Psychology or Social Work is for YOU: A Writing Plan

Audience Profile

The typical psychology student that wishes to go into social work is very analytical. Oftentimes, they enjoy people-watching (in a non-creepy way) and thinking about the structure of society and how it shapes the individual. Psych students and aspiring social workers love people, especially helping them. They see someone struggling and either want to study them (to better understand how to generalize the situation to others, as to help the most people by learning about the situation) or they want to go over and talk it through with the person to ease others’ discomfort. They are likely to take classes about cultures and communities, classes about human behavior, and classes on counseling. It would be helpful for them to take a history of psychology class, as well, as it can help mold ideas about why certain counseling techniques formed and which ones worked (or didn’t). Of course, most of these psychology and sociology classes will help the student to understand what is appropriate and inappropriate to say and how to best verbally communicate with others (to create ease and rapport). Written communication is taught in psychological writing classes, which teach about APA styles for papers and resumes, and how to effectively write down observational and professional notes. This class is crucial, because otherwise, you won’t look like a professional and people won’t take you seriously. Psych students shouldn’t fret about all the classes, though, since a lot of the things learned for this field come naturally… otherwise they probably wouldn’t have picked it.

Most students will find that simply taking the classes is not enough. To understand and help people, one must get “real-world” experience, communicating and counseling individuals. Internships working with disadvantaged people (elderly, poor, delinquent) will give them the most experience with what social work is all about. Psych and social work students should also be mindful of getting research experience and service hours, or it is unlikely to get into graduate school, which is almost essential for any person trying to get a job in these fields.

Context:

If I were writing to a student, I would make sure to include information from my blog post “Communication and Persuasion in Psychology” as this emphasizes the different contexts and situations a counselor (psychologist or social worker) could be counseling in- groups or individuals. It also emphasizes the importance in understanding your clients and the situations in which you are counseling because this adds a dimension that could either create or dissolve tension, blaming, or peace. I would note the differences and similarities of ancient and modern social work by referencing my blog titled “Medieval Catholic Almsgiving and Modern Social Work.” This would give a good context to the prospective students about why social work is important and the central values of social work. I would add in information about why these values are important in today’s society be doing some more historical research on the benefits of social work.

Rhetoric:

I would start out by creating a realistic conversation with two forms of the same phrase- one said like a peer without filtering what they said (and often distressing the person), and another said like a psychologist (one with ambiguous language, aiming to give the client time to come up with his or her own conclusion while analyzing their own behavior). This would emphasize to the student the importance of a certain way of talking in a psychological or social work setting. One of the most important aspects to this work is that you can effectively communicate with people to ease their troubles and dissolve tension. Ultimately, this work is aimed at helping people help themselves, and if you can’t communicate that effectively, there will be no lasting change. I would address the strategies listed in my post “Style and Delivery in Psychology and Social Work,” especially the part about observational/unbiased notes. Using the beginning technique of creating a realistic scenario, would help to solidify the idea, without the jargon. The concept would be understood, by sharing that sometimes listening and communicating to others in a way that is familiar to them is the best option. Getting used to not using technical terms is important, since most of the people they counsel will not be psychologists.

History:

Like I said in the audience profile, sharing the history of psychology with people going into this field will give them an idea of what techniques worked (and didn’t work) and why some theories are so popular. Each person is going to counsel differently, so knowing the history will give them a good basis for deciding how they will counsel.

Development Plan:

I mentioned above which parts of my blogs I would use (because I figured it’d be more coherent to address it in each section). I think that a little more research could be done into why this field is beneficial, how marketable the qualities of a psychologist or social worker are, and the key features of these professionals- what characteristics clients found positive and negative in their counselor’s way of speaking, behaving, and counseling.

I will probably spend the most time talking about the importance of wording (rhetoric) because to create lasting change in the clients (a main goal to this field), one must be able to address problems in an acceptable, understanding, and compassionate way, without permitting negative behaviors. There is a fine line (in language) in condoning behavior and consoling someone. The way things are spoken, and the notes that are written about clients need to be very direct and unassuming.

I would probably spend the least amount of time on the history, because most of what is needed to know comes from modern understanding. People are drawn to this field because they see a social or individual problem and want to help. Knowing the history of why this field is important isn’t vital to convincing someone to join the efforts. Knowing about past successes and failures in psychology may prep an individual, but I think that this type of history is fairly manifest in society in general and doesn’t need to be restated.