Reflective Reflection In Social Work

This essay will demonstrate an understanding of the theory of reflective practice within healthcare and nursing. Furthermore, the essay will identify and analyse the different models of reflective practice, the effectiveness of the models and how healthcare professionals can apply this within their profession. Also, the barriers that may prevent a healthcare professional from reflecting will be discussed in this essay and how it will impact the quality of care delivered to patients.

The service user may also communicate feelings to the social worker. I am not usually driven by my emotions or feelings, something I have usually seen as a strength. However, I am becoming increasingly aware that listening to one’s feelings – especially during reflective practice – can explain our reactions to an event (Walker, 2008). Where previously I valued not being governed by emotions, I was probably simply ignoring them. In my future practice I need to be aware of my feelings and what they may suggest about a situation, whilst still considering knowledge based practice.

The service user I am currently working with is P (26) single parent and B (15-month-old) infant. She was referred to our service via the orthopaedic nurse, to get access to relevant service within her community. B has complicated health needs and requires specialist children centre groups, due to her low immune system. The family are isolated and find it challenging to socialise, and require support finding playgroups for her child. Additionally, P has a new partner and she has made me aware that he emotionally abusing her and feels more isolated due to his controlling behaviour. He prevents her from seeing old friends and changed requested her to change her number. P has made me aware that R does not trust her, and accuses her of being intimate

Throughout the class, many aspects of the curriculum were seen as useful in future social work practice. Before this course, in other course work, treatment planning and goal setting was often something that was reviewed briefly, yet within the coursework of the capstone seminar this matter had been gone over in more detail. Within this course, it was possible to gain more insight into a more balanced way of setting treatment goals that included conversations with the client concerning what they desired out of treatment in addition to what was needed. This aspect of the course was particularly useful when it came to working towards the development of the treatment plan with the client who was presented during the case presentation, Sarah.

I had been working with a child where I needed to conduct an assessment. Before the meeting to share the information with the parents, I sent them a copy of the completed assessment to enable them to gather their thoughts so that at the meeting I was able to answer any specific concerns. The mother had rang me the day she received the assessment as she was not happy about the comments written. I explained to the mother that we could discuss the matter at the meeting but, although she did not respond, I could sense that the mother was still irate.

The counselling process is based on the exchange of emotions between the client and the counsellor which aims to form an alliance (Hough, 1998). It involves the counsellor using skills in which they possess in order to communicate effectively with clients (Hough, 1998). This reflective essay clearly articulates my application of counselling skills used in this practice session and suggestions for improvement. It will provide a summary of the session, identification of a range of skills used and a brief explanation of the reasons for using the skill. It will also provide an evaluation of my application of the skills chosen, including verbatim examples, suggestions for improvement, also including verbatim examples to demonstrate what could

Being willing and available to share and implement thoughts and suggestions to others about unexpected life situations are a major part of being of social worker. For myself, being available to offer solutions to people of all genders, backgrounds, religions and more engenders a sense of purpose and accomplishment. My social work experience thus far has taught me how valuable communication is from both the person needing assistance and the individual offering help. Generally speaking, most people prefer individuals that will listen to them attentively as they share their thoughts. I have realized that during this process, both parties are given the opportunity to intake the information, before releasing any suggestions. Communication is essential, in order to properly identify and fix the problem.

Today’s session was conducted by second year placement social work students and service users. The issue they covered was about the relevance of working in partnership within the social care profession.

making Practice-Based Learning work Reflection on PRACTICE A resource commissioned by the Making Practice Based Learning Work project, an educational development project funded through FDTL Phase 4 Project Number 174/02 and produced by staff from the University of Ulster. www.practicebasedlearning.org Author Patricia McClure School of Health Sciences, University of Ulster www.practicebasedlearning.org contents Reflection on Practice 02

Self-awareness and the use of self is a key component in social work practice. Depending upon how one integrates their personal being and accompanying thoughts, experiences, emotions, and consciousness into the helping profession has a profound impact on whether that integration is positive or negative, particularly when it comes to that of one’s relationships with their clients. While remaining impartial is often critical to effective social work practice, the complete separation of self from one’s professional practice is not only impossible to realize, but would arguably have less of a meaningful impact with one’s relations with clients as well as self. Understanding the use of self and the importance of self-awareness in the social work profession is the first step in establishing a healthy means of practicing and the impact that our own individuality has when interacting with clients. In this paper I will analyze, and further critically reflect upon, four academic journals on the topic of the use of self in social work; later applying this learning to an experience from my field placement.

In the field of social work, and professions alike, the necessity of continuous self-examination consists of a focused study shooting toward obtaining comprehensive and nuanced cosideration of the phenomena present in one’s occupation. Being a chameleon in any given landscape within the profession encourages openness to the complexity of clients’ realities, for how can one assist others in an examination of the internal structures of mind and welfare without synchronously examining oneself? (Chang, 2018). Self-understanding goes beyond clinical, it’s the “person in environment” model that dictates that one is made up of more than our brain chemistry and structure, but of our environment and circumstance that mold our personalities and our reactions toward it. Virtually every aspect and identity has their hands on the wheel that steers one’s attitudes about and/or behaviors towards society and self. Top players that influence how I project myself and my performance, for instance, are the actions I take to adhering to the tenets of my religion, dealing with demands that come with choices, and, my current life stage. Allowing a reflection of person is self-serving, not in the inflated sense of being ego-centric, but having an accurate judgment of oneself for the sake of self-improvement and molding from it better relations with others.

Self-reflection and correction in social work practice is important for continued learning and professional development. Without self-awareness, social workers cannot separate their personal feelings, values, and attitudes from their professional. This is important because we need to focus on the needs of the client, not what we think they need. Knowing how to separate our personal feelings and values from our professional feelings and values will prevent us from getting burnout and help us maintain professional boundaries.

* Differentiation and elaboration of experience. Clients start back seeing things in a very black and white manner with no grey areas. This change during the counselling process.

My internship was at Mindful Soul Center for Wellbeing. The setting I worked in was extremely inviting and the entire staff was wonderful. When I started at Mindful Soul I signed a confidentiality form and was introduced to some of the staff. I was given videos and literature that were important to the staff at Mindful Soul, and that embodied the attitude at the private practice. I watched Brené Brown’s TED talks on vulnerability, as well as talks about Infidelity and childhood trauma. When learning about childhood trauma I was also introduced to Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores and saw how Mindful Soul personally uses them when assessing clients.

At the beginning of the course, I feel that I was naive about my professional knowledge about the field of social work. I had a false knowledge about what the field entailed