Three lessons I learned about myself and how each will help my career, my work on the Grand Challenge of Building Healthy Relationships to End Violence, and the field of social work.
1. There is power in my personal story and my why.
– My career: My why reminds me that I have come far, and that I have a passion for continuing this work and helping others.
– GC work: I can target my message to an audience by using storytelling and my why to emotionally connect and incite action on GC cause.
– Field of social work: I am able to contribute my work to the field because of my why and my experience. I can also contribute to other related issues within the field, such as mental health and trauma healing, and more broadly to gender-based violence.
2. I have to target my message to a wider audience in order to shift existing perspectives.
– My career: In my work I have to consider the audience in terms of the professional words I use to ensure I am inclusive.
– GC work: I have to work from where the audience is and target the message specifically to them, considering that they are likely unfamiliar with perspectives outside of what they have been exposed to from mass and social media.
– Field of social work: For an audience of social workers, it is important to remember common values and guidelines, but also that the type of work each person does can be so different. So, I should not make presumptions about the audience perspective, but use the commonality to guide the dialogue and shift existing paradigms.
3. I do not enjoy posting and engaging through social media.
– My career: It can help my career to engage more online with the community I work with and invest more in building a network, despite not enjoying the process.
– GC work: I do see it as more important for me to engage online with leaders and organizations working on my GC. It can be a powerful tool to build connections and spread awareness.
– Field of social work: Social media has the power to reach those that normally would not walk through the door. It can empower the field to use social media for this purpose and to provide information to a wider audience, but with caution and considerations for vulnerable populations.
End Domestic Violence 