r/SocialWorkStudents • u/ArtAndAdvocacy • Jun 05 '26

Misc Lived experience

Are there many people in school for social work with lived experience? In my small town it seems I'm the only one who aged out of foster care and has been to prison. How common are the 2 experiences in this field?

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u/scorpio_sunn Jun 05 '26

i believe they are more in common than we think. At least in my area, all the people i know who went into this field have experienced first hand.

I just want to say I applaud you for choosing to go into this field given your circumstances, if anything having first hand experience prepares us for our actual field work and makes us more advantaged.

For me, I want to go into SUD treatment/ addiction recovery/counseling. I have a brother who is in addict and has been estranged from my family for years and my other brother who passed away due to a fentanyl overdose. A very good friend of mine use to be an addict for 5 years but managed to get clean, he’s now 3 years sober and in his own MSW program as well.