(1) Describe in some detail a critical experience or incident, and the impact (learning) the experience had on you as an aspiring social worker. That is, for the critical incident:
- “put into words” the significance of the incident;
- key learning outcomes acquired as a result of the incident;
- self-insights you gained with respect to your own sense of professional identity
(2) Detailed description of the overall field experience on key learning specific to social work:
- values (e.g. personal and social work values, principles, ethics and ethical dilemmas, strengths, empowerment, cultural competency, etc.);
- knowledge (e.g. policy, theory, research, practice, context, client systems, organizational dynamics, etc.); and
- skills (e.g. engagement, assessment, intervention, evaluation, verbal and non-verbal communication, analytic skills, etc.)
(3) What did the experience teach you about yourself? Looking back, in 20-20 hindsight, provide an explanation of how incidents like the one you encountered
- created awareness of qualities that are needed to thrive as well as overcome challenges; and
- produced changes on your part (behavioral, attitudinal, self-awareness, values clarification, etc.) or prompted you to think about changes that may be important for you to become an effective, culturally competent practitioner.
- From this, use your current understanding to evaluate what will be important as you move forward in a social work career, i.e. factors related to future supervisor and/or employment setting.
