Social Work Reflection

Before beginning the Master of Social Work program at Laurier I figured I had a strong understanding of what social work was. However, I quickly learned that I had only scratched the surface. I knew oppression existed, but I never understood the depth of it. I now know that I was afraid of it. It was easy for me to stay silent, because it was such a comfortable position to be in. Doing nothing meant I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. This was influenced by the privilege I had.

Social work practice works with many people in different situations, needing concise help from professionals. This assistance includes a range of skills such as; identifying the problem or problems, apply and use evidence based practice and theories and critical reflection. All these skills are integral parts of best practice in social work, and are needed by all service users.

This was a very eye opening class for me. Coming from a mental health counselling background I have to admit it is a major difference in how social workers operate versus therapist. In this essay I will reflected on how this social work class has genuinely affected me, my strengths and weaknesses, and what I have taken away from this class. I always gain a great deal of satisfaction from helping others. I remember from middle school on through adulthood I was the go to person. If a person had an issue or needed to talk. I was the voice of reasoning. I was the one able to grab hold of certain resources if someone was in need

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.

The class SW 6030 Human Development and the Social Environment has brought new insights and makes me see some topics in a different perspective. The critical reflection paper number one will integrate different concepts that I learned so far in this class.

According to Duffy (2016), there are two different types of social work practice when it comes to working alongside a disadvantaged population. The first kind, is used more often and is called conventional social work approach, which focuses its attention on undertaking assessment and ensuring that individuals are families are received the correct support through organised services and support. On the other hand, critical social work, the less utilized approach aims to challenge the inequalities and oppression in society, by targeting the societal structure via activism and research, in order to bring forth criticism and questions on discourses attached to particular marginalised groups. The author proposes that both social work practices are important, however, critical social work should be emphasized on more frequently, especially with groups such as the ageing population as it targets the stubborn discourses (Duffy, 2016). Mattsson broadens critical social work, by relating it to critical reflection. Critical theorists have proposed critical reflection as a method to understand how social work practices can uphold oppression due to seemingly everyday actions, words and attitudes. Therefore, this can have an implication on how social workers execute their practice, as ordinary and structural features of bureaucratic hierarchies may senselessly abide social workers to uphold and reproduce social oppression, even though they might be well-intentioned. Critical reflection

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.

The time when I received constructive criticism would be when I started my first part time job. I work at a grocery store in my home, called Country Mart. When I first started, I was not as fast as the other cashiers when it came to checking the customers out. I was still learning how to work the register. I would also get caught in conversation with the customers causing the transaction to take more time. My manager, Garry Brown, noticed this and talked with me. He commended me on being extremely social and friendly, but wanted me to limit my social interactions with the customers. Mr. Brown did not want to keep customers waiting too long while at the check outs. Mr. Brown also asked I practice on becoming faster on register. After the talk

Another skill I used was the use of silence (5:43). The use of silence is beneficial because it gives the client time to process their thoughts and can allow them to take a brief break from the work they are doing (De Jong & Berg, 2013). This was definitely a calculated response when I noticed Julia needing to think. I remember actually thinking that I needed to be quiet and let her contemplate her response. It was not easy and felt a little uncomfortable to me, but Julia noticed and expressed her gratefulness for that time in her feedback to me, which tells me I employed this skill successfully. Looking back, I would not have changed this moment and, as one who likes to fill silence with words, I am proud of

The final four competencies are linked together and appear to occur in unison seamlessly. The first of the final four competencies is engagement. Before being able to assess, intervene, and evaluate individuals, families, groups, organizations, and/or communities, social workers must first engage with clients and constituencies. Engagement allows for rapport to be developed and boundaries to be established. Furthermore, the acknowledgement of and appreciation for the power of human relationships is a fundamental to social work practice. Thus, to demonstrate my proficiency in Competency 6, I have included a interviewing skills demonstration video and a picture of the board I created for my field placement site to use at family and community engagement events.

Every worthwhile journey begins with one step. My social work journey began when I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in 2003. I thought my next step would be to immediately pursue a graduate degree. In my undergraduate career I had taken numerous classes from the College of Social and Behavioral Science and had done well in those classes. In my Social Work as a Profession course I had an assignment to shadow a social worker and write a paper about my experience. I chose to shadow my father-in-law, a social worker with over 30 years of experience, and in my paper I expressed my desire to go into the social work field. I knew I liked helping people. I knew I liked problem solving and critical thinking. I thought my 22 year-old self was ready to embark on that journey, but I wasn’t. I realize now that what I lacked at graduation was one crucial step… perspective. Over the past twelve years I have gained that much needed perspective and have taken many steps forward in my journey, and with those steps and that increased perspective, I now feel more fully prepared to begin my social work career.

In this reflection essay, I will demonstrate my learning experience in this counseling session. I will talk about my strength, weakness, verbal, nonverbal expression, including improvements needed to become more efficient in the social work profession. I will also speak about a learning tool called process recording in Social work profession. This process recording was done with the help, with my fantastic Daughter Kendra Shelton as the client and my incredible husband Michael McVay as Video Recorder /producer.

For this reflective journal, I have decided to draw parallels between approaches to social work that I have learned in my placement, and what I have learned during my academic career at Carleton University. Placement thus far, has been an eye-opening and rich experience, which has taught me about the profession that I aspire to be a part of. I am a third year student, and much of my time spent at Carleton, has been studying theories, and becoming exposed to different schools of thought. Theories are incredibly beneficial, to teach and inform the practice of the next generation of social workers. However, placement has provided me with the opportunity to apply theoretical ideals, to real life social work practice.

Understanding the context of Ms. Gilchrist’s life has allows me to make better connections with her and to see her as a human being. Thus, creating a better relationship between Ms. Gilchrist and I. As her social worker I can also explore strengths that Ms. Gilchrist has as a way of engaging and obtaining better rapport. Finn (2016) emphasizes “that each of the content areas of traditional assessments can be areas for exploring strengths as well. He offers the ROPES (resources, options, possibilities, exceptions and solutions) model as one tool for bringing strengths to bear (Finn, 2016, 277). As her social worker I can guide Ms. Gilchrist into identifying strengths that will help her re-engage with her children, motivate her to continue progressing and to increase her self-esteem. By doing strength base assessment individuals are learning their strengths and are not confined to the past and can be successful in the present (Finn, 2016).

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