2010
It wasn’t until I discovered the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics that I found language to describe the values I had been raised to carry. It would not be an unusual claim to say my parents have been the single most defining influences on the development of my most foundational principles. Learning about my new professional bylaws reconfirmed my instincts and four years later in 2014 when I earned my Bachelor of Social Work I was eager and the possibilities were infinite.
If 10 years ago someone told me I would avoid earning my MSW for another decade not only would I have some skepticism, I would also have a great deal of disappointment. I allowed so much of my identity and self-worth to be tied into a career that was at the same time fulfilling and draining.
2000
Even though I was only 12 years old at the turn of the new millennium, I had already been a few years into what would turn out to be a lifelong depression. The symptoms started at the same time the parents separated in 1995. As I entered my teenage years I started to express my angst by inflicting self-harm. Although I have the luck of being privileged in may ways, I existed in marginalized groups by virtue of being a young fat person raised in the poverty of single-parent homes. As I got older, I also experienced life as a victim of intimate partner violence and intermittent sex work into my 30’s.
2020
I suffered a career crisis after a number of years working direct services in housing and mental health care. I was persistently burnt out, and my capacities were shrinking more every year.