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.

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

Setting a boundary is an important core value in the field of social work. According to the Social Work Code of Ethics, “social workers should provide and represent themselves as competent only within the boundaries of their education, training, license, certification, consultation received, supervised experience, or other relevant professional experience” (Code of Ethics of the NASW). Professional helpers are generally compassionate people, but they also need to recognize the value of setting limits. This was the case when I worked as an adjunct instructor, which included providing individual tutoring. Sara Towns (name changed), a student and distant cousin, evoked the possible clouding of boundaries. For new social workers, this kind of reflection may be helpful as they define their roles. Through a series of professional and personal experiences with Sara, I learned that boundaries must be maintained to foster a positive relationship and prevent potential conflicts.

Reflecting on what you have learned in Generalist Social Work Practice, what have you found to be your strengths?

My interest in the social work profession became apparent during the fall semester of my junior year when I was enrolled in Social Work 205 and sociology. I had finally found subjects that I thoroughly enjoyed and academically excelled in. The events and experiences in my past and the current activities in which I am involved, have helped me narrow my studies to solely social work and has took part in shaping my hopes and plans for my first entry-level position in my chosen career after receiving my degree from WKU.

In previous seminar readings and classes, we have learned that it is always best to take some time after session to review and reflect on what happen. It is important to self-reflect in our responses as well. There have been cases where I have been able to stop myself from proceeding in committing the social work pitfalls. Learning to conceptualize these actions/mistakes has given me a bit more of awareness in what my responses could mean and how they can be perceived. It is important for me to learn from my past pitfalls and also play out what I should have done instead and also what should do next time in case I am in a similar situation. This a way I can recover to improve my skills as a competent social worker. I feel like it is also good for recovery to acknowledge that these pitfalls are common and we can best overcome them when learn from it.

I have almost 18 years of full time experience as a Youth Outreach Worker I and working with at-risk high impacted gang-intentional youth in proving intervention services starting in 1998 with the City of San Jose Mayor’s Intervention Project PRIDE Programs. I provided mobile street Outreach and provided citywide gang mediation and intervention services to all the City of San Jose schools and gang impacted neighborhoods citywide. My service target was at risk gang impacted /intentional youth to try to deter them from taking part in delinquent/gang behavior and lifestyles. I also facilitated gang awareness presentations to Community groups, parent groups and service provider programs. Attended school safety meetings and receive individual referrals from law enforcement, schools, and community-based organizations.

This class/semester is halfway through, and I started to make plans to continue my education at Aurora University. I applied for the Advanced Master program of Social Work at Aurora University; I was accepted first by a notification of an email from the school. Then I attended the Master Program for Social Work orientation. I registered as a new student and received my paperwork making myself eligible to register for my classes that will be starting in January 2018. I can’t express the feeling of accomplishment and joy I felt after completing the next step in my journey.

My internship was at Mindful Soul Center for Wellbeing. The setting I worked in was extremely inviting and the entire staff was wonderful. When I started at Mindful Soul I signed a confidentiality form and was introduced to some of the staff. I was given videos and literature that were important to the staff at Mindful Soul, and that embodied the attitude at the private practice. I watched Brené Brown’s TED talks on vulnerability, as well as talks about Infidelity and childhood trauma. When learning about childhood trauma I was also introduced to Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scores and saw how Mindful Soul personally uses them when assessing clients.

When I asked five people what social work was, I got a variety of responses ranging from family to financial helpers. As Ira Colby says (2010), “the profession is a diverse one, and diversity means that the roles and tasks that social workers perform are varied and often poorly defined” (p. 8). This certain reflects when most people are asked, for example a friend of mine named Raven said at first that she “did not know,” then added after pausing for a minute “they go to people's houses to make sure their kids aren’t abused. They make sure kids are in a safe environment.” She was confused by the question at first and took several moments to put together a response. When I asked my mother she said that social work means “serving families that

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.

To be honest I was quite shocked that around 87% of “the variability in therapeutic outcomes is associated with client and external or situational factors” (Cournoyer, 2017, p.32). After reflecting on this I realized how embarrassed I was of my ignorance, for I feel as though it implies that I thought, albeit unconsciously, that I inherently had more power than my future clients. This conflicts with my enduring stance against the word “helping” when it comes to social work practice, because I feel as though this word implies that the social worker is better than the client, that the social worker is doing the client a favor. I prefer the words “working with” the client, because I believe this establishes a mutual, respectful relationship between the social worker and client, which in turn will provide better outcomes for both individuals involved. Therefore, I vow from this moment on to never ignore the person-in-environment principle when working with and on behalf of clients. Acknowledging and understanding the external environmental, both physical and social, that the client operates in is essential if we wish to bring about positive social change.

It is pertinent to be aware of the disturbing and heartbreaking reality of the cases that we as social workers would come across. I have been working in social services for about a year and a half, and I work with some severe cases that I have had a reaction too but never to a point I am crying after reading my clients backgrounds. This class load of case studies has elicited emotions from me especially the Geraldine case. This is my first time dissecting a case where I have to understand more of the client background to make decisions for what is best for her. Furthermore, reading into the case and learning the details of Geraldine having to be in the house when her mother is killed and how she vividly describes the setting and sounds, of the scene sends chills through my body. I could only empathize with how she feels losing a mother. I could only imagine how lost and empty I will feel if not only I lost my mother but I was there when it happens. Additionally, it saddens me when she makes the statement that God will protect her and she believes her mom would yet again survive the abuse. I personally am a strong believer in God and I count on him to guide me in the direction he wants me to follow. I constantly tell myself when negative problems occur that it is all in God hands but there has been instances that has made me question why he have inflicted pain on me by the causes of situations in my life. In like manner, I could feel Geraldine pain as I am reading the