Social Work Reflection

The National Association of Social Work (NASW) has identified a set of values that all social workers must consider during the course of their work (NASW, 2008). Social work values are broadly covered when you define social work as being a profession of aiding those in need and addressing oppression. Helping those in need directly relates to the value of supporting the needs of others. The definition also addresses the importance of bringing awareness to oppression. This relates to the values of addressing injustice, individuality and promoting harmony. On a broader perspective, all social workers are encouraged to continually pursue knowledge in their area and maintain ethical practices. Values have the purpose of ensuring that helpers always strive for what is best for the client. Manning (1997) points out that “the power to intervene in people’s lives carries

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.

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

The readings assigned to this class are interesting and the author of the book Human Behavior for Social work Practice a Developmental-Ecological Framework does a good job on different topics. For example in the book Haight and Taylor discuss the Historical context of social work in the United States stating that “Social work originated in volunteer efforts to address issues resulting from the paradox increasing poverty in the increasingly productive and prosperous economies of Europe and North America” (Height, 2016, p. 4) I think that the book does acknowledge that the prosperity of these countries are based on the industrialized economies that took place in that time, but at the same time I think that if the social work profession was created with an economic system that impoverished people and we still have the same economic system and we still see people falling through the cracks as I see it on my practicum site where there are several patients that ended up in the ER because they were trying to take on their lives because life is too much for them. These clients do not have a place to live, they do not have jobs, they are mentally ill, and they lost their families. So if we still see people going under a great deal of stress and facing life in a different way that the elite people do, how can we say that the system works if we see that the system only works for some millionaires but for the majority of the population do not work.

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

Reflection at its most basic principle "provides us with an opportunity to review our decisions and decision-making processes" however, in practice, reflection is a far broader and contextual concept, it is about understanding a person’s life and the actions they have taken throughout their lives. (Nussbaum 1997).Reflective practice first emerged from the work of a man called Donald Schon, having found that there appeared to be a gap between theory and putting it into practice (Fook 2006a: 441). He went on to state that reflective practice is a way of improving professional practice, through critically evaluating how we respond to practice situations and being self-aware (Mezirow 1991). Whereas reflection is applicable in all aspects of living (Fook 2006a).

When I first entered the field of social work at Southwest Mississippi Community College, I was clueless as to what the social work profession entailed. At Southwest MS Community College, we mostly focused on perquisites and a few classes related to family. After, leaving Southwest MS Community College and entering Jackson State University, I realized my previous college did not teach me anything relating to the field of social work. However, my entry in my first class Ethics and Values at Jackson State University taught me about the six core values in social work, such as service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity and competence. Upon, my entry into JSU, Bachelors of Social Work (BSW) program, I understood that social work was not about assisting only children. There is masses of people who need, social workers to advocate for better housing, food, medical care and other basic necessities to survive everyday life.

Social work refers to the profession in which there is a “distinctive emphasis... on the interface between individuals and their social environment” (Toseland & Rivas, 2005, p. 5). The profession was created as a response to a need or concern (Johnson & Yanca, 2010, p. 4). Common human needs include: food, shelter, clothing, health care, opportunities for emotional and intellectual growth, as well as meaningful relationships (Johnson & Yanca, 2010, p. 6). As Johnson and Yanca (2009) state, social work is only one of several social functioning professions and continues to develop from influences from the past and present (p. 10). The profession itself mainly focuses on social welfare, as its purpose is to “promote human and community well-being” (Schriver, 2011, p. 3).

Many experts call social workers the “jack of all trades” of the modern society. This comes from the fact that these professionals assist their clients in almost every accept of life. For one thing, they promote good mental health since they can help patients with psychological conditions and substance abuse problems. They can also help in improving physical wellbeing since they can guide their clients to the right healthcare facility and assist them in obtaining financial help to fund their treatment. Of course, they can help people who are going through socio-economic difficulties by steering them to organizations who can best assist with their financial needs.

We are the present. The future is our children. We all have some child(ren) in our lives whom we love dearly and would probably die for them. They are our future. Many of those children need help; mental, emotional, and physical help. If these children do not receive help, our future will be worse than the present is now. Social workers can help fix that. In the last paper, I addressed the issue of social status/work. The work status fluctuates greatly pending on the field of discussion and the discussion this time is on Social Workers. Social work is a “professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and enhance wellbeing of individuals, families, couples, groups, and communities through research, policy planning, community development, direct practice, crisis intervention, ensuring social welfare and security for those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, psychosocial care to mentally and physically disabled, and raising voices against social injustice for social reforms, including social actions against violations of civil liberties and human rights.” In other words, social work is work carried out by trained personnel with the aim of alleviating the conditions of those in need of help or welfare. When I say, “in need of help” I’m talking about that mental, physical, and emotional help that was mentioned earlier. In other words, social workers go through hell and back to achieve their mission of helping a

Social workers observe first-hand the struggle the clients who lack the resources for maintaining the basic needs for themselves and their families face. As a future social worker, one would need to advocate for clients to receive access to social work services. Social workers will need to get the resources, work with other agencies whose responsibilities are to serve the needs of the population are ways to advocate for the rights of individuals. There are many of ways to advance, for communities and society as a whole social worker would need to advocate in another way. Through group advocacy and community organizing. As one people would come together and make up a plan of activities that address the social problems, improve services and enhance

I was in grade 10 when I thought of becoming a social worker. As social worker practitioner the fields that interest me to work in is domestic violence and child abuse because I want to make change to the society. Also Mahatma Gandhi was my major inspiration through this quote “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Than an idea came to me, why not involve my contribution to the wide variety of communities. My communication with school counsellors and social workers has impacted my choice of desiring to study social work. I realised that if I have had a chance of seeing a social worker when I was young, things would have been much easier and less stressful. I want to provide opportunities that I did not encounter to other people. This essay will reflect my past experience, motivation and why I want to be a social worker, values, beliefs and theory of practice.

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.

In completing this essay an opportunity was given to visit a social service agency to interview a social worker. The interview will focus on the educational background of the social worker, job duties, training, funding, organization structure, target population, recommended opportunities for growth, and the correlation between social work and course work.

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