Disasters Journal Assignment
Josephine Heil
West Chester University
SWG 577
Monday, August 3rd, 2015 The first day of class was very emotional and powerful. Prior to signing up for a social work in disasters course, I reflected on how little I learned about disasters throughout my high school and undergraduate career. I was unaware of the political and race aspects from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I am also extremely overwhelmed by the devastation and emptiness from the catastrophe. Individuals went weeks without being reunited with family members, shelter, and adequate amounts of food and water. Prior to viewing “When The Levees Broke”, I imagined everyone having the ability to evacuate in time and our federal
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During the first day of class, Professor Bean had our Social Work in Disasters class split up into several different groups. The groups were those who lived in another country, been in a disaster-suffered traumatic loss, worked in a rescue relief, and been a natural helper. I was a part of the natural helper group because of my one-week alternative break trip to the Dominican Republic. Prior to this trip, I was recently declared a social work major, and I was unaware of the various systems social workers work with. This trip taught me so much about how systems work together or for that matter, do not work together. I will never forget the home visits my alternative break group and I went on during our one-week stay. I did not even know it before that the people I met experienced individual and collective trauma. A vast majority of the people I met experienced individual trauma through murders of loved ones, house fires, and sexual abuse. I observed collective trauma through the individual’s experiences with floods, which caused members of the community to have no communication with one another for weeks. I am not sure if it relates, but I also concluded that the election of their new leader was a good example of collective trauma. The community felt hopeless, many people vanished or migrated to the United States and each person lost a close bond. The one
The practice of social work has evolved from three major movements, The Charity Organizations, Settlement Houses, and Child Saving Movements. “Charity organization societies were developed by philanthropists to regulate the use of charitable agencies by the poor” (pg. 52). This society was organized to assist the needy, but also to ensure that they only received help from one charity. There is a stigma that people should not be helped too much or they will become reliant on the assistance of the government. Our role as a social worker is to make sure that people are getting as much assistance as they need. Some people have no choice and do have to rely on
The second case study consists of post-traumatic stress disorder in the victims of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka. Watters recounts the story of a woman named, Debra Wentz, director of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health Agencies who was visiting Sri Lanka during the tsunami. She experienced the tragedy first-hand and became worried about the psychological implications that such a trauma plays on a person’s mental state. She vigorously worked to get American counselors to come to Sri Lanka to train local counselors on how to recognize the symptoms of PTSD and how to counsel the survivors. Her efforts, Watters states, “were clearly motivated by a set of assumptions and beliefs about the nature of psychological trauma and its appropriate treatments. Wentz assumed, as do many Western mental health specialists who focus on trauma, that the psychological reaction to horrible events is fundamentally the same around the world.” (Watters 68) Psychiatrists and
When working in a field of expertise the experts in that area need to know what defines that field. Social work, with its roots over a hundred years old, started out simply offering assistance to others, has grown and changed, and is currently reconnecting with its roots (Bisman, 2004). Bisman (2004) emphasizes the importance of being an advocate of justice and keeping the field focused on the “social” part of social work. This push to keep social work focused on the needs of others defines social work today. Social work focuses on providing aide to the needy and increasing awareness of those that are oppressed.
Social workers must strive “for a full understanding of the complex interactions between the client and all levels of the social and physical system as well as meaning that the client assigns to each of these interactions” (Andreae, 1996, p. 605).
Refugees and immigrants have a specific set of needs that differ from other families. Oftentimes they suffer from a lack of resources and do not fully understand the culture that they live in. I would like to work with this population because I have experience in helping refugee/immigrant families succeed in the United States, while helping them to retain their own culture and identity. Though I have some experience working with this population, I would like to learn more about the depth of their needs and the ways that social work as a profession is seeking to fulfill that need.
In the wake of many recent tragedies including both those created by nature as well as those caused by man, we have seen the number the human service organizations grow beyond leaps and bounds. However how these agencies interact with their clients can play a valuable role when these clients come in to receive services. In trying to meet the needs of all those in the wake of such tragedies, it is often hard to understand how someone can also empower others within the agency that is offering services. In the light of helping everyone, many agencies are now implementing services now geared or
Tim O’Brien gives a lot of examples of how trauma affects people. Of course, in his case he was taking about war, but really, it can be taken as how anybody is affected by traumatic experiences. Child abuse victims, domestic violence victims, sexual abuse victims, people who have lived on the streets, people that overcame starvation, all of these people experience trauma in almost the same way. They get flashbacks, nightmares, feelings from when they were in the bad situation, and they all need support to heal. They can’t be left voiceless for their whole lives or they won’t be able to cope and get their story to those who are stuck in those same situations that they used to be in. They all need people to listen to them, believe in them, trust them, understand where they are coming from, and be there when they need help. Will you be that person to help someone feel good about themselves today? Will you stand up for a person who is being bullied today? Don’t be a hero; just be a voice for the
Man-made and natural disasters are traumatic to both the client and to the counselor. Oftentimes, the counselor is also feeling the
Often times, we try to show our support for one another in various ways such as donations, marches, and social media, but are we truly doing enough as a society? In the book Tribe on Homecoming and Belonging the author, Sebastian Junger, discusses the benefits of small, closely-knit communities that share difficult experiences with one another. One specific community under discussion is U.S. combat veterans who experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While deployed, this group is often split into tight-knit platoons, which creates a strong bond between the members. Strengthening this bond is the dangerous and difficult situations that this ‘tribe’ faces together. When the soldiers return home, they lose this bond and begin relying
On April 19th, the Department of Social Work and Addictions presented a conference about trauma and immigration, in which taught and shared different ways to cope with traumas, in different areas such as domestic violence, and trauma in immigrant communities. While I was listening to the speakers I was thinking on how strong they are, and what they have had to go through and now with all that they are sharing with us what one day was pain and trauma.
In Judith Herman’s book, Trauma and Recovery, she discusses her research and work with trauma survivors. In her book, she writes that, “traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life” (Herman 24). She explores the idea that trauma is as individual as it is common, with reactions and the journey to the post-traumatic self similar despite differences in events. In the case of Barbara Gordon, while the event may vary, her physical and mental trauma can be compared to America’s fear of its forfeiture of power to terror and the loss of the towers after September 11, 2001. Trauma is about more than just the physical ramifications; when the physical aspect is fixed, Barbara’s legs and the building of the 1 World Trade Center, the mental and emotional trauma still remain.
My experience from the day on the hill was a complete opposite of what I thought it would be. When I first started this program, I wasn’t interested in policy. I thought this class was going to be extremely boring. After we started looking for our bills, my mind was blown of how important those bills were. Some of the bills affected me directly on a professional and a personal level. The bill we choose for our assignment was a perfect example. Our bill was about immigrants and their families. I am an immigrant myself and I would have never known about the bill if I didn’t have this assignment. I knew social workers were important but I didn’t realize how much of an impact they made.
In our lecture, there were several wonderful examples of things that every Christian can do to aid victims of crisis. It is amazing how powerful the simplest and most basic things can minister to those who have experienced trauma; things like giving them basic instructions during a time when they can be cognitively unfocused, getting them a drink of water or a blank, allowing them to share their feelings and experience, praying for them, etc. I believe one of the most powerful things every Christian can do is to simply be “present” with the victims of crisis. Having experienced several traumatic events myself, the simple action of a Believer simply being with me brought an incredible amount of comfort and strength to me. I could sense the
Social Work is a discipline that can be a very rewarding experience for both the worker and the client. The practice involves working with individuals, families, or groups who are struggling to cope with life`s challenges. The social worker must combine his or her personal qualities, creative abilities, and social concerns with the professional knowledge in order to help client’s social functioning or prevent social problems from developing (Bradford W. Sheafor, 2008, p. 34). Social work practice seeks to promote human well-being, while addressing the processes by which individuals and groups are marginalized or diminished in their capacity to participate as citizens (Ian O'Connor, 2006, p. 1).
Social Work’s core philosophy and values are centered around social justice and social well-being. Oppression, injustice, discrimination, and violence are antithetical to the social work profession. Social Work believes in strength-based approaches and the person-in-environment perspective to cater the needs and welfare of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society at large. Generally, the target populations for social work are vulnerable, marginalized, and oppressed people; however, social workers provide services to people with a wide range of problems, such as poverty, addiction, mental illness, etc. to empower them to meet their own needs. Historically, the social work profession started its operation by providing neighborhood