Taman Persiaran Desa 50460 Kuala Lumpur,
tel: 012-298 5566
Time of the interview: 12 p.m.
Duration of the interview: 2 hours
Questions:
1. What inspired you to become a social worker?
2. Where did you study?
3. What do you find the most difficult in your job?
4. What is the most rewarding thing in your profession?
5. What previous experience have you got?
6. What features do you find the most important for a social worker?
7. What requirements are there for a worker in your field?
8. How does your work influence your family life?
9. How important do you find the relationships with colleagues for your job?
10. What do you love most about your job?
Alicia Maine is a social worker at St. Mary's Nursing Home (8, Persiaran Syed Putra Taman Persiaran Desa 50460 Kuala Lumpur, tel: 012-298 5566) (St. Mary’s Nursing Home, n.d.). She kindly made it possible for me to take an interview on March 21, 2016. We met at her lunch break, which begins at 12 p.m. The interview was so exciting that I asked Alicia to answer my questions for two hours instead of one hour. Thus, it lasted from 12 p.m. till 2 p.m.
As any social worker, Alicia is a kind and caring person. She has over fifteen years of experience in the field of social care. Before applying for a job with St. Mary's Nursing Home, she worked for several hospitals and charity organizations. Alicia defines sympathy and kindness as the key features for a social worker. However, these features, though the most important, are not enough to become a really good professional (The five most popular social work careers, 2016). Alicia emphasizes that according to the field in which one wants to do social work, the person needs to learn a lot of things and make sure to do everything properly (Malaysian Association of Social Workers, n.d.). For example, if one works with the elderly, it is important to know the basics of psychology and medicine. A social worker combines a lot of functions and very often is the friend of the people who stay at the Nursing Home.
Alicia was inspired to become a social worker when she was a child. Her parents and grandparents were friendly and helpful, and they developed these features in their children. Alicia's grandfather was a doctor and her mother was a teacher, so she knew the value of compassion and understanding from the very early age. Her neighbor was a lonely woman, and Alicia used to help her do the shopping and about the house. She often came to her and spent time there. Having a big and friendly family, she felt pity towards the lonely woman who had no one to help her and no one even to talk to. So the girl decided that she would become one of those who relieve people's loneliness and unhappiness by assisting them and caring for them.
After graduating her college, Alicia completed a course at University of Malaya (Institute of Graduate Studies). She also attends many conferences and other courses which help her develop her professional skills and be aware of what is new in the field. Alicia says education should never stop: whether it is a college or your personal investigations into the matter, you should always develop the best in you so that you can be a benefit for the society. Due to her being hard-working and ambitious, she now occupies a position at one of the most well-known health groups in Malaysia.
Alicia loves her job, but admits it can be stressful at times. It is not easy to accept the fact that the patients are terminally ill or see how lonely they are. It is not so simple to keep calm when the patient is tired of the pain and throws his negative emotions at you. The social worker's duty is to maintain a cheerful disposition and to assist the patient to the greatest extent possible. As well as the other social workers, Alicia always strives to better the conditions of the patients and to cheer them up.
Along with the difficulties of the profession, there are a lot of rewarding moments. These, Alicia admits, are the moments worth living for. When you help the person learn to walk and to speak for the second time, when you are the reason they start smiling, when you see their recovery and stable development, you realize you are doing something really valuable.
When I asked her about the qualities necessary for a social worker, Alicia said they are not numerous, but very serious ones. Care, responsibility, professionalism, sympathy, and sometimes even abnegation are important in this work. If you think that social work is only about looking after somebody's physical form, Alicia says, you are deeply wrong and this job is not for you. The social worker is not a doctor, but with some meaning he is more important than a doctor - that is, he oftentimes becomes a mentor of the soul. And if you are not ready to dedicate your life to somebody else's life, you are never going to succeed in becoming a good social worker (In the field: from social work student intern to the hired social worker, n.d.).
Alicia has got many colleagues. She finds it paramount to keep on good terms with the people one works with, since it greatly influences the people you work for. When the atmosphere among the workers is friendly, the clients feel it and they have a better disposition as well. The co-workers are helpful and they share the company's mission of delivering the best care established on the sense of sympathy, care and excellent medical treatment.
As any working woman, Alicia has to combine her career with her family life. She says her family is quite supportive and they think their wife, mother and daughter is doing a really noble job. Alicia's eldest daughter Sheila wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and pursue a career in social work, too. Alicia says the family support is a great thing without which any job, especially hers, would be rather complicated to deal with. Therefore, when they have free time, they spend in together, go on some excursions, or even attend activities which she organizes for her clients at the St. Mary's Nursing Home. Alicia admits that without her family, she would not be able to be where she is now. First the family where she grew up, and now the family that she created - these are the people who are always there for her, who always understand, support and provide love and encouragement whenever she needs it.
It was a pleasure to have met this woman. I am convinced that with professionals like Alicia, the patients' lives, complicated by operations or due to elderly age, are much relieved and full of new hope. Social workers are the people who bring a little bit of sunshine to the gloomy prospects of the people who are suffering. Along with doctors, their importance in the people's well-being cannot be overestimated.
Reference list
Malaysian Association of Social Workers (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.masw.org.my/
MSW&USC Staff (2016). The five most popular social work careers. Retrieved from https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/the-five-most-popular-social-work-careers/
St-Laurent, M. (n.d.). In the Field: From Social Work Student Intern to Hired Social Worker. The New Social Worker. Retrieved from http://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/field-placement/in-the-field-from-social-work-student-intern-to-hired-social/
St. Mary’s Nursing Home (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.stmarysnursinghome.com.my/
