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Inner Strength
“I’m stronger than I thought, and I don’t have to do everything—just the best that I can.”
I'm a grandmother, a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a friend. People are all created by one creator. And even though we come from different places and our backgrounds are so vastly different, we still value the same things. We're still fighting the good fight every day in life, going through whatever stresses we're going through.
So I think that makes us much more similar than we realize. And when you sit with someone in a room and you're talking about what brought you here, what's going on in your life, all the differences melt away. When I first started out in psychiatric nursing was around the time that my brother was diagnosed. I lost my brother three years ago. He had schizophrenia for many years. I think to myself, how do people get through something like this? You know, how do you keep going?
So that is a major credo in social work-- resilience. It's the only way to cope is to have an inner strength, and the only way to change is to have that inner strength. People have much more inner strength than they think they have. Often you just need an objective person to show you that.
When I was much younger, I really did think, you know, I'm going to change people's lives. So now as a seasoned person-- I'm no longer in my 20s, or 30s-- I realize that that's OK too, to make an impact in whatever small way you can, even though I can't change the world. I'll keep trying, but I know that even if you just do a little slice of it, that's OK.
GSSW Class of 2012 alum Malka Korbman was a nurse for 30 years, a manifestation of her exceptional empathy for those in pain. And that’s why, after three decades, she made the transition to social work. Korbman wanted to work one-on-one with patients and move away from what she calls “the hurried pace of bedside nursing.”
Slowing down her care hasn’t been easy. “I’ve had to hold myself back and not give advice,” she confesses. “Now I guide people to problem-solve for themselves.” That theme of empowerment is just as evident in her concentration on women’s mental health and the child-bearing cycle. Korbman is also a birthing dula, or a source of support and advocacy for women before, during and after labor.
And after experiencing her own life cycle as a mother, grandmother, nurse and now social worker, she recognizes that the path to wellness is paved with resilience and realism. “When I was much younger, I really did think, ‘I’m gonna change peoples’ lives.’ Now, as a seasoned person, I realize it’s OK to make an impact in whatever small way you can, even though you can’t change the world. I mean, I’ll keep trying….”
This is Malka Korbman’s story.
