Although I am excited to graduate, I am also disappointed because opportunities to be involved in research projects at TRU have been the highlight of my university experience, and it will be more difficult for me to find these opportunities post-graduation. I plan to continue with research in one way or another and have received encouraging feedback and suggestions from professors regarding how I can participate in projects or do independent research outside of school, even without a PHD.
I plan to continue refining and developing my plan for social entrepreneurial ventures within the service dog industry, and hope to one day be able to bring my business plan to life. I am also interested in doing independent research into the growing field of social entrepreneurship in Canada and hope to be able to produce an e-Book or guide for those in social services or businesses who would like to create positive social impact or improve the financial resiliency of their social program as grants and donations become increasingly scarce.
My project on men’s mental health needs took a broad approach that identified numerous areas for future research regarding removing barriers to and increasing the appeal of services for men. I noticed in my program, and from reviewing statistics on social workers, that the field is predominately comprised of women, and mainly serves women. I had volunteered on and off for several years with homeless outreach and was working at a homeless shelter while creating my research proposal. I noticed that most of my long-term homeless clients were male- women were frequently redirected into female-specific programs. The women were also more likely to receive support from other services. With the field being predominately female, I found that a male perspective in program development was lacking; I had spoken to many males I had worked with in the past and found that even if they recognized they needed help, there were not services that were relevant to their specific needs. In failing to help men, either for physical, mental, or emotional health, social work is ignoring half of Canada’s population and perpetuating issues such as substance abuse, violence, crime, and health care costs that could have been mitigated. We need more male input into developing services that men will find helpful and be comfortable accessing.
I designed my self-directed SOCW 4900 course to focus on social entrepreneurship. TRU’s social work program does not credit business electives. There needs to be greater awareness of how business strategies and models can be adapted to adhere to social work values, while generating the income necessary to cover the operational costs for programs. Many social services, non-profits, and charities rely heavily on grants, fundraising, and donations to enable their operations. With the increased cost of living, job and economic instability, these organizations are now competing for limited funding; donations and volunteer hours are also decreasing. There is still no legal definition for ‘social enterprise’ or ‘social entrepreneurship’; more research into characteristics of these organizations, their planning, development, and ongoing operations is needed so that entrepreneurial activities can be reproduced in social services and enable their sustainability as well as find creative solutions to societal problems.
Over the past two years, my approach towards research has changed, and had I known what I later learned through my work with TRU PLAR, I would have done my UREAP project differently. I will take what I have learned from past research projects and apply to my practice in the future. I had been interested in program development prior to enrolling at TRU, so was excited to be involved with the PLAR team as their current focus is improving the accessibility and completion rate of the PLAR program. I feel I have learned more and developed more practical skills in projects such as this, rather than I did in my degree program; being involved in research projects such as this has given me hope for my future career.
Having previously held predominately labor-intensive, outdoor jobs, I am unfamiliar with much of the technology that is now being used to collaborate with teams remotely (Zoom and MS Teams), document sharing, and the many capabilities of Excel. I have developed an interest and appreciation for what can be accomplished online; as I worked in one community and attended school in another, being able to work remotely while maintaining communications with the PLAR team was critical for my involvement in the project. I have relocated to Williams Lake but can expand my options for future research with the accessibility provided through the internet. I am also interested in learning how to produce e-Books on Amazon with the option to print, for future dissemination of information to a larger audience. I also want to further develop my skills using Excel to organize findings, perform calculations, and create graphs from the data.
Perhaps the most challenging part of research has been survey collection. As a shy and introverted female, reaching out to strange men (in person, not hiding behind a screen) and asking them to complete a survey on mental health and service use was more terrifying than the time I went skydiving. I was rejected countless times. Despite my self-consciousness, it was rewarding to sift through the stack of surveys after data collection and consider how their feedback corresponded to my previous readings. It was also encouraging when some men chose to converse and share with me their struggles with mental health, or frustration with the lack of help they received. Some men had felt so dismissed by the health care or social service system that they had completely given up on seeking help. Others mentioned they were glad that their needs were being considered, and someone cared to ask. I felt guilty on hearing this- I was conducting research as an undergraduate student, without the ability to make the changes to services that they needed.