care and well-being, then you will empower.  I'm the doorman here, I'm holding it open for you and if you are available to see it, there is something inside waiting for you.

My hope this week is that my words have reached you in a manner that can empower, support and instruct.  I can say wholeheartedly that this week's post was influenced by my own recent challenge, one that brought me some disappointment.  It would of have been real easy to succumb to the negative influences that were ready and available to take hold of.  However, I practice what I speak to and choose to be in the arena.  I fully understand that it is part of the process that I trust, it's all about resilience!  May this find you breathing well out there, don't lose sight of what you have the capability of achieving...




About Author

Daniel Jacob, MSW Email
Founder of Can You Hear Me? External Field Instructor at University of Southern California School of Social Work MSW@USC. Daniel has a Masters in Social Work (Families and Children Practice/School Social Work). He is currently nearing the completion of the LCSW testing process.
More about the man behind the mission ⇢