The talk given at the Rose Café by Laura Rodriguez de Simons explained her work with the Tompkins Country Advocacy Center and the people in this area. She told us about who she works with on a daily basis. But on top of that, she showed us how your passion for something can become a job.
During her talk, Rodriguez told us about some of the difficult aspects of her job. One of the parts I found very interesting was how she said it was often difficult for the people she works with to separate outside life from her job. Being a social worker, you are working with specific people trying to help them in any way possible. Throughout this, you will learn all about them and their lives. Because of this, a connection may start to form in a way that you are truly concerned for the people you are working with. This can make it difficult to leave work behind when you leave the door because you are instead seeing the people and their issues, instead of it not just being another client.
Laura’s passion for helping others was clear. I think it is truly inspiring that she was able to turn her passion for helping others into her job. She did mention that it was difficult because of the fact that there isn’t necessarily a large salary waiting for social workers. But she was a clear example of how you can love what you do every day and be happy. I really enjoyed her talk and learning more about social working and also Tompkins County.