Precious Strengths And Weaknesses

The movie Precious describes the life of a 16-year-old girl who is illiterate, lives in an abusive home, was raped by her father, and thus has one disabled child and is pregnant with her second. Although Precious was in a horrible situation, with the help of her social worker and her alternative school teacher, Precious escaped from her house and started a new life of her own. As a social work student, I can learn from Precious’s situation by comparing how the social worker in the movie helped Precious versus how I would have, had I been her social worker. By identifying the primary systems that affect Precious, some of her greatest strengths that helped her in overcoming her situation, and four interventions I would have implemented, I can …show more content…
After all the atrocities that Precious experienced, she still has a desire to move on from those horrors. One of Precious’ defense mechanisms is to picture herself somewhere else. Often when she is faced with an unpleasant situation, Precious dreams of being a famous pop star, or singing in a gospel choir somewhere. Although these dreams are not realistic, they give Precious hope and shows that she is determined to move on from her situation. Precious has a positive outlook on life that keeps her moving past her terrible situation and keeps her searching for a better life. Another strength that Precious has is her alternative school. Each One Teach One provided opportunities for Precious to create a better life for herself and move past her abusive mother. Getting an education opened up many opportunities for Precious to find a job rather than just relying on the welfare check. It also empowered Precious and gave her a reason to dream even bigger. As a social worker, one can use Precious’ strength of Each One Teach One to better her chances of going to a higher schooling or finding