VALUES IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE

Iruonagbe, Chiazor, & Ajayi (2013) beautifully described the sentiments of my heart regarding family making mention it is not only the oldest social institution, but indeed the most important. The responsibilities of families are great ranging from guidance, to support, and more importantly it gives the individual a sense of belonging and commitment. My personal value as a social worker is family is a bond that is not to be broken. When one of us is made weak, the other steps in and pick up the pieces. We are guided by love respect and sacrifice. I come from a strong background of caregivers. I have watched my mother care for her elderly mother until she took her last breath, or family unable to care for their child and most assuredly another member will raise that child. In like manner of Mrs. Vishnick being a widow myself I bore the responsibility of my children and applaud her for doing the same. I understand she is 87 years of age, and her adult daughter has a mental disability, still I am empathic to her situation. In my culture, it is expected other members will step in as no one is a throw away. Mrs. Vishnick should not have to carry the burden alone. Family must be able to depend on each other, as we are one another’s protective factor. God and our faith in him will see us through.

Ethical theories are however debatable and usually mean different things to different people. It is therefore essential for social workers not to base their decisions solely on these theories, but make use of Codes of practice when faced with ethical dilemmas. Codes of practise are there so service users and carers are informed and know what to expect from social workers and hence there will always be trust between service user and client. According to Banks, values are regarded as those beliefs people regard as worthy or valuable (Banks, 2012).Some values are personal, yet some are culturally/ societally shared. Our personal values form during personal and social development; also past and present experiences influence them. Ethics is that which society considers as right, yet values are

The third value is dignity and worth of a person. This is one value that has been stressed in my social work classes. In my social work practice class, we recently read a novel titled The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. Dignity and worth of a person, was one value that I witnessed while reading this novel. The characters were from another country and had beliefs that were not considered “ideal” to society, and there were times that they were not given the best resources and care because of these beliefs. Dignity and self worth is a huge value to have when dealing with clients who may not have the same views and beliefs as you. It is important to be ethical and respectful when dealing with clients no matter what religion, socioeconomic status, gender, or race they are.

Social work is a profession which has the objective to improve the quality of life of other individuals. The NASW code of ethics is used as a guideline for social workers and the interaction they have with their clients. In addition, within the code of ethics, there are six values, which include service, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Therefore, going into the social work field it is important to understand that your

– My personal values will have to be respecting others, education, and helping and caring for others. The person(s) who I feel influenced me the most in forming my values is my parents and my grandmother. They influenced me because growing up they always preach about treating others with respect even if I feel like they don’t deserved it. They also made sure that education was a priority and not an option. For as helping and caring for others I always saw them helping when they didn’t necessary didn’t have too and not one complain or threw it in the person face. The value that lead me into social work is helping and caring for others wanting to see them do better and make better decision in life.

My first personal value that will impact my work as a social worker is respect. In terms of social work and ability to influence my additional values, respect is the most important. For me, respect means to honor others and appreciate their perspective. While my definition of respect may seem simple, its usefulness is multifaceted. One may respect a person, a place, a situation, a circumstance, etc. I learned concepts of respect as a child as my parents were teaching me to observe boundaries. They wanted me to respect my room, and keep it clean, and they explained to me how they respected my personal space. In return, my parents taught me to respect their boundaries, their room, and

Personal values and professional values run parallel in the social work field. Recognizing and managing your personal values while working with clients is an important task. Concentrating on your professional values is required for a social worker to assist her client to the best of her ability. During my internship there have been a number of cases that I have had to practice managing my personal values.

One ethical principles from the core values that I feel most strongly that is needed is dignity and worth of the person. If we, as the practitioners don’t believe our client is worthy then we would be incapable of advocating for them, servicing them, and putting the effort required to help them. Dignity and Worth of the person mean believing everyone deserves the same treatment. We have to be able to accept our client’s culture, sexual orientation, anything that makes them who they are. If we can accept our client, we will not be able to work with them. Another reason I believe dignity and worth of the person is essential, is because Social Workers need that reminder when dealing with clients that might have committed a crime against an innocent person.

In the National Association for Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, there are many standards a social worker should uphold in order to promote a healthy and helpful relationship with the client. One such aptitude is Cultural Competence and Social Diversity, which is in section 1.05 of the NASW code of ethics (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). There are three sections associated with this competency “Social workers should understand culture and its function in human behavior and society, recognizing the strengths in all cultures”. It is assumed that “social workers should have a knowledge base of their clients’ cultures and be able to demonstrate competence in the provision of services that are sensitive to clients”. As a

Advocacy is the corner stones of a social work profession and a vital role for the professions future. More importantly, it is a form of self-care because one of the hardest things about social work practice, at least for me, is feeling helpless as I watch clients struggle with an irrational and unfair system. We go into this profession to help others and to help save lives, which serves the true purpose. Margaret Wheatley reminds us that, “Relationships are all there is. Everything in the universe exists because it is in relationship to everything else. Nothing exists in isolation. We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can get it alone”. Indeed, human relationships are of paramount importance and should be at the heart of all good social workers practice.

There are six core social work values that guide one through practice. Four of these values are identifiably present for consideration when working Anna and her family. The first value present is respect for inherent dignity and Worth of people. Promoting and advocating for self determination of the client. Ana seeks control and choice of her own body, this control supported by reasoning’s that could impact her future physical abilities. As social workers we need to consider Ana’s ability to make this consent in decision making due to being a child. By information gathering the decision was Ana could give consent with informed decisions that weighed possible consequences. This value would hold great weight by providing input to a final contribution by advocating for Ana’s right to her own voice and choices as she sees fit.

I was in grade 10 when I thought of becoming a social worker. As social worker practitioner the fields that interest me to work in is domestic violence and child abuse because I want to make change to the society. Also Mahatma Gandhi was my major inspiration through this quote “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Than an idea came to me, why not involve my contribution to the wide variety of communities. My communication with school counsellors and social workers has impacted my choice of desiring to study social work. I realised that if I have had a chance of seeing a social worker when I was young, things would have been much easier and less stressful. I want to provide opportunities that I did not encounter to other people. This essay will reflect my past experience, motivation and why I want to be a social worker, values, beliefs and theory of practice.

One of the main purposes of my interest in the profession of social work is to gain the knowledge and skill set to effectively help, counsel, and accordingly, provide services for all individuals so that their problems and needs are met. The profession of social work can be rigorous, yet it is a rewarding career that I am ready and willing to engage in. With the career being very diverse, it allows me to devote to my community in a number of ways from working in mental health to provide adequate therapy for individuals, to being employed with Child Protective Services to promote the well-being of children. Social Work also takes part in the role of being an advocate for the equality of all people. With this being a value to the profession,

My decision to become a social worker was no surprise to my family and friends. I have always loved to encourage, build up, and help people in times of need; regardless if it was shelter, food, or a friend to talk too. After reviewing the NASW Code of Ethics, it is simple to understand that my core values align with becoming and being a future professional social worker. As I ponder through the idea of how I accumulated my core values, it is quite simple to trace them back to the way I was raised by my parents.

Social workers challenge social justice which is one of the core values in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (NASW). Social workers work to improve social relations between people. They focus on the vulnerable to provide assistance with obtaining government programs like housing, and financial support. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), social workers efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, juvenile justice, immigration reform, and economic justice and equity. Social worker practice within different agencies and organization and can be conceptualized in many ways. Because social work is such a broad field there are many functions within a community some of which are (1)advocating for the aging, (2)facilitating and empowering groups in a domestic violence program, (3)mentoring students in a neighborhood school, (4)developing a psycho-educational group in a mental health agency; (5)supporting families in an emergency housing shelter, (6)implementing human rights and policies in another culture by learning a new language and traveling to another part of the world to assist children like Chan; (7) advocating with public officials, companies and corporations; (8) working with a group of adolescents; and (9) fundraising from government and foundation sources to assist in the empowerment of disadvantaged neighborhoods (Birkenmaier& Weger2017) p3.