Ariel Edwards

My name is Ariel Edwards and I use they/them pronouns. In December 2020, I completed an Associate's of Science in psychology at Georgia State University Perimeter College. Currently, I am a senior in the Bachelor of Social Work program within the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. Growing up, I was introduced to social justice issues through the arts, primarily through music, visual arts, and poetry. I was amazed that despite our cultural, geographical, and socioeconomic differences the arts brought people together as a universal form of communication beyond words alone. Also, by partnering with artists and creative thinkers in the community the arts can be used as a starting point to heal communities and open dialogues on sensitive issues. Initially, I was a psychology major in my freshman and sophomore years. I wanted to develop more of an empirical understanding of how the human mind affects behavior in different contexts. With that understanding, I thought that I could help people overcome adversity. However, since psychology incorporates aspects of the medical model, I found that we mainly labeled individual people without considering systemic adversities beyond their control, overlooked the unique qualities of an individual as a source of empowerment, or discounted how underserved communities come together through their cultural traditions to overcome social injustices, such as how capoeira became a mixed martial art dance form out of oppression. As I read through the values and ethical principles of social work in NASW’s Code of Ethics, I loved how they aligned with most of my own. Since I was captivated by how social work incorporates a holistic approach to addressing social injustices while serving those most vulnerable in our societies, I thought I could best help others by becoming a social worker instead of a clinical psychologist.