As emerging community practitioners, it is important to have a strong sense of self in order to interact with individuals and communities in an authentic manner (Pyles, 2016, p. 23). A thorough understanding of self can also be used when deciding tactics to address micro and macro issues within different communities. Tactical self awareness involves the ability to know one’s own organizing strengths and when to utilize planning and additional supports to effectively work through roles we may feel uncomfortable or weak in (Burghardt, 2014, p. 78). Through the course of this paper I will discuss my working strengths and efficient ways to adapt my specific personality and organizing weaknesses to best respond to varying situations. This will be examined through my professional aspirations, attitude towards authority, and reflections upon my past work experiences. I will also discuss the struggles I have with my social identity as a white professional working in poor communities of color, and the potential ways I can use my understanding of privilege and oppression to become an effective organizer and accomplice. Before I am able to dissect my own behavior, it is important to understand how varying personality styles can be associated with different organizing situations. As described by Burghardt (2014), organizing tactics exist on a spectrum between process and task orientations. While on one end, task oriented people focus on achieving goals in formal and impersonal meetings
This assignment aims to identify self-awareness as an important attribute for nurses. I aim to achieve this by exploring why self-awareness is important and the impact it can have on nursing professionals. Finally there will be a conclusion with a thorough justification on why self-awareness is an important life skill for nurses.
Self-Awareness, self-concept and emotional intelligence are effective managerial concepts that will result in leadership success. According to Stanford University, having these soft skills are indispensable traits that good managers should develop to be successful leaders. Managers strive to become aware of who they are, what their values, attitudes, skills, and abilities are. These values drive them to achieve and will eventually result in them become more effective. (Showry & Manasa, 2014, p. 15)
I am a Member of the Toronto Police Black Community Constitutive Committee (BCCC), where my main role is educating the police on strategies to engage with the youths, adding an anti-oppressive lens. Am also the Vice Chair of the Social Work Students’ Union; and a mentor, and lead mentor in the Tri-Mentoring program. I have made a personal vow to help create a legacy of change and a sense of community where everyone is welcomed, loved and accepted. I am motivated and driven to help the Social Work program and the Faculty of community, achieve our vision, which is to challenge the status quo and create meaningful change.
Anti-racist practice consists of being able to actively and honestly explore who you are, what you stand for and where you are situated in terms of social location, what has advantaged and disadvantaged you and how you found the strength to overcome those challenges (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, pp. 133). To further explain, our “social location further gives us an understanding of ourselves in terms of our ethno culture, gender, age, socioeconomic, class, ability and other characteristics and critically examine how these have advantages or disadvantaged us in our needs and life chances” (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, pp. 132). It is important to ask ourselves these questions as social workers so we can uncover any unresolved biases we have in ourselves. The anti-racist approach to social work involves how social workers deal with attitudes and practices that promote prejudice and discrimination. Thus, an anti-racist
In America, our self-image is undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of our daily lives. In an ever-changing world, we are constantly working in the lens of which we believe the world sees us. But is this true of all people? Disparities in self-perception between different groups of people can easily be detected through cultural psychology (Heine, Takemoto, Moskalenko, Lasaleta & Henrich, 2008). Perception, especially self-perception, can vary vastly from one culture to another. One perspective that drove home this idea was the thinking that East Asian’s attempt to place their concern with self-concept in the hands of the people around them, as opposed to some other cultures that can be found to focus more prominently on
As health professionals, it is important to constantly be self-aware and to discover new truths about oneself. Jourard (1971) stated that lack of personal awareness can lead to a feeling of vulnerability when approached by patients expressing feelings, due to the fear of not knowing how to respond in an appropriate way. By having self-awareness, the sources of limitations that have the tendency to cause anxiety can be identified, so forward planning can be prepared to reduce or eliminate the impact this may have on performing activities and approaches to patients. Certain individuals utilise different techniques to minimise anxiety such as deep-breathing exercises or thinking of the positive outcome that comes once the source of fear or anxiety is overcame. Meanwhile, others prefer being critiqued, since it allows areas within practise needing improvements to be highlighted and alternatives to be considered.
In conceptualizing diversity, a social worker needs to adopt an extensive social background that includes institutional or structural arrangements, identify the connection of multiple identities, and incorporate an unequivocal social justice course (Ortiz & Jani, 2010). Conflict theory informs advocacy efforts, policy formulations, and macro-level practice, striving to end oppression and discrimination (Hutchison, 2013). A social worker explains persistent social inequality and social conflict in the effort to help a client rise up against oppression in the critical race theory. These theories emphasize the impact of power structure, power differentials, and institutionalized inequality on individual lives versus internal
One of the most challenging professions for African American males is social work. As a social worker, I have realized that I have to work under two domains. The first one is to work under the race identity and the second one is to work as a class identity. Although I am proud of being an African American, I usually feel sorry for myself being from unprivileged social class in the American society. The identity of being an African American male has affected my social work in many aspects. This is because it has made it impossible to carry out my professional duties because of negative perspectives and discrimination in the society. African American social workers are considered to be incompetent by the rest of the society hence making it impossible to delegate duties without any form of discrimination. This paper provides my own reflections as an African American male in the field of social work and how this identity has affected my practice in community work and advocacy duties.
The beginning keynote speaker for the Social Work Teach-In, Reverend Douglas VanDoren, made a compelling speech on the concepts of racism and how White privilege contributes to the increased oppression of certain vulnerable populations. A statement that he made that resonated with me was, “We should see the difference in color. We should not be colorblind.” He made it clear to his audience that each of us should recognize the differences that individuals have and the cultural norms that they possess. With each person’s differences, there is a chance that communities will need to recognize the resources that are now necessary and what positive aspects different cultures could bring to community involvement.
On this day our guest speakers were a group of community activist, mental health workers, and a few professors. For the hour we discussed intersectional systems of oppression that affect black women (and people of color), ways as activist that we may combat these inequalities, and the psychological impact of unbalanced power structures create for the individual.The discussion was thought-provoking; as always, however I found myself in a conundrum.
Self-awareness and the use of self is a key component in social work practice. Depending upon how one integrates their personal being and accompanying thoughts, experiences, emotions, and consciousness into the helping profession has a profound impact on whether that integration is positive or negative, particularly when it comes to that of one’s relationships with their clients. While remaining impartial is often critical to effective social work practice, the complete separation of self from one’s professional practice is not only impossible to realize, but would arguably have less of a meaningful impact with one’s relations with clients as well as self. Understanding the use of self and the importance of self-awareness in the social work profession is the first step in establishing a healthy means of practicing and the impact that our own individuality has when interacting with clients. In this paper I will analyze, and further critically reflect upon, four academic journals on the topic of the use of self in social work; later applying this learning to an experience from my field placement.
An anti-racist organization, institution, system, or setting is not one in which racism is absent, rather it is one that takes a stand against racism and involves various stakeholders in the involvement and commitment to strong anti-racism visions (Ontario Human Rights Commission [OHRC], 2005). Furthermore, the experience of racism is not homogenous as racialization can look different from city to city and each community has its unique needs and priorities and resources (OHRC, 2010). Therefore, allowing community organizations to take leadership roles and have the power to adapt and deliver the program ensures that the social integration of ethno-racial and culturally diverse groups occurs while considering the local context.
This part will discuss self-awareness and continuous self-development through analyzing a number of prior researches, then come up with the link of them to support my role as a manager in the future.
Harro's recommended activities of self-assessment are valuable and informative, yet her idealistic vision of their result is feeble and does not have a genuine cognizance of history, the worldwide political economy we live in today. It's an intriguing life, being both an operators/overwhelming individual from society and a subordinate/target part all the while. I am a female, black, common laborer (working class), American, getting an education on trusts obtained from sally Mae. In numerous regards I am fortunate and in numerous regards I am constrained. My attention to these things does not expel me from the constraints of my existence. Mindfulness absolutely may shape my objectives and choices however it doesn't uniquely focus the result
When introducing the concept of self-consciousness, it can be very difficult for individuals to understand that there are many forms of self-consciousness. Many already have a definition in mind as soon as they hear the word self-consciousness. It is made up of many concepts because it isn’t just a cognitive state, rather, many cognitive states. The mind processes many things as opposed to just knowing things. Humans are capable of doing and desiring many things while self-evaluating and questioning oneself. Everyone is able to consider their own actions and to think about themselves. When thinking, humans are able to consider ideas and depictions regarding the self and others. Regarding oneself allows for evaluating self-worth in refinement to common social roles (Bermudez).