Social Work Reflective Essay

Evidently, as a professional counselor and an educated person, my view of this debate is that both empirical and applied knowledge is important. They help the counselor to understand the client’s problems and guide the client to find solutions, during this process, the counselor comes to experience the

Having the opportunity to hear from a variety of professionals in the social work field was the perfect addition to our course syllabus as many of my classmates are approaching their helping careers. For me personally, these speakers were able to reinforce what I desire to study during graduate school. The speakers were also able to provide me with different avenues I may want to study or pursue for a job opportunity once I have my masters degree.

When applying to the social work program I knew that it would be a rigorous curriculum. I also knew that I had to also mentally prepared myself for the demands of the program. Over the past year, now I have been so challenged in school and have learned so much from the MSW program. When finishing my first year of grad school I felt confident and excited about entering my second year. I was even excited about starting to do therapy despite of knowing it would not be easy. Therefore, I knew that I would just have to try my best to put into practice my therapeutic skills. My passion has always been working with children and families, therefore, felt so thrilled to start this new journey as I knew I could possibly make a difference in someone’s

Theory to Practice predicts the respondent 's ability to see the practical implications of generalizations as well as the concepts reflected by specific practices.

This section of the paper will discuss the definition of social work, values associated with social work and arguments for and against the use of systems theory in social work practice. Social work can be described as a field of study that encompasses individuals and their environment. Social work can be defined as work trained professionals do to elevate stressors of individuals so they may become more self-sufficient and empowered to live to their fullest potential.

The journey towards the attainment of the Bachelor of the social work degree has been an enlightening and educational experience, as the individual is exposed to the realities of many social and political issues in the society. As a student, I ventured into the degree, with minimal insight as to how the degree can influence and shape the way I perceive the social world, and the way I relate these matters to myself. However, throughout my endeavour, which encompasses years of theoretical studies, and two intensive placements at two drastically different organisations, I believe I have accumulated the bare minimal knowledge to possess a solid foundation about the unfairness and inequality that people in disadvantaged conditions face. Social workers are predominantly found in welfare organisations which Howe (as cited in Limber, 2015) suggested largely influences the practice, direction and values of the social worker, and impacts on their ability to act autonomously (Lymbery, 2015). During my placements, there was a dominant theme that frequently stood out and enticed my attention. This was the accepted practice of focusing on the individual’s problem, as opposed to the social problems that existed and the lack of acknowledgement about the social restrictions of the human agency that limited self-determination. The realization that organisations were managed this way was important in ensuring that I made a proactive effort to understand and untangle the reasons behind such

In this essay I will discuss what learning from K216 materials has been useful to me whilst working with vulnerable and/or disadvantaged service users in my student placement, and what learning I have applied to my practice. Throughout I will look at how my learning informed what I decided to do, how I went about doing this and my understanding of the practice. I will discuss learning in respect of two areas of social work, which are ‘Communication’ and ‘Working collaboratively’. For ‘Communication’ I will focus on communication with service users with disabilities and/ or additional needs and I will explore a case of a mother who I had a telephone call with who was in crisis and in a highly emotional state. With ‘Working collaboratively’,

Applying evidenced-based practice has three steps. Step one is making sure the research is creditable. Going into detail about step one should model a social work practice. In a social work practice, you always want to make sure you are looking for clarity and in some cases it helps to paraphrase it or reword it differently. As a social worker you have to be non-judgmental and try to understand every perspective. You have to be unbiased when it comes to wording and how it affects the meaning of the conversation. Also, making sure the research on the surveys or interviews are fair and represent the entire population. The second step is when you match your outcome of the research in your own “practice wisdom." As a social worker you want to compare the research you made with prior experience. You want to have different perspective and information that help you understand the client better. Lastly, the last step is to ask questions to the clients about their significance of what they have accomplished by working with you. Just asking what the client has learned can help

Ms. Apple is a 45 year old African American woman who has been a widow for about 4 years. Ms. Apple has three children, whose ages range from 5-12 years old. Ms. Apple has been struggling to keep her family afloat since the death of her husband. Ms. Apple convinced herself that she would not require the extra assistance. However, she realized in attempting to provide alone has not only become very strenuous, but also quite costly. Expenses have become overwhelming for Ms. Apple to maintain, since her husband took care of the finances and was the breadwinner for the family. Ms. Apple has minimal education as she is able to read and write at grade school level. Ms. Apple also has never been employed as she was a home maker. At this

In my position as a family facilitator working with families through their reunification process, I tried to decrease my power. I do by using power with methods for them to advocate for themselves, promoting their self-esteem, and embracing their self-determination in meetings with their social worker. I held clients prepare for case planning meetings by creating lists of concerns they had, questions they wanted to ask, sharing accomplishments they felt, and their plans for moving forward. Rather than dictating what I thought these were based on their case, and my observations all power was given to the clients in this regard. During the meetings, the client was in charge of the direction it went, and running it. As a facilitator, I did not create the agenda for the meetings, or

I agree that using both evidence based and common factors approach as social workers is important. By combining both approaches in a clients treatment, I think it will help provide him or her with a unique intervention that can be appreciated. It helps when a social worker takes the time to understand the client as an individual because it makes it more comfortable for the client to respond to the overall treatment.

My feeling about EBP is that it is a necessity to learn and implement into social workers practice. According to the textbook "EBP is a process for making practice decisions in which practitioners integrate the best research evidence available with their practice expertise and with client attributes, values, preferences, and circumstances."(Rubin & Bellamy, 2012, p. 7). It makes sense for social work students to be required to learn the approach to this practice because it's a tool that every social worker should or will have to utilize at some time in their career. When I hear EBP I think about researching previously used interventions that fit the client values, ideas and what would the client benefit the most from. At my internship, I have

It iseems my understanding that social work theory informs a Wyatt to make sense from complex behavior. It's a lens to make sense out of the things of the human condition. Practice theory integrate components of developmental and personality theory. This theory focuses on why the person is having specific problems and how the problems can be resolved. Theories explain certain behaviors and help social worker to assess, evaluate and develop self-awareness. Social work theory and practice both work along with one another. Essentially, theories shape practice and practice shapes theory.

The social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), once wrote: “There is nothing as practical as a good theory”. According to this saying we tend to consider theory very important and that it can be helpful to guide us on the correct way. This doesn’t state that practice is not important as well. Therefore using a good balance between theory and practice can help to save cost and time.

As the saying goes, “Our children are our future” and who you are as a child can determine who you can be later on in life. It is important for a child to be in a safe, comfortable and loving environment during its development so that the child can have the full advantage to become the best he can be in his future. My future career as a social worker will ensure just that. I chose this profession because of my own history. Growing up, I’ve had my share of social workers in my house. I experienced them as people who helped my family during a hard time. This is a career where I can fight for people’s rights. I will also be able to protect