I've been a social worker for 26 years. I've been in the school department for ten years, here at Central for two. Before I came to Central my wife was the social worker here. She loved it so much that I decided to take the job when she left.
I studied sociology in college because I've always been interested in people and culture. But I had a hard time really connecting with people studying sociology at school, so I decided to switch to social work. In the beginning, I just wanted to help people get food stamps. That was my motivation from the start—I wanted to help the people around me in ways that I could actually see. But as you work with people more and more, you realize that lending an ear can be just as helpful. So that's what I do—I listen to people at the same time I help them build skills to help themselves. I've always thrived on that need to step out and help people.
If I weren't a social worker I would be a world traveler or adventurer, because I love traveling to exotic places around the world. I've spent some time in Europe and South America, as well as India where I traveled with my wife for a month. My plan right now is to go back to India after I retire to work there. I've also spent some time traveling in the Arctic Circle.
India is just full of friendly people—millions of them. And they all want to talk to you. There's no privacy in that country. It's extremely poor—a kind of poverty that we don't know in this country. Being poor in India means that there's a good chance you don't have the money to afford clothing or food—of any kind. Transportation within the country is not very safe, so most people never leave their hometowns. I was on a train once that actually ran someone over! I tell people who are interested in going to go for at least a month the first time. After a week, you're so overwhelmed that you want to leave. After two weeks the feeling is even worse. Only after that do you begin to get a grasp on what's happening there.
How am I motivated to accomplish my goals? Well, you need little rewards for yourself along the way. With social work, you hope that you can do a good job and see that the people you help are happier. But it's not always like that. Especially in elementary school, it's very hard to see the real impacts of your work. That's one of the reasons I like working at Central so much. Here, people really respond well to my working with them. I can see the change, and that's an amazing reward. It's one of those things that's not about the money. Nobody gets into social work for the money. It's about helping people.
Karen Doucette>>
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