Self Care In Social Work

My intended major is Sociology. Once I earn my degree I intend to find a career in either social work or teaching. In choosing social work my focus will be low income families and programs that decrease social inequality. As a child I yearned for the ability to help people, to change someone’s life for the better and give them back the strength and hope they have lost through life’s battles. I gained this eagerness to provide assistance when my parents brought me to their homeland of Guatemala. Guatemala is a very poor country and I saw the despair and hopelessness of many while others still strived every day to elevate the lives of their family amidst poverty.

The National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics acknowledges the challenges caused by compassion fatigue and promotes the importance of self-care in the social work profession. According to the NASW Code of Ethics, “[p]rofessional self-care in social work is critical to maintaining ethical and professional behavior and providing competent services to clients across diverse settings” (NASW, 2009, p. 269). They also provide ways in which to support social workers and help alleviate the stress of the profession. Along with the services already provided, the NASW supports “the development of creative and innovative support services for social workers, which may include supports groups, professional retreats, Web site resources, online support, and chat groups” (NASW, 2009, p. 270). The National Association of Social Worker’s view on self-care is very beneficial and complimentary to the way in which I also view self-care.

Social work requires a diverse and demanding range of professional, emotional and cognitive skills. This shows that social work is a challenging and varied profession Most people have a natural ability for these skills however this report shows that social workers must have the basic set of skills and qualities in order to function well in any situation and to excel in their

Professional fitness and self-care is one of the most important standard of social worker. A social worker must keep themselves healthy, happy, and in homeostatic with their own environments to properly provide a safe and healing haven for their clients. To do this, a social worker must maintain a plan for self-care. Each social worker’s self-care plan will look different because each person is diverse; thus, each person has unique needs that must be addressed. For instance, in my self-care plan three areas that I know I will need to focus on my physical health, my mental and emotional health, and avoiding compassion fatigue. Each of these areas will have to have intense and rigorous routines to keep myself professionally fit. In my physical health dilemma, I know I will need to develop a regular sleep and eating routine which includes at least six hours of sleep each night, and three healthy meals each day. I will need to

Another preventative step for the social worker is to seek out individual therapy for himself as a manner in which to deal with the stressors associated with the helping profession. This has been highly recommended by several instructors during my masters level education.

Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.

It is important for a social worker to remember their motivations for joining the profession as this will have a continued and lasting impact on their working practice. Whether unconsciously or intentionally a social worker will have agendas to achieve, whilst these may be noble and not necessarily detrimental to working practice, self-awareness is necessary to

As a woman diagnosed with social anxiety,I was entrusted to be under the care of a social worker so as to help me manage my disorder. Personally, I have gone through so many experiences which collectively made me develop a deeper insight into the roles of social workers as compared to other health caregivers. Besides that, I have seen a lot of transformative supports to people who have various social problems provided through the selfless care of the social workers. Subsequently, this further fueled my ambition to study and support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable persons in the society. I firmly believe that my motivation towards helping

Self-awareness is vital as a social worker. It is important to be clear about one own problems, strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes. For example, if I am strong at working with teenagers and have a weakness in speaking with young children, it is important for me to work in that capacity to be successful at the job, and do it from a place of passion. Being self-aware also grants the opportunity to work

Social work is a professional and academic discipline that works to improve the quality of life and enhance the wellbeing of individuals, families, couples, groups, and communities. Heather Holland is a Social Worker at Uniontown Hospital who has over 12 years’ experience in the field. She explains that a typical day on the job is far from easy. “Days in this career are crazy, busy, and mostly, undetermined” Holland explains of her days on the job. Social work is a very important job. Social workers work with clients who are vulnerable and in need of serious help. It is so extremely important that social workers are properly trained and are always giving their best in their work because client’s lives often depend on it. Social workers are

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.

The decision to pursue my education in social work at Dalhousie University was not an easy one. While I was growing up, my career choice changed all of them time, but I always knew that I wanted to do something fulfilling, in which I could “help” and support people. My mom was a nurse and always loved helping people; I always figured I would follow in her footsteps, however I learned at an early age that sciences do not come easy to me. Unfortunately, my mom lost her battle to breast cancer when I was eight years old, so I hope that by me helping people socially, rather than medically like she did, will continue her legacy.

State the significance to social work practice and social policy: Food insecurity and malnutrition is an endless pressing issue on the macro level of social work across the nation. This is a significance part of a social workers job is to address these issues on a larger scale. Social workers incorporate multisector strategies to address this issue through different agencies hoping to develop evaluations that would produce results of the need base for nutritional and food security programs, which leads to funding for these programs as well. The social polices of this includes providing food pantries, food banks, healthier options in school systems, and nutritional programs that helps reduce hunger and to address the poor heath concerns associated

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.

Social Work’s core philosophy and values are centered around social justice and social well-being. Oppression, injustice, discrimination, and violence are antithetical to the social work profession. Social Work believes in strength-based approaches and the person-in-environment perspective to cater the needs and welfare of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society at large. Generally, the target populations for social work are vulnerable, marginalized, and oppressed people; however, social workers provide services to people with a wide range of problems, such as poverty, addiction, mental illness, etc. to empower them to meet their own needs. Historically, the social work profession started its operation by providing neighborhood