As you may have seen, I am using the book “All are Free to Write” by Sheila Allee to help me to feel inspired to write. The third prompt is about times that I have had to be courageous in my life. This prompt feels like it may be easier to write about than last weeks, trauma topic.
There is a time that I had to learn to have a voice for myself and learned to stick up for myself to get to where I wanted to be in my life. This is the life story called:
Fighting to Stay in College
One of the times that I had to be very courageous was when I was in my Masters of Social Work program. In one of my internships, I was put on a project and found that the organization had lied to get money. A director of the program asked me to change numbers so that the organization would not have to pay back money. That was hard because ethically, I wanted to be able to get my degree and wanted to keep this organization for homeless individuals open. I remember speaking to my advisor for the program, who helped me make decisions. I luckily refused to change those numbers.
Later though, I found even more fraudulent activities. I could not believe it and it became harder to hold onto this. I was not able to hold this in. I went to the director of the programming and said that I felt like I needed to go to the funding sources. The director got very upset with me and threatened me. I was told that I was not allowed to come back. I thought I would not be able to stay in college because of this, but they found ways for me to continue after I fought. I fought hard. They were going to boot me out, but instead I went to the student advocate offices and got them in my corner. I remember going over meticulously what their policies were. I remember having to tell them that they had not followed their own procedures. They still wanted to get rid of me, but they were not able to do so. I was not letting it go and pushed it very hard. The only reason I graduated was because I pushed through and held my own. I remember this ended by there being a phone call apologizing to me that they had not followed their actual procedures and was asked if this was over now. They already knew that I had them. I let it go, but it would actually come back years later.
I started my career in mental health services when I discovered that this organization was being forced to close down. It was coming out that they had committed fraud for years. I was vindicated slightly, but it was still painful what I was put through by this school that should have been in my corner. They should have believed me and understood that I was being honest. They didn’t care though. They cared more about keep the relationship with this organization for potential internship site placement in the future. This organization is gone now and I am still in this field because I am an ethical person and will point out injustice where ever I see it because I am courageous and ethical. I do not create drama, but I sure the hell will point it out and push it into the light. This takes courage and I will never back down again from it. Being a social worker means sticking up for others, I will do that for the rest of my life.
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