Farekh Javaid
HUS-101
Section- 2831
I interviewed Masha Hussein who is in Brooklyn Women’s Services and works for Women against violence. She is a social worker and her office is located in Brooklyn.
Women Against Violence is a violence prevention organization that provides workshops, symposiums, crisis counseling, support groups and other related services and events that educate and empower women and their families in New York City to stop the cycle of violence, and stay free of violence and abuse. (www.womenagainstviolence.org)
Women Against Violence is a not-for-profit organization registered with the New York State Charities Bureau. With the support of city, state and private funding we are able to provide our much-needed services. Some of our present donors include: Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate, Jr. 49th Assembly District, Brooklyn, Senator Marty Golden 22nd Senate District, Senator Diane J. Savino, Councilman Vincent Gentile, Councilman Domenic Recchia, Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, NYC Department of Youth and Community Development.( http://www.womenagainstviolence.org/funding-and-supporters-our-programs)
Masha serves women who go through problems with their partners. She has a caseload of consumers (clients) and 2/3 of the women try to make relationships better, while 1/3 of women just want to leave.
She graduated from Hunter College in New York, in 2001 and earned a Bachelor degree. She did her social work internship working as social work intern serving to educate women and men about the different types of abuse, the signs, symptoms and how to get help. In her course of profession as a social worker she have been privileged to work in a variety of setting. Her responsibilities included assisting and interacting with women and providing information to better help them cop and support themselves.
Masha was drawn into Social Work while she was studying at Hunter where many of her peers would come to me to share their problems or seek advice. Some of them used to comment that she would make a good counselor. She then decided to seek career guidance about the different counseling professions and felt drawn to Social Work. Masha like the wholesome approach of Social Work because it looks at a problem from many angles and does not see the solution as lying just within the person. She feels sometimes we have to change the environment to solve a problem or sometimes we have to raise awareness of problems that an organization can create for individuals.
I asked her if she enjoys her job she said “It is a hard question”. The job she does involves working with women who are going through a difficult period in their lives. “So it’s hard to say that I enjoy it” she said. However, she find it rewarding if she can make a positive difference in the lives of the women she see. They share with her information about how painful it is when their partners are abusing them and she gives them advice to change it then she finds it rewarding. Sometimes it is also rewarding for her when she gets feedback from judges that her reports have been very helpful for them. There are down sides to her job as well. The partners of the women can easily direct anger and aggression toward her. She has to plan her own safety and security when meeting with the women at the houses sometimes when they can’t reach the office.
Masha told me that she finds her role of work very fulfilling and without her college experience in studying SW she would not be in the place she is right now. SW itself is a broad field that opens up a lot of doors. Specifically, she provides guidance and counseling which is a core service with the agency. She functions as a case manager and refers consumers to the appropriate resources. Guidance and counseling are provided to assist the consumers to what best fits them. She states that she is fortunate that she has a lot if autonomy and a wonderful supervisor who is supportive and flexible.
Masha emphasizes the kind of skills her job requires: “The most important talent needed is the ability to listen. You need to really hear and understand the client’s needs. Each person is different. My job is to use the years of experience to really understand each case.” Other skills required include an understanding the clients “because otherwise I’d never be able to get anything done,” Masha says.
Asked about her contributions to the field, Masha is modest. “I don’t believe I’ve done much to transform the profession,” she says, “but I’ve tried to keep current on the changes that are happening. I think the field itself has come to be better defined, which makes it better able to serve patients.” There are things she would like to change. Clients don’t show up for the their appointments and her day can get wasted.
I asked her why she wants to continue to work as a social worker and she said “Social Work is a profession, no different to many other professions. It is what I am trained to do and a job I am skilled at doing. Besides, it provides my major source of income.” She have had people call me after I have prepared a report or years later to let me know that they really appreciated what she did for them. She have learnt from clients how she can be more helpful and compassionate.
For those people who are considering going into social work she said “The most important advice is that this is not a profession for those seeking a big income and you have to be willing to work with the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in our community. The job requires a commitment to serve with compassion while determining how to advance the best interest of individuals without compromising their basic rights to fairness and justice.”
Codes of Ethics standards for human service professional are all important. All of them are needed to Human Service Professional’s responsibility for clients. Standard one applies to Women against violence in many ways. The clients and the human service professionals set the goals, limitations, and the ways of helping. The Human service professional know the women are going through a lot, when they are in an abusive relationship. The professional has to let the women know all the things he/she can do for her and give all the information they know, so they can sort things out right from start. They will let each other know how they want to deal with situations and what steps they need to help each other out.
Standard number two is also a key standard for the Human Services Professionals. The professional has to show respect to the client. Treat the client in a way the client wants to be treated. Make the consumer feel comfortable, so they feel like they can share everything with you. When the client is treated with respect, acceptance, and dignity, they would want to come to you because you treat them good. If these things don’t go well between the professional and the client, then they won’t want to come to you.
I feel standard number three is really important because it can do a lot damage to the human service professional and the client. You have to keep everything between you and the client secret. If it gets out of between you and the client, then you can get in trouble. The client won’t even want to come to you anymore. You can lose your job this way also. You should only tell your supervisor, if there is any harm to the client or the client is going to harm someone else. You should also tell the clients the limits of getting help from you.
You don’t want to be bias, when helping a client out. Under the standard seventeen there should be no discrimination of any kind, while providing the client with services. I feel this is really important because you don’t want the client to feel bad about anything of his/her like race, disability, culture, age, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. You want to make the client feel comfortable as possible.
Standard eighteen talk about knowing much as about the client’s cultures and communities. This way you don’t make a mistake while communicating with the client. There are people out there that don’t like to make eyes contact. There will be some who wear clothes and other stuff due culture, so you don’t want to make them feel about it and know everything about it. If you don’t know about it, you do research or just ask them. This way you will know how to communicate with these type of people without making any kind of mistakes.
