The Importance Of Social Work

These competencies allow beginning social workers to gain a better understanding of what the profession entails, and how to best practice ethically and efficiently. These competencies are laid out to ensure a basic framework for the profession, and allow us to have a focus on certain aspects which are most important. It is clear these competencies interact with one another, and with the other six competencies not mentioned in this

Social work exists to provide effective social services to individuals, families, groups, communities and society so that social functioning may be enhanced and the quality of life improved. (Zastrow, 2013) Assessing my strengths and weaknesses as a social worker helps me see what I must maintain, and what I must improve on to become the kind of social worker that educates and inspires. The skills I identify with in my practice are; empathy, identifying strengths, and respect. These skill sets are vitally important to ensure clients receive the best possible outcome.

When evaluating practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities, it is necessary that Competency 2: Ethical Practice and Competency 3: Critical Thinking are taken into consideration. Competency 2 requires that social workers are able to recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice. Competency 3 requires social workers to demonstrate effective oral and written communication in working with individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, and colleagues. By following these competency skills, a social worker is able to evaluate their experience with these different populations without being bias, and can display diversity within the profession of social work.

This piece of writing is going to demonstrate an understanding of diversity, difference and also discuss the implications for social work practice. It will include an understanding of theories and concepts in relation to diversity where it will address the needs of diverse communities, individuals and groups, exploring differences in relation to culture, ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, social class and economic wellbeing. It will also demonstrate an understanding of principle of working in an anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory way.

The first competency that I was able to complete easily and successfully is number one, demonstrating ethical and professional behavior. Within this competency, I was to make good ethical decisions, use reflection and self regulation, demonstrate professional demeanor within communication, use technology ethically and appropriately and finally use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior. This competency was important because it grounded the NASW, ethics, and professionalism into my field placement and ensured that I was following these important aspects of the social work field.

A career in Social Work requires conviction to personal values that reflect and uphold the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Professional ethics are the foundation of social work, as the trade has an innate obligation to endorse ethical principles and basic values to advocate for the wellness of others. The core values adopted by all social workers, as distinguished by NASW, are service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. As a Clinical Social Worker, I will honor the NASW Code of Ethics in addition to my personal values of respect, self determination, responsibility, motivation, and wisdom. My personal values complement the NASW Code of Ethics and will resonate in my work as a social worker.

Alot of people do not notice the mammoth problem drug abuse is in the United States, and how fast it is increasing in our society. Billions of dollars are spent each year to combat drug treatment but more are spent on buying and selling narcotics. Many people think they

I began college in 2014 at the age of 58 years-old. I want to change my line of work and do something that is far more interesting to me, working within the social services field. I am sure the fact that I was brought up by two extremely dysfunctional parents and the engaged in relationships that were of that same caliber, has much to do with why I believe I have something of positive significance to offer today. In short, I married at 19 years-old and had 5 children. I married an alcoholic and abuser of all forms and although I knew he drank and was abusive, I did not understand what I was dealing with back then in 1975; I did not understand abuse then as I do today. I grew up in it; I was very accustomed to it, it was normal to me. Ten

Here comes the emotional intelligence, the need for me to show a great strength above that of service users, the need for me to build that emotional resilience in the face of adversity and diversity, the need for me to see the positive in all things. That is one of the greatest value of a social worker.

The ten BSW program competencies help BSW students analyze and evaluate professional development. These ten competencies help social work students learn and integrate the NASW Code of Ethics into the classroom and field. The first competency based on identifying as a professional social worker requires constant self- reflection to ensure the NASW Code of Ethics are being followed, and to continue to develop as a professional. I consider self-reflection to be strength of mine as I log each day, and analyze each part to evaluate my strengths and weaknesses. From my log, I know what areas I need to work on and be conscientious of. As a student new to the social work field I find professional boundaries to be a great weakness of mine. I find myself in a sort of gray area as a student intern, since I am not quite a social worker but I am more than a student. This gray area creates a dynamic which makes setting boundaries and knowing my role more difficult.

Numerous people from across the world work in many different professions. Almost all of the professions there is require workers to communicate and help people in some sort of aspect. For example, the profession of a police officer is to keep the public safe from criminal activity that may lead to harmful danger. The profession of a doctor is to keep the health from degrading for their patient. Many people who are not in these professions call for these types of people for mainly and most importantly, help with their life.

Social work within the school system is an important and necessary asset to have. It helps many students with a severity of problems that children and adolescents face, whether it be at home or at the school itself. The role of the social worker is to establish a working relationship between the school and the family. In addition, they also help make sure that the child’s needs are met, whether it be their academic achievement, social, emotional and behavioural competence. By observing the child in its environment, they establish what needs that child might have and they figure out how they can utilize that perspective on the child to ensure that they perform to the best of their abilities academically or socially. We are looking at the different polices and job duties that a social worker faces while working in a school, whether it is a child with mental health related issues or a child with learning disabilities.

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.

Law has come to play a very important part in social work practice. It can be said that the understanding of law underpins and provides duties and power, whilst understanding the statutory legal requirements is essential for effective, fair, anti-discriminatory practice (Brammer 2007). Due to the shear amount of laws and legislation that have been passed or updated over the last decade, the role of the social worker, metaphorically speaking could be said to have become somewhat of a chameleon, forever adapting to their legal environment, whilst trying hard to remain true to the traditional values of the role of a social worker. It is this conflict between law and social work values that will be analyzed in this paper. From looking at the values that underpin the modern day social worker and then looking at some of the main legislation relating to adult services such as the Mental Health Act 2007, the Community Care Act 1996, Mental Capacity Act 2005 the relationship between these Acts’ and how they sit with social work values will then be discussed.

Introspection is among one of the most difficult things that a person could ever be asked to do. I would like to think that I have a good heart and soul but in reality I have never even thought about what my values are up until I was given this prompt. A few values that I consider important are as follows: loyalty, compassion, wisdom, and peace. I feel that these closely align with the social work values of service, dignity and worth of the person, and competence. (As listed in Social Work: Becoming a Change Agent pg. 472.)