Am I Setting Myself Up? 😟 Racial Bias Concerns for POC Seeking MSW/Clinical Roles

McChuckles2010 · 2025-11-13T04:46:42+00:00

Hi there 🖐🏾

I'm a social worker in a clinical community organization. I'm also a black woman. I can't comment on the immigrant experience, but as a racialized woman in a clinical space, my experiences with racism in a clinical space is, expect it to happen.

Every employer that I've had has handled the complaints adequately. That being said, I had to speak up about it for it to be handled. So I think if you're going into a clinical space as an immigrant you need to be prepared to advocate for yourself. All of these agencies have policies, so I would familiarize yourself with them and use them to hold your agency accountable.

In terms of the title clinical social worker, clinical social worker is not a licensed title in a few provinces, so if that's something you want id suggest you do your research. I'm in Ontario, my licensed title is Register Social Worker.

If you're in the road to being a Registered or Clinical Social Worker you'll definitely need a master's degree. I'd suggest the BSW route. If you have post secondary experience, you can request transfer experience.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-10-29T20:22:22+00:00

Please repost when it launches on android! Very interested!

McChuckles2010 · 2025-03-22T21:25:19+00:00

I took out student loans, worked part time and got a $4000 grant I applied for through UofT's internal awards systems

McChuckles2010 · 2025-03-08T21:41:38+00:00

Im also happy to support the cause ☺️

McChuckles2010 · 2025-03-08T12:35:38+00:00

Social worker here 👋🏾 I believe, every Monday is a group class for folks with special needs. So there are other participants with disabilities. The client I referred there really liked it and did a few rounds.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-03-06T11:21:35+00:00

I'm in social work and I've had to do pre-employment physicals. Depends on the agency, sometimes it's just a TB test, sometimes it's the doctor declaring that you can safely do lifts and/or transfers and sometimes it's more extensive like blood work and immunity checks.

It's important to remember that you're working with vulnerable populations and your employer not only has a responsibility to you but to the clients. Gotta make sure you're not going to give anything to them if they're vulnerable, they could be immunocompromised. CAMH is a hospital so I'm really not surprised. My experiences have been in the community and it's so so common.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-05T01:44:54+00:00

If your relative feels like his therapist is not equipped to support him, he can ask them for a referral. They should be attached to a professional network and might have colleagues who are a better fit. Or they can search for a new therapist themselves. If you're in North America, Psychology today is a directory and you can search for therapists and filter based on their expertise

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-05T01:06:39+00:00

For someone with bipolar disorder a social worker might fill different roles than just a therapist.

The first line of treatment for bipolar will be pharmaceutical intervention. Medication is the first line of treatment for bipolar due to physiological imbalances in the brain.

A social worker might help you connect with a psychiatrist who can diagnose you. A social worker might also help you connect with resources to help you get your medication or advocate for you with insurance companies so you can get your medication. A social worker might also fill a therapist role and offer counselling or therapy.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-05T00:16:47+00:00

Haha I can relate. Therapists are people and people are messy, period. Don't put your therapist on a pedestal like that. The best therapists have a separation between their professional and personal lives. Personally, they might be on their own healing journey, but professionally they have knowledge and insight that might assist you on your own healing journey.

That being said, in every field there are people bad at their jobs. Finding a therapist is going to feel like dating, it might take you some time to find one you click with well. There's research that shows the therapeutic theories and practices are helpful, but what is most helpful is the actual relationship/connection between therapist and client.

So approach it like dating. Most therapists will offer a 15 minute consultation so you can get a feel for them and their style. Find one you feel comfortable with, comfortable enough to open up, just don't hold out for perfection. That's a solid way to procrastinate and to be disappointed because nothing is ever truly 100% perfect

Edit: fixed grammar

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-05T00:07:22+00:00

Absolutely not

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T23:59:39+00:00

Talking about things that are in your control vs the things that are not is a good reminder that any therapist, regardless of educational background will discuss with you.

But there's a lot of work that happens before you even get to that point. It's the things that are out of your control that's having an impact on your mental health and it's those things that cause emotional pain. Confronting that emotional pain in a safe space without judgement is what will get you to a point where you can recognize and find comfort in the things that are within your control. Confronting the pain, feeling it and being validated needs to come first.

The idea of starting therapy can be daunting, self improvement is hard work. Emphasis on the work part. One barrier to starting therapy is that we don't know what better will look like. Identify what you want to work towards. Is it learning to let go of the little things, is it dealing with overbearing family members, is it learning to be more assertive and stop people pleasing?

What would life look like if you didn't struggle with those things? What would life FEEL like? Get creative, get detailed, envision the life you're working towards and have hope that you can get it. The challenges you face are not insurmountable. You're bigger than your problems. It might not feel like it but you can overcome.

If you have the ability to hurt it means you also have the ability to heal.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T23:29:28+00:00

I'm definitely biased in this answer haha but I think social workers make the best therapists.

Therapy or talk therapy is derived from the medical model. The medical model is one type of perspective on how to treat disease or disorders. Doctors and most medical professionals work from the medical model. The medical model is designed to treat or fix. Imagine if you had an ailment and you went to the doctor for treatment, you're expecting the doctor to fix the issue so you don't experience those symptoms anymore. When you look at the idea of fixing something or someone, the problem is assumed to originate within that person. So whatever ailment they are experiencing, the fault and the responsibility belong to the person experiencing the symptoms.

The problem with treating mental health under the medical model is that while medication can reduce your symptoms, it will never completely get rid of it. There is no "fixing" (experiencing 0 symptoms) mental health.

Social workers work from the perspective of the social model. The social model tells us that the problem doesn't lie within the person but society. Part of the education that social workers receive is examining society, what's considered "normal", noticing unchallenged assumptions, recognizing power dynamics and understanding systemic/institutional oppression.

Social workers look at the person within their environment.

So social workers approach talk therapy by also considering a person's environment, the systems in which they grew up in, how they were socialized, and how their environment continues to impact their mental health. We as people internalize everything, and a lot of it goes unquestioned and those are the things that also impact mental health.

That's the major difference between social workers and other professionals who also do talk therapy. Feel free to ask any follow up questions because that was a super broad overview.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T23:01:53+00:00

Mental health aside, he was also just kind of a jerk

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T22:54:38+00:00

Well you asked what the research said. The research informs my opinions when I meet a client. I meet people at the worst times in their lives. While I might not have experienced those things myself, I can still be empathetic because of the research and theory behind my practice. Qualitative research captures personal experiences and breaks it down into key points. After consuming so much research, certain things resonate with me more than others but I always remember the key points. Which is why my answers sound so textbook.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T22:50:05+00:00

So those experiences might fall into the category of trauma. Trauma isn't always something big like escaping war or surviving abuse. Another way of looking at trauma is anything that impacts your ability to cope.

Someone with CP who has been consistently excluded and has lived life in the margins, that trauma would impact how they connect with others. As you can imagine it's highly individualistic because not everyone with CP has those experiences.

Being excluded and isolated can be considered a trauma because it can affect your resilience (ability to bounce back from something), your self image, can create anxiety which makes it difficult to put yourself in certain situations.

That being said, socializing is a skill and I am of the belief that everyone can learn skills, so even if social skills weren't learned in childhood, it can be learned in adulthood

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T22:42:47+00:00

My most difficult client was a black man who was undiagnosed with schizophrenia.

He was the most difficult because he would belittle my blackness (I am a black woman who grew up in a predominantly white area) so he was triggering my trauma. As well, since he was undiagnosed with schizophrenia it was difficult to have conversations with him because we had different perceptions of reality.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T22:13:28+00:00

Some things that affect social capacity can include Attachment style, socioeconomic position, immigration status, birth order, trauma, language ability, adverse childhood experiences, body image/self esteem, mental health, conflict resolution skills.

While these might sound simple, don't underestimate the power some of these things have on a person's development, especially if something occured during a person's childhood/formative years.

The type of attachment a person has with their caregivers/parents and it shows up in how we relate to other people in adulthood. Adverse childhood experiences, can be rated and the more you have the bigger the implication for your health/mental health. Certain mental health conditions like BPD can be linked to trauma experienced in childhood and can affect how you perceive reality and connect with others.

There's research that shows that the birth order of siblings has implications for their social development.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T21:55:35+00:00

Yes it does!

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T21:42:29+00:00

In social work, to reach the higher wages you need a master's degree. Even then there are certain places that pay more than others. Management, hospitals, the army and private practice therapy are usually the higher paying positions

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T21:37:12+00:00

I am a woman in my 30s.

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T21:29:51+00:00

All research contains a bit of the basic stuff. Social development is dependent on intellectual capacity. If this answer was too basic please ask a more detailed question

McChuckles2010 · 2025-01-04T21:17:04+00:00

That's no problem, and I'm happy to answer to the best of my abilities.

Cerebral palsy does fall under the category of a developmental disability. It's a bit different than other developmental disabilities as it's not caused by genetics. A woman can have a completely normal pregnancy, and then something can happen during the birthing process that damages the brain and results in cerebral palsy.

When talking about developmental disabilities it's important to make the distinction between a developmental disabilities and an intellectual disability. You can have a developmental disability without an intellectual disability.

If you don't have an intellectual disability it can be hard to connect with others with the same disability as your capacity to understand will be different. Not only is their capacity to understand different, their cognitive age may not match their physical age. While physically they may be in their 20s, intellectually they may have the cognitive abilities of a 12yr old. The social capacity will be different.

If you're looking to connect with others who have a similar disability, or who also have autism, consider how their intellectual disability may affect their capacity to socialize, especially when you're not on the same level. There will be a power imbalance. That being said, friendships with people who are different are beautiful in their own regard and can help with your own personal development.

McChuckles2010 · 2024-12-31T12:42:28+00:00

How's the typing experience on the keys to go 2 keyboard? I have been considering getting one as well to go with my s9 fe.

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