Samantha Thomas is a successful 35-year-old social worker and therapist. She has a bachelor's and master's degree in social work from Dalhousie University. Thomas works for Children's Aid Society and runs her own counseling business. She was interviewed by Isaac Thomas for a school assignment. During the interview, Thomas discussed her educational background and career path, which involved working in group homes and volunteering. She also talked about enjoying helping others through her work as a therapist, while finding other parts of the job more stressful. The interview provided Isaac with insights into Thomas's successful career and advice for his own education.

1. 1
Monday, April 13, 2009
Interview Assignment
Thomas Interview
Done by:
Person being interviewed:
Success Matters
Interview Assignment
Introduction:
My reason for this interview was to go and interview someone that I knew was on a successful path and
has been through university/college for that matter. I also wanted to find someone that is currently in
the workplace at this moment in time. I was looking for someone along this path because I thought that
it could help me along the way as I go to college in September, and that there will be a lot more
exciting things to interview them about.
The person that I chose to interview is a successful woman who goes by the name of Samantha Darlene
Thomas. She is 35 years of age and is proudly my step mother. She has one daughter of her own who is
now my step sister, and her name is Shaniqwa Thomas who is 15 years old. “I absolutely love being a
mother and could not ask for more” as she says.
Samantha Darlene Thomas is a social worker for the Children’s Aid Society of the County Of Simcoe.
She is also a Child’s Protection Worker which is partially related with her social working for
Children’s Aid Society. She is also a proud therapist. This is also related with her social working, she is
a therapist for the people in the military and she also teaches parents how to be a more supportive
parent towards their children who have been abused sexually, verbally, and physically. She also owns
her own business which is a private business that is for her therapy. This business is called Miraculum
Counseling Services. This business is for children/youth who are survivors of sexual
violence. The atmosphere of the meeting place was in an office at the desk in her (Samantha Thomas)
home.
When she responded she said that she would love to be interviewed, then she picked a day to be
interviewed. So her response to the email was a good response which is what I was hoping for because
she is perfect for this interview, just the right person that I was looking for.
What company do you work with? - I work with the Children’s Aid Society on the County Of
Simcoe. And Miraculum, I also work with the sexual assault group treatment also with the County Of
Simcoe.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? – Where I see myself in 5 years is to have my own business
that would be a wellness centre.
What kind of education did you have? – The kind of education that I had was Early Childhood
Education Diploma (1 year), Bachelor of Arts-Psychology major degree (4 years), a Bachelor of Social
Work (3 years) and a Masters of Social Work (3 years part time).
Where did you go to school at? – Dalhousie University St. Josephs early childhood education centre
just graduated with the masters of social work which was said above from Dalhousie University.
Where is your job located? – My job happens to be located in the same city that I live in which is
Barrie, ON.
Do you enjoy what you do? – Well yes, sort of. I enjoy the therapy parts of my job because it is much
less stressful then the other parts of my job. Starting a job where I am a therapist for the military is also
very stressful, but overall I would say yes I do like what I do for a job.
How much education do you have? – I have 11 years of education behind me, and that is 11 years
after high school.
Have you ever had to pull children from their homes? – Unfortunately, Yes I have had to pull
children from their homes. The scariest ones are the ones that don’t cry when being taken from their
home which is really sad because this just means that they do not have a very strong relationship with
their parents. This means that their parents are very poorly attached to their children.
What kind of jobs did you need/have to do to get where you are now/today? – The types of jobs
that I needed to have to get to where I am today were: I had to work in group homes, day cares,
resource centers for parents, a welfare office in Nova Scotia when I lived their and I had to volunteer
within the community.
Having this type of job, does it help you/yourself become a better parent to your own children? –
Yes, it does help me become a better parent because I don’t use physical discipline, I try to support my
kids and their education, and I also have to make sure that I don’t bring my own stress that I may have
from my job into my own home.
Why did you choose to become a Social Worker? – I chose to become a Social Worker because I
was physically, sexually, and emotionally abused when I was younger. I grew up in foster care because
my mother was an alcoholic, foster father went to jail because of crimes against me. So, that is why I
became a social worker.
Do you have any tips that would help someone who is looking to go further in their education? –
Yes I have some tips and here they are: make sure that you read everything before you start it because
then you will understand how to do things better, have all the materials that you need, and can ask for
help on something that you may not understand instead of going home and having trouble on
something and the teacher is not their to help you. Another tip is to make sure that you get your
assignments done early/ahead of time because then this gives you the chance to leave it for a couple of
days and then come back to it and edit it making sure that everything is perfect before handing it in to
the teacher.
In this interview so far I talked about whom I am interviewing and what kind(s) of jobs that she has.
I also got a good response to my email. I asked some questions about how she likes her job, what
kinds of things she had to do to get to where she is now and some personal information, things in
her background.
I think that the interview went pretty well. During the interview I definitely learned that taking
notes in extremely important for a successful interview. I also learned that stopping the person once
and a while to write important facts down can be a huge part to the success of an interview because
when I did so I got full answers and was able to write down all of the important facts that were said
and not just a few. So for sure the interview went well.

3. Samantha Thomas is a successful graduate who is now happy in the workforce who loves doing
what she does for a living. She is definitely a workafrolic because she loves to work where she does
and never complains about having to go to work that specific day she just goes and does it with
good amounts of joy. When I had asked her what three traits she would choose, she chose Passion,
Serve and Persist. She chose these ones because she said that “these three specific traits define me
very well”. When I chose three traits that I thought would fit well for her they were, Passion, Serve
and Persist. The response to the 8 traits was that she picked ones that she thought best suited her
well. The reason that I chose the three traits that I did was because she is a great mother and is
successful in raising a child which went well with Persist. I also chose Serve because she has
always put us first before herself and always thought about us before thinking about herself. The
last trait that I chose for her was Passion. I chose this one because she told me that she absolutely
loves being a mother and that she could not ask for anything else in this world, so I thought that it
went perfect with the passion trait.
I really enjoyed doing this interview because I learned a lot of things as I went along such as: note
taking, and asking for clarification on something that she said to make sure that I get all of the
important facts down.
RE: invitation
From: Samantha THOMAS
(samnsam007@sympatico.ca)
Sent: April 12, 2009 1:26:24 PM
To: bballer_76ers@hotmail.com
Hi Isaac,
I would love to be interviewed for your assignment. How about Monday, April 13, 2009 @ 2pm. If this doesn't
work with your schedule please call me at (705) 733-6101 to let me know what time works best for you.
Blessings, Samantha
From: bballer_76ers@hotmail.com
To: samnsam007@sympatico.ca
Subject: invitation
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 13:21:35 -0400
Hello, Samantha Thomas I am doing an interview assignment for my class that I am currently in. I am looking to
interview someone who is a recent graduate and is successfully in the workplace, So, I was wondering of you
would like to be someone that I could interview. If yes, then can you just email me back please.
Thank You
Isaac Thomas
Works Cited
John, Richard St. 8 To Be Great. Toronto: Train of Thought Arts Inc,/ 2005.

4. Thomas, Samantha. Social Worker. 13 April 2009