Two years
ago, I was far from the confident social work student I am today, but from the
outside, it seemed I was thriving. I had worked my way into a Ph.D. program in
psychology and moved cross-country with my husband to grab at the opportunity.
However, I hadn't put myself there for the right reasons. I had done it for ego—to feel good about myself.
I had always
wanted to "help" people, but that was not why I was working to become
a psychologist. I had never stopped to think of other options—other ways to do
just that. I had tunnel-visioned my way to a town that was a major culture
shock and into a program which I doubted was going to help me be who I wanted
to be. Professionally, yes, but not personally.
Graduate
programs can have as high as a 50% attrition/drop-out rate. Thousands of
uninformed students blindly go into grad programs every year, and thousands
leave, wounded and pulling at straws of what to do next. As future social
workers, anyone going into the field should be informed— not only regarding
people, policy, and the world, but regarding themselves. Be aware of every
decision you make and why you are making it. Be aware of the person you are and
the person you want to be.
There are a
million ways to help people, and a social work degree can help you with many of
them. I chose social work, because all of the things I was interested in doing
with my life and career were fulfilled by the field of social work. Don't go to
grad school because you are unsure what to do next and need to fill the time.
Don’t go because you want to make yourself or your parents proud. And certainly
don't go to make more money.
Go to
graduate school in social work because you believe in people and have more
tolerance than impatience. Go because you have worked in the field and want
more knowledge and to move up the ladder. Go because you are hands-on. Go
because your best days have been those that have been focused on other people.
Go because you look at someone who hurts other people and wonder who once hurt them. Go because you were born a social
worker.
As someone
who has degrees in both criminal justice and psychology, fields in which people
commit themselves to also help others, I can state that there is nothing like
social work. I work every day to be more selfless, but in the end, I do this
for me, as well. I want to go home at the end of the day and feel fulfilled. I
am a person who needs to feel I have made a difference. Social work called to
me during my darkest times, before I dropped out of my doctorate program,
something I speak further about in my recent e-book, Confessions of a Grad School Dropout. I had never even met a social
worker before the option was presented to me. But when I look at the happy
faces of my professors, and think about the unhappy ones of those in my past
program, I know I chose the path for me.
Information
about grad school and making a decision is out there—so use it! There is plenty
of information about where to go, what program is right for you, and what to do
with your degree.
Brittany Stahnke Couturier is
a Master of Social Work student at Florida Atlantic University, with a
focus in child welfare, a member of the 2015 class. She recently published her
first e-book, Confessions of a Grad School Dropout. She has a Bachelor
of Arts in
Psychology; a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice; a Bachelor of Arts
in
English; a minor in Sociology; and a Certificate in Women, Gender, and
Sexuality Studies, all earned from Florida Atlantic University Magna Cum
Laude.
Her social work placements include working in adoptions and hospice
care. She
has published prose in Eternal Heartland and Surrender to the Moon. She
runs
Hub of the Grad School Dropouts, a blog dedicated to providing support
to
fellow students. She lives in Palm Beach County, Florida, with her
husband and
cat, Yoda. She can be reached at bcouturier89@gmail.com.
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