Mark Barnes II

Hi everyone.

My name is Mark Barnes and today I'll be talking about my

experience with the social work program and how I hope to improve

on my journey.

So to begin,

we'll discuss the core competencies that I feel

like I've been able to practice so far

Um and how I have been able to practice. So the first one is competency six.

Here we see that

the competency is to engage in research

and foreign to practice and practice informed research

at my internship with Columbia Area Mental Center.

I've really invested in the dialectical behavior therapy um that they

do there as well as the behavior therapy in general.

But I do find that the dialectical behavior therapy that's offered there

is very research informed

practice as

Marshal linen han has

studied with various populations how to implement this research

in a meaningful way.

And

at every level I've been able to engage with

dialectical behavior therapy

through individual psychotherapy group skills, training,

skills coaching and consultation team

which has allowed me to really invest in this competency.

The second competency that I would like to discuss

is applying human knowledge

uh sorry, applying human behavior and the social environment.

So within the behavior therapy program,

the need to apply human behavior

and consider the context in which those behaviors occur

is

paramount. So

um with the behavior therapy program,

I feel like I've really been able to invest in this competency as well,

helping clients analyze their behaviors

um Within the context of

uh there an incident events or kind

of contributing factors has really highlighted this

competency for me.

The third competency that I want to review

is

engage assess, intervene and evaluate with individuals, families, groups,

organizations

and communities.

So

with the behavior therapy program,

I feel like I've really focused on the individuals

and groups

um that I've been able to sit in on uh now anytime we're working with an individual,

we're always considering the family

um units that they live in as well as

kind of the community

support that they have.

But

um this social worker competency has definitely played

a role in how I've been able to

benefit from my internship this year.

Mm hmm.

Moving on to supervision.

I will say I would not have been able to get through this year without supervision.

It's so important

both within this program and within the practicum field like field internships

to get supervision. But even beyond that

I found supervision to be highly valuable for me

this year as I've tried to balance all of the

um kind of necessities that come with working with an intense

population as well as balancing self care and just kind of

ah

investing in

the social worker that I'm trying to develop

this year.

I've had an excellent supervisor which has made it really

easy for me to not have very many challenges.

I would say that the most challenging thing for me has been

ah

coming in contact with a potential client

needs that conflict with my own personal values

and my supervisor was there to help me navigate those.

I think in the future if I have a supervisor who's less involved in my development,

I would need to kind of

reinforce this idea that um

I'm there to learn and they're there to help me learn.

So my strengths and um my areas of growth are super important to evaluate

at this point as I'm in the middle of transitioning into my advance here,

so I felt like I wanted to start with areas of growth

and what I found throughout this year was

I need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

I found that a lot of times when working with people who are in distress,

my tendency is to alleviate their distress or to help them problem solved.

So that way they don't have as much

turmoil in the future.

This first area of growth is really important

to me because I think it's important to remember

that we need to sit with clients as they are and accept while also pushing for change.

Yeah,

the second area of growth that I think I need to grow in

is

self care and

this is important because if I'm not taking care of myself, then I can't

um hold the capacity to support the individuals that

I want to support and so that's something that

I really found this year um during my internship

is that I need to invest more in myself care

as I progress as a social worker.

The last area that I wanted to kind of highlight was reaffirming my boundaries.

And what I mean by this is that

um there were a couple of instances where I found

that clients had overstepped what I was comfortable with and

I needed my supervisor support to help

me realize that they had overstepped my boundaries

in the future.

I would like to be able to number one,

recognize these boundaries myself and then also

set these boundaries with clients in the future.

So as far as areas of strength,

I feel like I have grown in my ability to prioritize prioritize

client needs.

Um And I think that with this,

it's important to remember

that

balancing client paperwork and what clients need

on a daily basis or a weekly basis

is a struggle. And I think it's something that we all face

in my internship,

I found that

balancing paperwork

um does not outweigh what the client needs on the day to day basis.

Additionally,

my behavioral knowledge has proven to be a strength as I've walked into

the behavior therapy program through the Columbia uh Columbia area mental center.

I think that um that has proven to be a strength for me as I try to assimilate

and adopt some of their practices as they navigate

with clients through behavioral practices and behavioral change.

The last area that I want to highlight in terms of strength

is

my willingness to seek out feedback.

Um

I think it's important to create a culture of feedback

and

and the um good nature of trying to grow, I think feedback is necessary, so

um for me

uh any opportunity I had to get feedback throughout this practicum I saw out

and open the door for people to give me both constructive

criticism as well as encouragements with what I'm doing well,

so

as we move on,

um

I think that

moving into this next internship year and my advanced year

um leadership is at the fore forefront of skills that I want to acquire

and for me areas of future leadership development for

myself looked like practice with a more severe population

because I'm

interested in diversifying my ability to be effective

with

people who have

various needs and I think growing in that part of the population that

that I'm exposed to will help me with that

secondly,

I think practicing more independently while

I have appreciated my current internship,

I would love to see

myself grow and the ability to manage my own um

kind of caseload as well as client needs and really

seek out advice from my peers um when I come

across a situation that I can't handle on my own,

I found that

in my internship so far

rightfully so for foundation year

um that I've been um really supported in the sense that people have been

with me every step of the way and I think the next area of

growth that I need to be able to practice more independently and with um

leadership qualities to be able to take on those client needs on my own.

Thirdly,

managing documentation of services better.

I have been

notorious for

kind of prioritizing client needs and I think

one of the areas of growth that I need to grow in is

um documenting those needs

and documenting client

services.

Um and I think that that will really push me into more of a leadership role as I

try to support the individuals that I need to support.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who supported me along the way so far. Um

Being in a master's program is not easy and I think that all of my professors,

every supervisor that I've had and every mentor that I've had

have really made the difference for me when it comes to

uh kind of really navigating everything that social work has to offer.

So I wanted to give the thanks to everyone

that has supported me um and really invest in

everything that social workers offer.

Uh and I'm looking forward to next year as I continue to grow.

Thank you for listening. And I hope that

you continue to grow

as well because we are all striving

to support the individuals that we need to support.

Thank you and have a good

day

Mark Barnes II

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