In his Ted Talk, Bobby Lefebre, a social worker, offers an insight into the work he performs, and explains why he took on this challenging and often financially unsatisfactory work. Lefebre (2011) explained that his role as a social worker is that of trying to help individuals from poor backgrounds to improve their lives and make better choices. In his talk, which takes the form of slam poetry, the speaker passionately advocates in favor of young people’s power to overcome their difficulties, mistakes and lack of perspectives in order to improve. The speaker states that the motivation of a social worker is the belief in people’s ability to change, and to reach their potential.
Lefebre’s(2011) speech was highly motivational, and strengthened my decision to work with disadvantaged children and youth. I would like to engage in micro-practice in order to offer direct support and counseling to the society’s most fragile and powerful group of people. Children are fragile because they are easy to hurt, and to misguide, but also powerful, because they have limitless resources for recovery. However, they need role-models and trusted advisors, in the persons of dedicated and highly skilled social workers. Such clients need to build their trust in the social worker and to understand that they have someone who is willing to listen to them and to understand them.
I believe that, in order to be efficient and useful as a social worker, I need to be a balanced individual in the first place. A social worker has to be very sincere with self, and understand the effects of personal experiences, and recognize the scares that one may carry because of these experiences. In addition, a social worker needs to be a non-judgmental individual, who is willing to offer guidance, information and advice on a friendly, warm note. Also, a social worker needs to have good multicultural knowledge in order to avoid offending the clients, or being insensitive to their beliefs. A social worker needs to be dedicated to the people, and to communities, and needs to work with passion, enthusiasm, and a sincere belief in each client’s potential for improvement.
The goal of a social worker must be the safety, well-being, and health of the client, regardless of the type of social work that one chooses to practice. Lefebre (2011) summarizes this best when he states that social workers do not do their work for the money, but because of a passionate belief in people. Often, social workers are perceived as idealists in a world which believes that those who do not succeed on their own are not worthy of success. However, social workers know that the society itself is often to blame for the fact that many young people sink before they have a chance to test their limits.
References
Lefebre, B. (2011). Social worker. Ted Talks. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw5qLiQERBg
