ABSTRACT
I would like to claim that I had a long-standing vocation to become a social worker from childhood, but honesty compels me to admit that it was almost accidental. At about the age of 9, I heard a medical missionary speak and felt inspired that I had found my future career. I did not think seriously about the implications of this throughout the remainder of my primary and secondary school years and it was only when, in my final year at school, I failed to get the grades for university entrance that I stopped short and considered my future. My extended family background was in the professions: my father and grandfather were ministers, my aunts and uncles were doctors, nurses or teachers, but I did not feel inclined to teach or enter the church. Some form of caring profession seemed right and, without much knowledge of what the job actually entailed, I decided that becoming a social worker was my future. After a year as a temporary civil servant (while I upgraded my Higher results), I went to Glasgow University to study psychology. On graduation four years later, the career options open to me were clinical psychology, educational psychology or social work and the last still seemed the most appropriate for me.
