Reflective Essay On Social Work

From the course, I was surprised to learn how many social workers throughout history have been part of oppressive practices that negatively impacted different groups of the population, which could explain why there are people who have a strong dislike to social workers. This was surprising because as social workers we are bound to advocate for social justice for everyone including those who are living in poverty. Also, respecting different beliefs and lifestyles of individuals, families, groups, communities and nations without discrimination as emphasized in the Social Work Code of Ethics (Canadian Association of Social Workers [CASW], 2005). Some examples mentioned in lectures include social workers playing a role in the deportation of people

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.

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’,

When I emailed the Faculty of Social Work after my first rejection letter I assumed there was a mistake and retold them my duties as a social worker, stated my confusion and asked for clarification as to what they want as experience. The replied back to my first email stating that my position was not relevant enough to social services and then mentioned information about the appeal process. My second email was me directly asking for a set of guidelines to follow and to describe the tasks that would count as experience in their view. They responded to that by saying that they do not have a set of guidelines to follow and did not provided me with any definition. The only thing they could send me was a list of social work jobs to use as examples in which case I need a social worker degree in order to work these positions. From this information I am still unclear of what they expect and

I am applying for the School of Social Work Graduate program at Boise State, beginning in the summer of 2017. In the spring of 2017, I will graduate from Warner Pacific College in Portland Oregon with my BSSW and a minor in sociology

Throughout my progression through the social work curriculum, I have become interested in working in two different settings, hospitals or schools. I decided to pursue a service learning opportunity that would allow me to work with a population in one of these settings. Dream Outside the Box gives me this opportunity. Dream Outside the Box is an organization founded on the premise of going into “dream deserts”, schools where students are not likely to pursue higher education, to teach them about future careers in the hopes of sparking a desire to attend a four-year college or a technical college. Every Friday my role at Bells Hill Elementary School is to teach these students about different potential careers that they could pursue such as physics, chemistry, etc. This is an important program that I will continue to work with even after this assignment is completed.

This week’s reading challenged me to take a long look at the current state of the world. Reading the chapters on poverty and human needs, Indigenous peoples and cultural survival, and globalization helped widen my perspective and now I can grasp how our history has impacted and is still impacting vulnerable populations throughout the world. This week’s reading has forced me to reevaluate my knowledge base and I understand why development-focused social work is so critical. Reading the chapter on Indigenous peoples and cultural survival peeked my interest because we touched briefly on their history in my African American history class. The chapter on Indigenous peoples help me realize that often times I get fixated on certain populations that

At 12 years old Tabitha’s home life was miserable. Her parents were often neglectful to her basic needs. Instead of buying food and clothing for their daughter Tabitha 's parents would escape the heavy burden of parenthood through excessive drinking and other questionable behaviors. The neglect was so severe that teachers at school took notice and made a report. Soon after Tabitha was taken from her home and placed in foster care. Going from house to house she stayed in the system until she aged out at 18 years old. From there she went straight to college. Tabitha decided to take this path because she was inspired by her high school social worker that changed her life. While in high school she became depressed with her home life and it impacted her school performance. The school social worker stepped in and guided her to resources in the community. Thanks to the social worker 's aid Tabitha was able to overcome her depression and graduate high school. In was during this time that she decided she wanted to be a social worker and help someone else in need. To pursue this dream Tabitha knew college was a must.

My inclination towards the field of social work has been growing for as long as I can remember. In hindsight, it began as a child when I realized that it was strange that I did not know who my father was. I began questioning my mother about my father. After some time and with significant hesitation, she told me that my father had been abusive towards her. My mother re-married when I was ten years old and my personal experiences with physical abuse continued. I was old enough to understand that the abuse my mother was subjected to at the hands of her husband was not right. I knew then that I wanted to understand how this can happen and what causes a woman to feel like she can’t leave such a situation.

As a senior, I thought this was the perfect time to get an in-depth look at a career field that I was considering. The main reason I decided to take a career internship was to be exposed to a side of business that I had not been previously and to see if it is something I may want to pursue. The spring semester included interning at the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce is located on East Market Street in Elkin, North Carolina. The time of the internship period was mid-day from 11:30 A.M to 1:00 P.M. This time frame allowed me to be exposed to many lunch meetings that took place. My mentor, Myra Cook, is the president of the Chamber of Commerce. Her role is to help businesses succeed and to promote them to the town of Elkin. At the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce, many valuable skills were learned such as: filing, how to make contacts with different businesses, and planning different community events. In the future, I want to major in non-profit management and social work with hopes of opening my own non-profit someday. My non-profit organization would focus on teaching people who did not receive a proper education learn job and interview skills and help them enter the workforce.

I heard about SURJ for the first time when Mrs. Matera told my table about it. We were trying to find groups of people who were allies and she told us about SURJ. SURJ is a group of all white people trying to fight racial inequalities. My partner Maddy and I first went on their website and found some information on them and followed by going to their Facebook page. On their Facebook page we saw that they had a meeting very soon on the 5th of November. We decided to contact them through their email. After a few days and no response we decided to Facebook message them. I began to get anxious because we got no response and I didn’t know if it was appropriate to go and try to observe their meeting without previously being in contact. We had to observe the group at least three times. So we made the decision to go a little early to the meeting and ask one of the leaders if it was ok to observe.

My internship is at McKinley Children’s Center. McKinley Children’s Center provides a wide range of services from emotional trauma to reading difficulties to children. I am interning at the Foster Family and Adoption program in Palmdale, CA. I will oversee about eight foster youth. I will meet weekly with the youth and complete the needs and services assessment. My goals for this internship is to learn the protocols of Los Angeles county, documentation, how build relationships with resource families, and gain a better understand about what youth and family’s needs.

I am currently interning for a non-profit organization called Inkululeko. I have started working with my supervisor Jason Torreano this late August. I had the pleasure to phone interview Jason, founder of the non-profit organization since November 2011. I thought wanted to go to graduate school for Occupational Therapy, but after realized I would have to take prerequisites beforehand and I did not wanted to continue doing that. I decided to go into Clinical Social Work and which I am in the process of applying for this upcoming fall semester. Although, Jason received his bachelor's in broadcasting/journalism being totally different from what I am studying right now, his views and values in a work setting is similar to what I believe it should be. He did mention at some point in the interview that if he the chance to do it all over again he would have gone for something related to business.

At the beginning of the term, I signed up to work with Nova Vita as part of my Community Service Learning project (CSL). Throughout this paper, I will talk about the agency I worked with, the history, the mandate, the project date, and hours worked, the project scope, the population I worked with, and my role with Nova Vita and with completing the shoe box project. The social justice addressed by Nova Vita, Nova Vita’s response to the CSL, and course concepts that apply to working with Nova Vita. My expectations when working with Nova Vita, what I anticipated might happen when going to Nova Vita and what happened when I went to Nova Vita. The team process of group work and group process, working as a team, any conflicts and what I learned from those conflicts and teamwork. The CSL increasing my awareness of my own social location, values, biases, assumptions, privileges and oppression. The benefits and the limitations of the CSL project. Finally, the lessons I learned from the CSL project to apply to my BSW placement next year, and how the CSL has shaped my thoughts, ideas, and feelings about my future activism, teamwork, and social work practice.