Being interested in different cultures and peoples is one of the hallmarks of my life. I think that this personality trait made me decide to become a social worker. Moreover, it is the main reason for me to participate in the international Group Study Exchange. I want to learn more about America’s history, language, commerce and government. Furthermore, I hope that participating in the program will help me to further develop skills which are essential in my professional career as a social worker.
In my job as a social worker, I daily see teens with psychological problems. In the Netherlands, teens with these problems are usually placed in foster care, when their own families cannot handle their problems. However, some of these teens have very large psychological problems and cannot be placed in foster care. For these teens we have residential care. These are special houses in which teens can be placed to learn to deal with their problems. We help these teens to explore their problems, but also help them to see their strengths. Furthermore, we try to teach them skills, which allow them to return home or return to their (foster) families. In these specialized residential care units, teens are guided by social workers. I am one of these social workers.
I ‘d like to know how the care for teens with psychological problems is managed in the United States of America . Moreover, I would like to know how teens and their families are being guided and how these teens and families experience and evaluate this kind of care.
I’m especially interested in teens between 12 and 18 years of age with psychological problems (without mental retardation), both with and without criminal records.
I’d like to learn more about the methods of treatment used in the USA . In the Netherlands we use treatments based on peer group therapy such as EQUIP. Are the same methods used in California ? How do patients and their families experience these treatments? Is the American opinion that it is possible to resocialize these teens after treatment?
The main theme during our exchange will be ‘conflict management’. In my line of work I daily experience conflicts: between social workers and their clients, between clients and their parents and between residential clients. I would like to learn more about handling these conflicts and the way they are handled in the USA .
Finally, as I said before, I ‘m interested in people, their culture and their habits. I hope that during our exchange, I will be allowed to learn as much as possible about the nature and culture of America . Participating in the American culture and meeting Americans will hopefully learn me everything I have always wanted to know about America .
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The organisation I work for   |
