Health and Social Care

Personal Development Plan

Career Plan

I have had a considerable experience of working with marginalized and vulnerable individuals which have greatly influenced my decision to pursue a career in social work. Helping the elderly specifically, ignited a passion in me to help make an impact by being part of the solution. Experiencing the hardships that they undergo on their daily living has challenged me to rise up and be a voice for the voiceless through offering support. I trust that the health and social care course will come in handy in preparing me to professional social work and thereby achieve my goals.

Growing up, I was thought by my parents about the significance of values. Throughout my life, I have sought to uphold the values which have greatly shaped my personality and character. I was taught to always treat people with respect and dignity which I believe is a value that underpins the work of social workers. I have always treated people with an open mind without prejudice to their sex orientation, race, ethnicity, social status, and age. I believe that the diversity is a good thing to humanity because it enables us to identify the uniqueness that we have and how to best harness them for a stronger community where social justice prevails. To achieve this, as a social worker, it is necessary that I establish the individual believes of the people that I work with to avoid stereotyping. My experience of working with discriminated persons in society, I have seen at firsthand, how their lives have been negatively impacted by circumstances, not of their own making.

Communication is a key aspect of the successful social worker. It is necessary that one is able to be seen, to be honest, and trustworthy through their communication. I have endeavored to communicate clearly with my clients to enable them to confide in me. A good communicator must also be a good listener. I try to listen carefully to the opinions and communication of my clients to be able to pick up hints that may help solve a problem.

I put a lot of seriousness to my work and learning. I uphold integrity and ethical practices and use reflective and value-based methods of improving myself and my clients. I believe that I would increase my employment prospects with real opportunities for career growth and promotions in addition to impacting society at a larger scale. The course will increase my knowledge on diversity, which is crucial when dealing with social injustice in the community. I believe that by pursuing this course, I will become a reflective and independent learner with the ability to establish contexts and change processes. This is critical when working with other partnering organizations in maintaining both personal and professional boundaries. I seek to attain problem-solving skills, acquire analytical skills that are fundamental in developing evidence-based practice.

The clear connection between the course and its deliverables with the social and health care needs of the public, policies of the government concerning health care, offers numerous opportunities for a better understanding of public health and social care. It will enable me to acquire an informed perceptive of the public health and social care issues. I expect that the course will further enlighten me on the various ways that policies are executed, instill attitudes and essential skills that correspond to higher education learning and attributes necessary for a successful career. Besides theory, I anticipate that I will achieve a comprehensive understanding of policy and practice.

My Goals

In the long term, I expect to be on employment as a duly registered social worker either in the public service or in private sector. If I am not on permanent employment, I will volunteer to work with any organization that is committed to social work. I anticipate achieving this milestone by the year 2019.

In the medium term, I hope to graduate with a degree in health and social care from the London Metropolitan University.

My short term goals are working on my grades through lecture attendance, meeting the coursework deadlines, completing and submitting assignments in time and dedicating sufficient time for personal studies.

Rationale for the Goals

I reckon that the most significant aspect of setting goals is having a plan in place to execute them. Being learned on reflective learning, I am able to look at what I have achieved and the shortcomings that I encountered. I will then find possible remedies to improve in the areas where I may not have performed to expectation. Any positive results act as a morale booster and will increase my confidence to acquire internal inspiration to achieve even greater things.

As a way of operation, I have adopted a strategy of setting the objective goals and then defining the action plans that are required to achieve the goals. I understand that by setting the goals effectively makes achieving them much easier. I take setting goals as a critical aspect both in my personal, social, and career life. Having targets means that one has clear objectives and defined steps that need to be undertaken to reach those targets. It also allows for self-evaluation and establishment of criteria for understanding one’s abilities and weaknesses. Goal setting for me is a valuable asset and source of motivation for improving my academic and career life. The goals are a reminder of where I want to go and what I want to achieve. They will keep me going even when it seems that I can no longer continue.

 Effective goals are those that can be measured, specific on time and achievable. In drafting the goals, I will need to spend a substantial amount of time will be spent to ensure that the goals are realistic and achievable considering my abilities. After setting the goals, I will use all available resources to ensure that I meet them at the desired time. I will need to prioritize the various goals to ensure that I am organized and minimize the feelings of being overwhelmed. I believe that this will offer me the opportunity to realize personal growth, discover new skills and abilities, and become a better person.

As I have mentioned, goals need to be measurable. I will utilize feedback to reflect on and check on the efficiency of the goals, my actions and how they impact the outcomes. I will continuously monitor and compare my performance against my targets. The review of the targets and the actions points will be monitored and evaluated from the beginning. By constantly reminding myself of the targets will ensure that I re-energize and refocus to stay on the path all the time. Achieving the goals, albeit in the short term, will give me fulfillment and motivation to look for new challenges and develop critical thinking skills for completing my assignments.

SWOT Analysis Carrying out a SWOT analysis is an important aspect of any person’s career life. It is necessary that I understand my strengths, weaknesses…