This photograph of me was taken by a friend during one of his final visits to Columbus. An addiction to his own prescribed medication and a fatal mixture with alcohol took his life a few months later. In the years since, substance abuse has been on the rise in the United States, with ever-increasing incidences of hospitalizations and deaths caused by overdose. I’m most interested in the field of forensic social work on a micro level, but am fascinated by correlations between policy, mental illness, substance abuse, and crime, especially in the context of at-risk populations.
My post-secondary academic career began with a jaunt into film studies and art history, but I realized after several years that I didn’t feel fulfilled by merely studying the arts. I craved to engage my studies in a meaningful way, but didn’t come to the doorstep of social work until late into my 20’s. What I immediately noticed about the program was how comprehensive and immersive the curriculum was. My genuine interest in the material paid off when I was surprised by being accepted into the honors program. Now, at the beginning of my junior year, I’m tasked with conceptualizing an idea for a research thesis.
This semester in Discovering Evidence, my intentions are to:
- Increase my interpretive and discovery skills in reference to research
- Learn the methods of how to ask the right questions in the search for quality evidence
- Discern relevant information from irrelevant information
- Build a strong infrastructure for future practice