The Socially Oriented Centered Social Work

Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work’. Social work origins arise from the effects of a change to an industrial sociality and increasing impact and focus upon poverty. However it is argued that current social work practice, as illustrated by the broad definition of social work by the IFSW, finds itself expected to address wider social issues such as racism, sexism, and discrimination relating to physical or mental ability. Furthermore social work itself has changed from its origins of a charity style response to social problems of poverty. Banks (1995, p1) argues that the changes to social work have introduced different roles for different purposes of ’redistribution of resources to those in need... social control and rehabilitation of the deviant’ Banks further argues that as social work changes, the emphasis is less upon a helping relationship and more on the distribution of resources and on social control.

According to (Dulmus & Sowers, 2012, p.106), the history of social work is one of an old religiously grounded ethos of offering, aid and comfort. This shows that social work has been around for quite a long time, helping the unfortunate and it has developed more throughout these past centuries. The profession was largely shaped by Westerns idea and events. (Chenoweth &McAuliffe, 2015, p.32). The ideas and events included could have been war, poverty and other social reforms. That is when social welfare was needed to give aid and help solve these issues. Social work largely expanded in England in the 16th during the Elizabethan poor laws and later on in America between 17 and 18th century (Dulmus & Sowers, p.6). This essay is going to focus on how social work has evolved or changed for the better from the 1960s till present.

On the other hand, in trying to establish and explore linkages and applications for social work, Besthorn (2001), broadly describes the manner in which humanity defines and shapes individuals in the society on nature. The article incorporates and links necessary knowledge on transpersonal psychology and deep ecological philosophy to resolve various challenges affecting humankind in the current millennium. In conclusion, the article suggests a Trans/ecological approach to social work and the expected shifts in social work theory and practice.

When working in a field of expertise the experts in that area need to know what defines that field. Social work, with its roots over a hundred years old, started out simply offering assistance to others, has grown and changed, and is currently reconnecting with its roots (Bisman, 2004). Bisman (2004) emphasizes the importance of being an advocate of justice and keeping the field focused on the “social” part of social work. This push to keep social work focused on the needs of others defines social work today. Social work focuses on providing aide to the needy and increasing awareness of those that are oppressed.

I believe that Carniol’s view of social work is appropriate and timely. For the profession that is trained to analyze and address social problems, it is unfortunate that we have not established our mark as champions of oppressed and/or its voice in policy making. We have not embedded in the consciousness of the public that we are the experts on these matters. There are many reasons for this. One of the reasons is that we have allowed ourselves to be oppressed and have failed to change the system that oppressed us. Also, most of the social workers are trained in and practicing conventional approach that limits their attention to the client and his/her immediate environment.

Taken as an integrated portion of the ecological perspective, in terms of the person-in-environment, the strengths perspective can nest comfortably in the practice of macro, mezzo, and micro social work. Furthermore, the strengths perspective with its Aristotelian roots encourages self-determination, independence, and accountability (Grey, 2009). Taken as a whole however, the strengths perspective tries to harmonize the client social worker relationship, which is likely improbable in

According to Gardiner and Kosmitzki (2008), most recently the ecological perspective has become a leading approach towards addressing the relationships among persons and environment. In Essentials of Human Behavior, Hutchinson (2013) uses a multidimensional approach to better understand social work practice. Using this approach, one can analyze the connection between a client’s person, such as psychologically or biologically, a client’s environment, such as families or communities, and a client’s time, such as their linear time in past, present, or future. Specifically analyzing the environmental component, Uri Bronfenbrenner’s (1999) ecological perspective identifies four levels of systems a client may be associated with: microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, and macrosystems.

Social work has long recognized the relationship between the behavior of an individual and the environment in which the individual interacts (Hutchison, 2008). Human behavior theories offer a framework to organize, interpret and understand this relationship (Hutchison, 2008). For this case study, the following three theories will be examined for relevancy: Life cycle theory, role theory and resiliency theory.

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 ecological perspective uses biological theories to metaphor the interchange between the persons and their environment. They live in places with a greater emphasis on individuals and separate family systems against a broader perspective in general. This is essential to social work theory and practice regardless of other methods that have adhered to their practices. In the distinct personality of a person's will adaptation and interaction with people, they meet with each other's in their own environment over time.

My clear and definite understanding of critical theories and postmodern thoughts provides me significant and appropriate frameworks to practice as a progressive social worker in Canadian context (Morley, 2003). My exploration of reflective practice and the fundamentals of critical self reflection approach enhanced my understanding of specific client situations. Moreover, my learning about anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice helps me to identify socially constructed structural factors which are oppressive in various clientele circumstances (Hickson, 2011). All the above mentioned understandings are merely new to me in terms of practice. I have emphasized more on the principles and guidelines of “ecologically oriented”, “competence-cantered” social work practice in back home. My assessments and interventions in the community mental health practices were to modify the environment, provide support and enhance the strengths and potentialities of the client. I have never focused on the oppressive structural factors like “poverty”, “bureaucratic dominance”, “race”, “religion”, “gender”, “power imbalance”, “class”, “economic barriers”, and “status quo” (Morley, 2003). And I found that all my new learnings are very important as a social work practitioner.

In the generalist social work practice, a social worker is a change agent due to the expansive and complex umbrella of social and human services and roles. A change agent works to promote positive changes for the well-being of an individual, family, group, organization or community. In order to fulfill the tasks of a social worker, one should be trained and equipped with a wide variety of skills: such as setting appropriate boundaries, possessing and utilizing self-awareness and the ability to counsel or advocate for clients. In addition to many skills, the generalist social work practice includes a surplus of methods to either prevent or intervene when necessary. A method often utilized by social workers is the person-in-environment conceptualization. The person-in-environment perspective considers factors, such as familial or economic, beyond the individual to better understand the client’s behaviors or situation. Another method is the strengths perspective. The strength-based perspective focuses on the client’s or client system’s positive qualities to build upon those capabilities. And the recognition of strengths helps to achieve goals in a more client-led approach. Generalist practitioners are professionals with a wide range of knowledge and a repertoire of diverse skills in order to enhance the social functioning of all within society.

However the ecological system theory concept is quiet interesting when linking it with the social work profession and it is a major aspect in understanding the developmental history of an individual. Because the environment as a way of influencing the outcome of people, we keep on hearing stories of how some people are ready to run away from a particular environment, due to how unproductive it has been for them to grow usefully.

The purpose for this assignment is to highlight the main features of one social worker method. Within this essay, I will include social work intervention prior to the introduction of task-centred practice. This will provide an insight in to why task-centred methods were introduced. I will also portray the strengths and weaknesses of task-centred practice. The essay will also depict the underlying theory that underpins task-centred practice in relation to social work. I will endeavour to critically analyse the effectiveness of this approach. I will then compare this approach with crisis intervention and provide an analysis of the similarities between them. Throughout this assignment I will incorporate anti-discriminative and anti-oppressive

In the Macro level of social work, communities are the primary settings for human behavior. Communities are clusters of people who have something in common. A major social work perspective views communities as entities where citizens can organize or be organized in order to address mutual concerns and improve their over-all quality of life. Throughout this paper I will discuss four conceptual perspectives of communities. I will cover the following, Human Ecology, Socio-Psychological, Structural, and Functionalist.