The Other Side of the Couch

“(Sister 1) has a baby in her belly. (Sister 2) and Mommy don’t have babies in their bellies. But you have a baby in your belly!”

I'm a BSW student nearing the end of my degree, with my field internship in a year. I am more and more anxious about field, and I'm worry I'll screw someone up and fail as a social worker. Is that feeling normal? Or have I misread my calling?

Yes. Absolutely 100% normal, and no, it doesn’t mean you’ve misread your calling. In fact, your worry probably implies even more strongly that this is your calling, as it is an indicator of valuing the lives and needs of your clients.

To be frank, I tell my new interns each year that they *will* screw it up, plenty of times, and that that is normal too. Your internship is an opportunity for you to make mistakes in a controlled setting with plenty of folks there to help clean up your messes. Mind you, this does not give you carte blanche permission to act a fool with no regards to the consequences. But it does mean you can use this time to stretch your edges, try new things, and get really really good at asking for help when you need it. As a supervisor, I don’t mind when my interns mess something up. But I do very much mind when they mess it up and don’t tell me about it. That drives me bananas.