Personal Statement On Professional Identity Development Survey

Social work exists to provide effective social services to individuals, families, groups, communities and society so that social functioning may be enhanced and the quality of life improved. (Zastrow, 2013) Assessing my strengths and weaknesses as a social worker helps me see what I must maintain, and what I must improve on to become the kind of social worker that educates and inspires. The skills I identify with in my practice are; empathy, identifying strengths, and respect. These skill sets are vitally important to ensure clients receive the best possible outcome.

The NASW Code of Ethics is the guideline for social workers in regards to professional conduct and practice. The Code of Ethics is divided into four parts: “The Preamble,” “Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics,” “Ethical Principles,” and “Ethical Standards.” These sections educate social workers on what their mission is, and how they complete that mission with true morality. Within the Code, there are six values presented which are also used in regards to helping and practicing with clients honorably. These six values are: service, social justice, dignity and worth, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These six values are the principles that drive social work practice, and are used by social workers everyday.

They understand the value in ethical and professional behavior and the impact it has on their work. Social workers must maintain the highest form of ethical practice because of their intense work in the community. Social workers use NASW Code of Ethics to help them make the most ethical decision because they often hold a lot of weight. Social workers also know how to differentiate their personal beliefs even when in difficult situations. They do not mix their values as a social worker with their values as a person and therefore do not let their beliefs affect their work. Social workers understand the importance of maintaining professional behavior because it can affect their

– My personal values will have to be respecting others, education, and helping and caring for others. The person(s) who I feel influenced me the most in forming my values is my parents and my grandmother. They influenced me because growing up they always preach about treating others with respect even if I feel like they don’t deserved it. They also made sure that education was a priority and not an option. For as helping and caring for others I always saw them helping when they didn’t necessary didn’t have too and not one complain or threw it in the person face. The value that lead me into social work is helping and caring for others wanting to see them do better and make better decision in life.

The commitment to act ethically is an essential aspect of social work due to the effect it can have on the quality of the service offered to those who engage with us. Through group discussions in our foundations of social work practice I have become extremely ethically aware and now will always seek to ascertain and respect, as far as possible, each individual’s preferences, wishes and involvement in decision making. From discussions with my fellow classmates I have learnt to strive to respect and uphold the values and principles of the profession by making sure I promote and work towards the code of ethics wherever possible. This in turn enables me act in a reliable, honest and trustworthy manner having worked closely with service users in a professional setting and learned of their good and bad experiences with practitioners through the service user experience we undertook in class. I believe I am now in a good position to apply the social work ethical principles to my professional practice, in a way that seeks to empower my service users and enable me to emulate the best practice. In addition from reading social work journals and staying on top of news regarding the profession more generally I am knowledgeable about the value base of social work as a profession .

Broadly, identity is said to be a “self-concept,” or the progressive, cognitive portrayal that one usually holds of his or her self (Markus & Wurf, 1987). The research of identity and how identity is formed has been contemplated in lieu of multiple angles of a human experiences (Baxter, 2011). Professional Identity is a personal professional self- concept based on factors such as beliefs, attributes, values, motives, and experience (Ibarra, 1999; Schein, 1978). In any career it is important for an individual to have his or her own professional identity to be able to bring something to their profession. As a social worker professional identity is very important to be aware of, because when the worker is aware of his or her identity it can effect them as workers and how they improve, support, and work with their patients.

There are six core values outlined in the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics. These values include service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. I am going to focus on social justice, dignity and worth of a person, and integrity. I feel that these values are imperative to the social work practice. The first core value I want to address is social justice.

After reviewing the NASW Code of Ethics, I am confident that my personal values will conform well to the social work profession. There are a few personal values of mine that may conflict to the social work profession; however, I will most certainly use my professional judgement to ensure that I will not break the NASW Code of Ethics. Overall, I found that many of my personal values were mentioned in the NASW Code of Ethics.

Values are what dictate our choices and decisions, values are what determine the course of our life (e.g., relationships, career choice, interacting with people, etc.) Values are not universal; each individual simply adopts the values of his/her parents or whatever dominant in the society. As human we differ in how we experience pain, how we communicate, our attitudes, expectations, beliefs, behavior, actions, etc. My values either the personal or professional are congruent to the helping profession and the ACA code of ethics. The primary value that I feel is significant is the self-determination to promote social justice and be the advocate for change on behalf of the clients and the society as a whole. In parallel to self-determination; are

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) lists three ‘values’ in its ‘Code of Ethics.’ (2011). Human rights, social justice, and professional integrity. Some authors, such as Thompson (pp124-147. 2015), and Walker (pp21-23. 2011), list more, but all of them agree on the three listed in the ‘Code of Ethics.’ Deciding on which one is most important to myself becomes difficult because they are all integrated to some degree.

It summarizes the social work profession’s mission and core values. The purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics is to provide an overview of the main functions as a social worker. The Code of Ethics provides not only ethical principles but also ethical standards. Ethical principles are broad moral views than inform social work practice. Ethical standards is to guide social workers’ conduct and behavior.

As I continue to develop in the field of social work the core values of this

Ethics are the specific standards of values that social workers must follow. They are the likeness of the values in the way they mirror principles. Charles Levy once said in a lecture that “social workers in a strategic position to affect others and their interest, what are value based aspirations affecting the conduct of people in general are, for social workers, enforceable imperatives.”

The values that are important in my life will give support in social work. My belief in God is an important value that gives inner peace and harmony. A peaceful demeanor will help my future clients to feel comfortable while working with them. Moreover, my faith shows ways to live life according to the instructions in the bible. Reading the bible shows that every person is extraordinary and irreplaceable. Therefore, it demonstrates that every person deserves the value of dignity and worth. This gives the motivation to work efficiently in providing the resources to assist them in becoming their exceptional and remarkable self.

Introspection is among one of the most difficult things that a person could ever be asked to do. I would like to think that I have a good heart and soul but in reality I have never even thought about what my values are up until I was given this prompt. A few values that I consider important are as follows: loyalty, compassion, wisdom, and peace. I feel that these closely align with the social work values of service, dignity and worth of the person, and competence. (As listed in Social Work: Becoming a Change Agent pg. 472.)