2) 2014.9.4 (Day 10)
I
have already interviewed a resident here at Dismas. I remember I was nervous when conducting my
first PSA because it was my first time.
The monitor up front sensed my nervousness and said, “I'll give you a
nice one.” Needless to say, I did
interview a nice resident. Conducting a
psycho-social interview is like listening to a person's life story. There are many topics to cover such as
family, physical health, spiritual health, education, law, and client
strengths. Each topic can have numerous
subtopics. For example, in the
“education” category, I am also required to ask how the client is doing when he
was in elementary school! I still
remember my elementary years but many of the residents, some older, might have
trouble remembering. The reason why we
are required to go in detail and ask these questions is because what happens in
a person's childhood can affect a person's psychological well-being in his/her
adult life.
The
resident I had is talkative. I'm
fortunate. I heard of some residents who
don't talk at all. Listening to their
life stories reminds me of my story. I
find our stories have similarities and differences. I don't want to go in detail but I find, so
far, that the reason my resident got in trouble is due to logical, make-sense
reasons. Reasons that, if we were under
his situation, we might succumb to that, too.
I guess in life, there are a few “critical” life decision or junctions
that would affect our lives tremendously.
Me joining the Army, for example, or me getting that stupid “D” grade in
English class during my freshman year in high school. That cost me my admission to a Cal-State
University back then. :(
I
also talked to my fellow interns on why they joined social work. One of them gave his story.
“What
is your rank?” He asked me.
“I
was a specialist,” I replied.
One
of my intern, F, was also in the Army.
He was a sergeant when he got out.
He said the reason why he went into social work is because he does the
same thing in the Army. He conducts home
visits. He checks his soldier's homes
for safety. He conducts financial
counseling for his soldiers. He advises
his soldiers on how to spend and save money.
He does safety briefings with his soldiers as well. When his soldiers go on leave, he is required
to counsel them on safety issues. He
conducts urinalysis for his unit. His
MOS, like some in the Army (including me) is unrelated in what he does. His MOS is a fueler, but he is a
re-enlistment sergeant in his unit. So,
he also does some career advising and guidance for soldiers who are thinking
about re-enlisting in the Army. He also
runs the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear (CBN) training in his unit. Change his MOS to “social work” and many of
the tasks he does will be the same. :)
A
sergeant from my unit once asked me why am I choosing not to re-enlist in the
Army. I told him I want to help people;
to be a social worker. He gave a gesture
that shows “duh, what do you think you are doing now?” I think if I were to be promoted to a
sergeant, many of the soldiering-care tasks that F mentioned would also apply
to me. I might actually do some social
work there. :p But, I know the Army, or the military in
general, also has a social work MOS as well.
They are an officer. I might
consider working in the military.
