I am excited to further my knowledge and experience in the field

I am excited to further my knowledge and experience in the field of Social Work. As a social worker, I am interested in working with micro and mezzo populations in healthcare settings. I aim to help people handle issues that can develop from traumatic circumstances. I am driven towards promoting quality health care access for those who are underprivileged. People are often unprepared to handle everyday tasks when unexpected health issues arise. I want to identify possible financial or psychosocial barriers that people face so that I can redirect and guide them to beneficial healthcare services. Through active community involvement and education, I developed the inspiration to help disadvantaged populations by advocating and counseling. The United States is a diverse cultural melting pot. Significant percentages of American populations include ethnic minorities and members of rural communities. Within diverse populations, it is seen that those who are employed and unemployed lack access to primary health insurance. A crucial component in assessing accessibility to health services among diverse groups is analyzing the insurance coverage they receive. Job insecurities and insufficient employee work benefit only intensify potential losses of proper healthcare access. Health disparities are prevalent within disadvantaged populations. Socioeconomic factors contribute to limited health care coverage among these communities. These issues raise a thought-provoking question. Should employment health insurance benefits be the primary source of health care that Americans depend upon? Sudden changes during a career are understandably inevitable. The possibility of people changing jobs is common. However, people are reliant on the health insurance they receive through employment. Employers purchase health plans to provide insurance for employees as a part of employment benefits. This is an issue because health insurance providers sell plans that are at higher rates yet include lower coverage. Employment health insurance might also be less likely to be shifted within jobs. It is noted that if an employee resigns or gets terminated, they can potentially stop receiving employee benefits. This can become a strain on employees who consider searching for different jobs. An approachable solution is delivering cost-effective health services. This benefits consumers and providers because creating affordable health insurance costs leads to growth in the number of Americans purchasing insurance which in turn will give providers more customers purchasing insurance plans. Resultantly, Americans receive access to affordable health insurance and the health delivery system has a growing number of people purchasing health insurance. In today’s society, mental health is generally conceptualized as an unpleasant subject of discussion. Consequently, people enduring mental health issues might not be receiving proper care as needed. Traumatic life changes play a huge role in someone’s wellness emotionally, socially and psychologically. Although people have become more open to mental health awareness, there are attached stigmas still existing. The belief that mental health is solely associated with positivity is a misconception. People might not always expect things to go positively in life and to impose a mindset that entails everything only as positive might not be beneficial for someone’s mental health. Instead, mental health can be understood as finding equanimity. Equanimity involves connecting cognitively and emotionally with life experiences. This allows people to be emotionally and mentally balanced with society and life events. However, when people undergo life-changing events, mental wellness might not be present. Arising health issues within disadvantaged communities can lead to further distress. Through hospital volunteering, I received the opportunity to help people in the emergency department. Volunteering allowed me to understand how life-changing events affect people emotionally, mentally and financially. During my field training experience in the course: Field Education in Social Work, I learned about burnout. Families and patients can both experience burnout from the repercussions of drastic health issues. Ethnic minorities and members of rural communities providing care for family members cope with inadequate financial resources and living conditions. Consequently, caregivers and patients mentally and emotionally break down from stress. To my knowledge, this signals social workers to continue communicating the necessity for underprivileged communities to have access to proper mental health resources that can help people manage stressful circumstances. By devising plans that meet population goals and assisting communities with obtaining resources, we can lead people to the course of balanced mental health. As a hospital volunteer, I initiated as an emergency department aide. I provided assistive services to the Emergency Room (ER) Department, hospital staff, patients and visitors. I would offer complimentary refreshments to the hospital visitors. Once patients prepared for discharge, I transported them in a wheelchair to their vehicles. I helped nurses organize and disinfect hospital beds and medical equipment for incoming patients to use. A few months after I eased into the role of helping at the ER, my volunteer coordinator reached out to the volunteers and offered someone to initiate a new volunteering segment. I was the first volunteer to eagerly respond back and commence the new volunteer role called Tea Time Trolley. Within a few weeks, I gained experience to train and work with new volunteers for Tea Time Trolley. My duty involved going to each hospital unit and retrieving the dietary charts from charge nurses. I would identify the hospital diets for each patient and accordingly serve beverages such as tea. As a volunteer, I played the role of a leader and a mentee. I learned from my coordinator and I trained new volunteers. I always made sure that my trainees and I appeared presentable to best represent the hospital. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn how to take initiative and guide myself and others towards providing a better hospital atmosphere for everyone. Through social work, I look forward to lifelong learning and helping. The MSW program provides an opportunity for me to expand my insight into social work. I am enthusiastic about becoming a proficient guide for those in need of help. This program is an opportunity for me to gain professional competence that will allow me to help people find guidance towards a better quality of life through reinforcement and warmth.