Social Work Reflection

Starting my career as a social worker and working with children and families is where I feel as though I belong. I have the compassion, the drive and the withstanding endurance to make the area of child and family social work my passion. Working with children requires patience, dedication, resilience and so many other trusting characteristics. Relationships within children’s immediate families have a profound impact on their state of being. Becoming a child and family social worker is undeniably tough and arduous work but the reward of seeing families meet their set goals and becoming a stronger more united family unit come to fruition surpasses anything else. When I become a child and family social worker, my job days will be over and my career starts. Going to worker everyday knowing that I’m making a difference will be the best feeling. A great person once said, “It’s your mistakes that make you human, and it’s your humanity that makes you influential.”

I envision myself assisting children and teens of troubled and abusive past, showing them that they do have a choice, that there are myriad options available to them. Their cycle of abuse will end, no more will they be told they are less than someone, less than a dream they dream. There is no better way to break that cycle, then with someone who has been in that precise spot. I aim to maintain a constant and consistent path to Social work. I want to continue gaining the valuable insights into the work of clinicians, to see what I can do to make a chance, to help contribute to the difference they

The social worker in this story had many different responsibilities and roles while working in the ER at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. His responsibilities include having to put the puzzle pieces together of who the victim is as they are being treated. This is often a taunting task because the staff is in a rush. The Social worker has to find clues like driver listens or anything else that will allow them to better understand who they are working with. Her responsibilities don't stop there. He was also responsible for working with the victims family to ensure that they were informed and comfortable.

Social work professions need to understand the importance of how individuals interact both with other people and their environment, to have an understanding how individuals are affected by these interactions (Rogers, p. 2). According to Rogers (2016), “Social workers are knowledgeable about human behavior across the life course; the range of social systems in which people live; and the ways social systems promote or deter people in maintaining or achieving health and well-being. Social workers apply theories and knowledge from the liberal arts to understand biological, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development (p. 2). Their work with clients begins with assessments to evaluations of intervention and is based in and supports of the core value system of the profession.

For this assignment, I decided to interview my aunt because she has been a social worker for about thirty years, and has a lot of experience. She attended Dominican college in Orangeburg, New York where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She then went to graduate school at Montclair State in New Jersey where she received her master’s in psychology. After this, she decided to go back to school for her MSW, which she received from SUNY Albany. Since she graduated, the only profession she has worked in is social work, and she is now a licensed clinical social worker. She loves what she does and is glad that she made the decision to become a social worker.

My passion for helping the vulnerable is one reason I ‘am inspired to become a social worker. I also want to be available to provide support to those who have nowhere else to turn. My experience in social work has taught me to celebrate the small victories towards positive changes. I look forward to gaining the skills and knowledge to aid me in becoming a successful social worker.

As the term comes to an end I realize that my understand of social work has changed and that I have a lot more learning to do, learning which will span the rest of my life. Social work is more than helping, to me it is about making sacrifices to better the lives of

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

During this time, I expect to learn and gain hands-on social work experience in the field. Also, I want to learn how to use and apply social theory into my practice. I want to build and gain the relationship with my field/task supervisors and colleagues. Moreover, I want to gain the opportunity to develop the personal and professional identity. Lastly, I will learn how to use my experience from my practicum setting to practice in the social work field in the future.

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

Every piece is important ranging from how they got here to what they know about their conditions and the resources they have available to them. The social worker must be culturally competent and understand at least the basics of their background, cultural, beliefs, values, and religion. This will greatly help the worker find the right interventions and resources to solve problems they are facing. The next step is to accurately assess the individual they are working with, there are many assessment tools that can be used it depends on the clients needs of what kind will be

Social workers hold themselves to high standards because they have a lot of responsibilities toward their clients and the agency they work for. A social worker must be aware of services that their agency provides and what they do not. They then must be aware of other agencies or programs they can connect their clients to if they need extra services. Finally a social worker must know their client to be able to help them to their fullest extent.

However, they learn the different theories, principles and skills in which is better to follow when dealing with specific cases but sometimes a case may come their way that critical thinking may need to be applied with theories we have learnt. The skills social worker has is the ability to take excellent notes is extremely important as you listen to your clients and colleagues and develop interventions and strategies. Being organized is very important as you will often be asked to multi-task and the ability to prioritize which work is required to be done in which order is extremely important. Understanding

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.

Social Work is a field of interest to me because of the positive effort it contributes to society. Within the social work profession individuals are striving to improve the welfare of those in need of assistance. Social Workers assist a variety of individuals; from children, young adolescents, older adults, mentally ill, substance abuse individuals, and many other minorities; as in LGBT members, veterans, homeless people, and low socioeconomic status individuals. The broad mix population fascinates me because within this field one will always be able to work in a flexible environment. Social Work is used in multiple settings as in hospitals, nursing skilled homes, mental health and substance abuse clinics, schools, correctional facilities, community centers, child welfare agencies, employee assistance programs, and private practices.