Explain The Strengths And Weaknesses Of Social Work

Saleebey, D. (1996). The strengths perspective in social work practice: Extensions and cautions. Social work, 41(3),

The NASW (2008) states that primary mission of the social work profession incorporates, empowering people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty. East & Roll (2015) indicates the empowerment theory is efficient in

College of social Work . (2013). The Professional Capabilities Framework . Available: http://www.tcsw.org.uk/home/. Last accessed 1/12/13.

Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work’. Social work origins arise from the effects of a change to an industrial sociality and increasing impact and focus upon poverty. However it is argued that current social work practice, as illustrated by the broad definition of social work by the IFSW, finds itself expected to address wider social issues such as racism, sexism, and discrimination relating to physical or mental ability. Furthermore social work itself has changed from its origins of a charity style response to social problems of poverty. Banks (1995, p1) argues that the changes to social work have introduced different roles for different purposes of ’redistribution of resources to those in need... social control and rehabilitation of the deviant’ Banks further argues that as social work changes, the emphasis is less upon a helping relationship and more on the distribution of resources and on social control.

This essay will focus on how contemporary social workers work to balance the competing demand of care and control. It will start by outlining the nature of the contemporary social work and what it is like and how it works within society. The discussion will then move on to look at and discuss the key professional values of social work practitioners and analyse its relationship to their own personal values, this will also bring into account how these values and views influenced the relationship a social worker can have with both service users and other agencies. Lastly it will explore the range of challenges and dilemmas that are faced by social work practitioners in everyday practice when it comes to trying to balance the demand of care and control and how they work to overcome these problems in order to ensure an effective and fair service to all who avail of it.

Social workers fulfill a unique role in policy creation because that is a time for them to advocate for the oppressed or individuals who are attempting to cope with the stresses of everyday life. Most social workers have the opportunity to work hands on in the field with clients during some point in their career, and during that time they are able to get a clear understanding of the problem the client is experiencing. In The Other America, Harrington makes mention of the poor and how they lost their connections to the world; that clearly depicts the importance of the social workers’ involvement with the creation of policy (Harrington, 1962). Since those living in poverty have been referred to as “politically invisible,” social workers are

The goal of a social worker is to help others in tackling whatever problems they are currently facing and pairing them with the appropriate resources needed so that they can lead a productive and healthy life. A social worker lives by a strong value system that is referred to as social justice. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), “Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities,” (2015, para. 2). Paul Loeb, author of the book Soul of a Citizen, writes moving stories of ordinary people who inspire others to want to be better citizens. This paper will be a reflection on how the book made me feel, the affect it has had on my formation as a social worker, any experiences I have had in social justice advocacy and what vision I have of myself as a social justice social worker.

Empowerment and a strengths perspective which support the development of innate abilities and recognize differences in a positive manner are also helping social workers increase the individual client’s capacity to learn to use his or her own systems constructively

This section of the paper will discuss the definition of social work, values associated with social work and arguments for and against the use of systems theory in social work practice. Social work can be described as a field of study that encompasses individuals and their environment. Social work can be defined as work trained professionals do to elevate stressors of individuals so they may become more self-sufficient and empowered to live to their fullest potential.

According to Duffy (2016), there are two different types of social work practice when it comes to working alongside a disadvantaged population. The first kind, is used more often and is called conventional social work approach, which focuses its attention on undertaking assessment and ensuring that individuals are families are received the correct support through organised services and support. On the other hand, critical social work, the less utilized approach aims to challenge the inequalities and oppression in society, by targeting the societal structure via activism and research, in order to bring forth criticism and questions on discourses attached to particular marginalised groups. The author proposes that both social work practices are important, however, critical social work should be emphasized on more frequently, especially with groups such as the ageing population as it targets the stubborn discourses (Duffy, 2016). Mattsson broadens critical social work, by relating it to critical reflection. Critical theorists have proposed critical reflection as a method to understand how social work practices can uphold oppression due to seemingly everyday actions, words and attitudes. Therefore, this can have an implication on how social workers execute their practice, as ordinary and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies may senselessly abide social workers to uphold and reproduce social oppression, even though they might be well-intentioned. Critical reflection

One of the most important skill to have as a social worker is to identify your client’s strengths. All social workers should have knowledge of an effective leader that are identified by their strengths or limitations in order to improve the one’s they identify. There are several evidence-based assessments that help identify the strengths and limitations of any individual. Thus, it is also necessary to obtain other perspective based on your leadership strengths or limitations in order to improve or strengthen those qualities. The self-assessments used through this paper will help me develop a plan that points out my challenges, help expand and improve on my strengths (Human Services Guide, 2015).

IntroductionThis paper discusses and explores both case studies in order to find the powers and duties a social worker acting in a statutory capacity might exercise in these cases, how might they be exercised and how might wider principles of welfare law impact on their decision making? It also analyses the tensions and dilemmas that may exist, referring to specific legislative provisions, and identify how anti-oppressive practice might influence the resolution of these case studies. It also demonstrates an ability to study relevant law in social work practice and have a critical and analytical understanding of the service delivery standards and powers and duties of social workers, demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of key

Utilizing strengths based perspective with clients enables social workers to focus on the client and family strengths and abilities instead of focusing on the client and family’s problems, bad behaviors and pathologies. The strengths based perspective applies six principles that guide the social worker professional in assisting client’s with the strengths based model; we all have areas of strength, but sometimes it takes an unbiased third party to notice and help others clearly see what they are capable of achieving, even in the midst of their crisis.

Fourth, I am going to write about strengths and weaknesses in relation to social work practice and educational need. One of my strongest strengths as a social worker is patience. It helps me to persevere enthusiastically towards conquering goals and objectives when assisting my clients. Patience keeps alive the objective in mind to meet. Physical or psychological exhaustion only reaffirms the importance of patience. For that reason, it’s important to be patience with what we start out with the aim of clients’ benefit.

Social work is very diverse, there is not one sole solution, or strength metaphor which can cover all fields. However, there are assessments which can be applied to certain situations, given the practitioners beliefs. “Accessing Clients Strengths: Clinical Assessment for Client Empowerment” is an article written by Charles D. Cowger, and is based on a mainstream contextual understanding that the primary goal of social work is to assist individuals with their relationship to others, and to institutions in a way to promote social and economic justice with regards to the importance of a client strengths perspective for assessment, which, proposes 12 practice guidelines to foster a strengths perspective(Cowger, 1994, p.262).Theory of strengths assessment focuses on two aspects of empowerment, personal empowerment and social empowerment. Personal empowerment dynamic recognizes the uniqueness of each client and their ability to take charge and control of their lives and their own betterment process. The social empowerment dynamic states that personal empowerment is related to opportunity and that individuals behaviors are derived from society. Through social empowerment, the individual plays a key role in shaping their surrounding and vise versa by having various opportunities and access to certain resources.