Social Work Assignment Analysis

Social workers must strive “for a full understanding of the complex interactions between the client and all levels of the social and physical system as well as meaning that the client assigns to each of these interactions” (Andreae, 1996, p. 605).

As I prepare for the second year of the master’s program, there are three interviews that I must attend to get into my second year placement. Interviews itself can be challenging because they tend to be unpredictable and nerve-racking. The interview can take place with one interviewer or a panel of interviews. To better prepare for this challenge Professor Sears provided the class with a handout of questions to prepare for the placement interview. The three questions I am struggling with are the following:

The formation of boundaries in Counselling, or a helping interaction, is very important. Helping interactions provide people with an opportunity to help deal with their difficulties, whatever they may be. It is a chance to be listened to and understood. As such, the helping relationship is an intimate one. It is built around trust and support and offers the helpee (client), a place free from judgment. Within a helping interaction

▪ In social work practice, one main task for the workers is to help clients with facilitating change and

When I am an advanced level practice social worker, my goal is to be committed to social justice and empower my clients. In order to achieve this goal, I have decided to pursue my masters degree at the Walden University School of Social Work. This graduate program will prepare be to be an even more competent and effective change agent in the advanced level of practice. When working with veterans and/or members in the military, it is important to embrace a strengths perspective in practice. This graduate program will teach me how to contribute to the empowerment of veterans and/or military members while embracing a strengths perspective in a clinical practice setting. This program will increase my cultural competence as a clinical social worker. Which will in turn, help me understand and respect the cultural diversity of veterans and/or members of the military at all levels of government.

A boundary is described as “a frame or membrane around the therapeutic dyad that defines a set of roles for the participants in the therapeutic relationship (Smith & Fitzpatrick, 1995). Boundaries is also defined as a “limit that promotes integrity” ( Remley & Herlihy, 2013), therefore is important to set boundaries from the beginning, to include a description of roles from the client, and the counselor to understand the limitations of the relationship.

In the profession of social work, a social worker will encounter numerous clients who all have unique and varying degrees of experiences and problems that they either actively are choosing to work on or are being mandated by a third party to seek help. Because each new client presents different challenges and issues for the social worker, they must have a foundation on which to rely to better understand where their client is coming from and what factors may be playing a role in that client’s life. Theory provides frameworks for social workers to begin to understand the depth of their client’s needs. These frameworks help provide a foundation for social work practice.

Being a social worker comes with many responsibilities where it is crucial to act in an ethical and professional manner. One of those responsibilities is establishing boundaries with clients that must not be broken. This means that there should not be a dual relationship between the social worker and client, meaning the professional enters into a second role with the client. In this reading, I learned the different categories of boundaries a social worker could violate whether intentionally or by accident.

Since social workers handle clients and different caseloads, they must be self-aware of their beliefs and values that are most important to them. Social workers, who are self-aware, are able to productively help their clients and are able to know when other social workers would be a more positive impact on their client. Clients need to be able to communicate effectively with their social worker without being judged or having their situations ignored. Social workers who are not fully self-aware tend to avoid certain topics of conversation with their clients and may even provide judgmental opinions in order to try and fix the client’s situation. Social workers must be able to know and discard their own biases while in a client session or at least find another social worker to take their

There are a set of multiple skills that I believe an individual should strive to possess when pursing Social Work. An individual working in Human Services should have the desire to help, be self aware, objective and remain unbiased, genuine, empathetic, and patient. Apart of being self aware is acknowledging the values, attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and past experiences one has and how it can affect their thinking, behavior, and relationships. Being able to identify these behaviors and change them is crucial for Social workers to do in order to avoid any interference when working with clients. Its important for a Social worker to be objective and evoke no judgment when evaluating clients and their situations. By doing this Social workers are

I have done it. I am a Black woman. I am the child of a retired navy chief. I attended six different schools before receiving my high school diploma. I have done it—interacted with people from diverse backgrounds in the greater multicultural society that we live in. While living in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, I interacted with native Hawaiians who were prejudice against non-native people. I saw how poverty impacted my mother’s students’ abilities to read and write. While living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania I experienced the prejudice that white people had against minorities. I watched my brother be bullied because he looked different and talked so well mannered. Moreover, I watch the crime rate rise in the city as a result of poverty political corruption.

I sat and watched a forty-year old woman who could not even pick up her own tissue as she sobbed about her condition. She had lost her hands and legs to no fault of her own. I was mesmerized as I watched my father skillfully interview her with compassion while he was obtaining the information to evaluate the legal basis of her claim. As a child, I would often accompany my father to his office, the courthouse, other law firms, and clients’ businesses, which only increased my curiosity for all of the work behind investigating and developing complex cases. From a fairly young age, I enjoyed making copies, sorting folders, and making binders that went down the hall and even went into a plane for a deposition. I would especially look forward to the days when my father would go to the Harris County Civil Courthouse to try cases, as well as for depositions and hearings. Additionally, I was very intrigued by the entire process of building up a case from scratch and getting it ready for settlement or for trial. Before long, I was able to interview and obtain a job as a teenager where I was able to speak

When I am working with a client, we both need to work together in order for the client to progress. The social worker brings their knowledge, understanding, identifying needs, and a strengths perspective. The client must be motivated to change and have the ability to do so. The chapter emphasized the importance of treating the client as an unique individual, and not categorizing them. The client needs to be able to express positive and negative emotions, and receive sympathetic responses from the social worker. They need to be valued as a person, and not judged. Decisions affecting their lives need to be made by the clients. The client will need to keep confidential information about themselves secret.

In chapter one, we begin to grasp a more thorough understanding of a social worker’s practice and how different theories can be more effective while others are found less effective due to the client population, the practice setting, and the overall values of the practitioner. The authors emphasize that social work is an extremely wide realm, and that direct practice is applying specific social work theories and techniques to not only resolve, but to prevent psychosocial problems that individuals, families and groups experience (Walsh, 2010). Throughout the chapter, the authors focus on five different aspects/facets/approaches of the profession.

After I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, my doctor's office referred me to a counselor to let me know about all the resources available to me because I was a first time mother. When I arrived, I had to fill out the usual paperwork. Once I was inside her office, she was sitting behind the desk and I was sitting on a chair directly in front of her. She went over why I was send over to her, told me about what resources were available and also said that If i ever experienced any sort of depression or was having a difficult time with my pregnant, I can always go to her. I did not feel extremely comfortable speaking with her. I felt like she was quick to jump to an answer or solution before I was even done explaining situations to her.