Reflection Paper On Social Work

The journey towards the attainment of the Bachelor of the social work degree has been an enlightening and educational experience, as the individual is exposed to the realities of many social and political issues in the society. As a student, I ventured into the degree, with minimal insight as to how the degree can influence and shape the way I perceive the social world, and the way I relate these matters to myself. However, throughout my endeavour, which encompasses years of theoretical studies, and two intensive placements at two drastically different organisations, I believe I have accumulated the bare minimal knowledge to possess a solid foundation about the unfairness and inequality that people in disadvantaged conditions face. Social workers are predominantly found in welfare organisations which Howe (as cited in Limber, 2015) suggested largely influences the practice, direction and values of the social worker, and impacts on their ability to act autonomously (Lymbery, 2015). During my placements, there was a dominant theme that frequently stood out and enticed my attention. This was the accepted practice of focusing on the individual’s problem, as opposed to the social problems that existed and the lack of acknowledgement about the social restrictions of the human agency that limited self-determination. The realization that organisations were managed this way was important in ensuring that I made a proactive effort to understand and untangle the reasons behind such

In this essay I will discuss what learning from K216 materials has been useful to me whilst working with vulnerable and/or disadvantaged service users in my student placement, and what learning I have applied to my practice. Throughout I will look at how my learning informed what I decided to do, how I went about doing this and my understanding of the practice. I will discuss learning in respect of two areas of social work, which are ‘Communication’ and ‘Working collaboratively’. For ‘Communication’ I will focus on communication with service users with disabilities and/ or additional needs and I will explore a case of a mother who I had a telephone call with who was in crisis and in a highly emotional state. With ‘Working collaboratively’,

This week in the field was productive. The tasks completed this week were some tasks I have completed throughout the semester interning at the Department of Social Services (DSS). Throughout this week I had the opportunity to complete more home visits outside of the clients I am familiar with on my supervisor’s caseload. This is that I was able to complete a home visit with one of her coworkers to experience working with different populations the agency works with. During the home visit with my supervisor’s coworker, she and I sat with the client to discuss information pertaining to her court orders. With the client’s children being classified as medically fragile, the client has been ordered by the court to report for parenting classes and

1). In the face of social justice issues, I show up not only as the activist social worker but as an ally to those who face such injustices. I show up ready to support those who need to be heard and held up so that their voices may be heard. I show up ready to echo the needs of the oppressed and marginalized. While I too feel excluded from various communities and often feel that I have little privilege to support those in need, I utilize what privileges I do have such as social position, and gender. In representing the issues of social justice in my professional life I turn to these privileges and seek the support of other allies with greater privilege and knowledge to enhance our strengths and efforts, while supporting and echoing the needs of the oppressed and marginalized. I attempt to educate others on the topics of

Lying on a school assignment is something I’ve never done until now. My thought process that lead me to lie on my field exercise assignment was the pressure of being a student who complete all work assignment on time and the pressure of dealing with family issues at the time when finals were approaching. I didn’t think about the outcome of my actions I just wanted to finish my work and be done with class work, so I could focus on my finals. When I received my paper back from Dr. Nsonwu I thought I was in the clear; when I flipped to the back page to see what grade I was given my heart sank when I saw a note that read “please see me”. Walking down to Dr. Nsonwu’s office my heart was racing and I feared the worst.

My client is a white 24-year-old married female who has recently been unhappy at her job. She has been married to her husband for two years. She has just recently had a baby. She grew up in a small town in Iowa. She and her family currently live in Iowa, close to where she grew up. She denies any substance abuse history, legal history or any mental health history.

Throughout the semester, I learned valuable lessons and skills that would aid me in becoming a successful social worker. In addition, working on the public issue project provided me with the opportunity to put what I learned into action. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to put what I learned in the classroom to use while working in the community with a group of women, as a team, to accomplish a set goal. Over the last several years, through observation, I saw the homeless population grow in the downtown Atlanta area and sometimes wondered what I could do to help aid in their well-being, especially in the winter months when they were living on the streets with little clothing. I recognized the problem, assessed the issue and came up with a goal. The public issue project gave me the opportunity to not just think about helping the homeless stay warm., but to do something to contribute keeping them warm. I learned the importance of setting a plan, putting it into action to reach a goal. Therefore, I choose to do a coat and blanket drive, as my public issue project, for those living on the streets of Atlanta, Georgia during the winter months.

If you are looking for an exciting and meaningful career working with people, social work could be the career for you. Social workers are people who care about people and who work to make things better in their environment. Social work as a profession is about helping people find solutions that enable them to function as best they can in the environment in which they live.

This assignment afforded me an opportunity to view myself in action in a social worker position. It clearly revealed where I correctly inserted and omitted implementing many of the skills that were introduced and reiterated during this course. As a result, I was able to identify some of my current strengths and weaknesses in the context of a helping relationship. Because I am critical of myself, I easily discovered my mistakes before realizing my competencies. Overall, I was pleased to see myself applying some the skills that professional social workers currently use, and I believe with more practice, I will develop into a proficient social worker.

I observed many things from the interview with Ms. Pressley, such as body language, eye contact, organization, and the general love for her job and role as a supervisor. I was observing her facial expressions throughout the interview. I have never seen so much excitement from a person in a supervisory role. She truly enjoys being the person others can come to and learn from. One of the specifics that stood out to me was when she said, “Really get to know your people.” (C. Pressley, personal communication. October 23, 2017). I believe this is something all supervisors should do. Along with observing her expressions, I noticed her demeanor. She made me feel welcomed and comfortable by meeting me upon arrival and being present during our

I had a great pleasure being in this class to learn the different stages of social work process, while reading the books, taking the quiz and in class activities has made it easy for me to understand and try to apply them to my everyday lifestyle. Social work practice has helped me develop the knowledge of the principles, values, and methods of becoming a social work. The first important process of a social worker is the engagement stage, this is when the social worker and the client have their first interaction. As a social worker you need to build the connection with your client to show them that you are here to help them. It is critical for social worker to be open to the client and establish a level of trust, active listening to ensure the clients is heard, and note taking notes. The second process is the assessment stage, this is when the social worker and client come to an agreement to the information shared by the client to develop strategies. Social worker uses this time to clarify with their client about the problematic they have, and work through the problem so they can work together to come up with an action plan. The third one is the intervention stage this point of the process is when you begin to planning. The social worker works with their client, begins to develop a plan with the client in order to accomplish goals that work targeting the issues. To ensure that the goals and objectives are clear to the client and the social worker, that nothing is misunderstood. At this stage the social work and the client execute to ensure their goals are being met. The evaluation is the last stage when the social worker receives feedback from the client about the process, and goal they set together to see if their goals were met. This stage is when social workers help their client independently continue to work on the issues on their own. If client feels that specific issues were not satisfied or addressed correctly than it is necessary to begin the assessment and implementation stage again.

Setting a boundary is an important core value in social work. Social workers are generally compassionate people, but they also need to recognize that they have to set limits. They need to accept that they cannot be available to serve everyone’s needs and wants. This was the case when I worked as an adjunct instructor and provided individual tutoring to a student who happened to be related to some of my family. For new social workers, this kind of reflection may be helpful as they define their roles professionally, as well as personally. During my experience with a student, who was connected to my family, I learned how important it was to set boundaries.

I’ve now been at my placement for over a month and have experienced many different opportunities. Over the last few weeks I learned about the process of facilitating a care conference with family members and the resident. I learned how to write up notes about the care conference to chart.

I must admit before taking this class I only thought that a Social Worker’s job involved helping kids. I had no idea of the different ways a social worker’s role played in different situations. This class has made me think outside the box and look at every scenario in a different light. I especially enjoyed the discussion questions and the feedback that was given back. They taught me not to be so judgmental and always look at each situation from a different perspective.

A helping profession is one that nurtures the growth of or addresses the problems of a person's physical, psychological, intellectual, emotional or spiritual well-being.