Social Work with Elderly and Prison Populations   Clint A. Wilson, Huntington University Introduction to Social Work (SWX171-(EX16)-X1, SP-2017-UNDG) Social Work with Elderly and Prison Populations     It was fitting that the two chapters this week are both ones that I have some knowledge of the inner workings. The fact that my field trip this week was sufficiently related to chapter 10 gives me more confidence this week. Older adults and prison systems both provide their forms of challenges. Many may see that the older adult population would be the easiest to work with. I disagree, but only due to my passions and interests. If I were unable to work with the youth population that I do, I would sincerely seek out a position in a prison system. I feel my experiences would be more fitting and relatable to those in the prison system. I have never been to prison and never plan to, but I also know what many of these inmates may have gone through. I feel that both of these chapters have a higher emphasis on social justice and advocacy than in many of the previous chapters. “Empowerment practice can assist older adults to advocate for government policies to improve the conditions of their lives” (Suppes & Wells, 2012, p. 334). This statement encouraged me and reminded me that working with an older population does not mean, dealing with Alzheimer's, death preparation, or any number of other negatives, that I may have made false views on. This population has the right to lobby and to fight for their form of social justice with help from me the social worker using the empowerment model. The parts about social justice and promoting human rights in the prison system made me think more about my reality with these kids. Statistically many of which will end up in the prison system, unfortunately. I wonder if there is a way to teach them about advocacy without them feeling as if we are preparing them for prison. Maybe if we can have individual students step up and become advocates on campus for anti-bullying and other issues such as this, then we can see not only differences in experiences with many of the students, but we can empower and possibly change lives. The text spoke of identifying and working with the outside social issues that these kids face. Many of these kids’ lives would be drastically different if it weren't for poor or broken family structure and other negative influences in their immediate social circle. The biggest takeaway from this chapter is the social justice and advocacy. Throughout our text, each chapter has had somewhat of a focus on social justice. The two populations one would assume that do not need social justice (Elderly) or don’t’ deserve social justice (inmates), not only deserve but in many instances may require it more than other populations.           References Suppes, M. A., & Wells, C. C. (2012). The Social Work Experience. The Social Work Experience (Sixth). Pearson.