Social work is a practice-based profession as well as an academic discipline that advocates social change, development, and the empowerment and liberation of society for individuals and communities in need. Professionals in the field of social work help people overcome some of life’s most difficult challenges such as poverty, discrimination, abuse, addiction, physical illness, divorce, loss, unemployment, educational problems, disabilities and mental illnesses. They help prevent crises by counseling individuals, families, and communities to cope more effectively with the stresses of everyday life. Social work is based upon the principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities. My ambition to be…
In addition to this, this essay will discuss the importance for social workers to have a clear understanding that “discrimination is the process (or a set of processes) that leads to oppression” and that in order “To challenge oppression, it is therefore necessary to challenge discrimination.” (Thompson 2001) This essay will draw attention to the importance of this understanding as within social work practice there is a danger that social workers could reinforce the oppression and discrimination against their service user, “ There is no middle ground: intervention either adds to oppression (or at least condones it) or goes some small way towards easing or breaking such oppression.” (Thompson 1992)…
Robbins, S., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. (2012). A critical perspective for social work. (3rd ed.).…
This essay shall address the evidence of the integration of theory, and research, policy and the law, transferring knowledge, skills and values between practice situations. I shall be using material from a variety of modules throughout the programme, evidence of anti-discriminatory and oppressive practice, evidence of implementation of core social work values into practice, and evidence of my individual professional development.…
Frank Bertollini at the age of 58 would be classified as an older amputee. Prior to his amputation he was playing golf during the summer months and racquetball once a week during the…
Karen has demonstrated her depth of understanding Social Work theory and her talent for applying its practice. Karen was able to recognize the situation and view it with a socialist perspective. The initial information of two small children wandering around at night alone, pulls at our heart strings and exposes our bias. These biases make us susceptible to formulating rash knee jerk reactions of condemnation.…
The social worker gathered information for Christine’s case from her file, a treatment plan meeting, and a private conversation with the clint. Christine’s file provided an extensive history on her life since coming into foster care. Included in her file were previous incident reports, which allowed the social worker to learn what Christine’s areas of weakness are in regards to her behavior. One such incident report detailed a recent occasion where Christine and her boyfriend at the time were making out and touching each other inappropriately in the back of a classroom. This was beneficial information for the social worker because it helped guide her intervention for Christine. The social worker was also able to view her previous service plans,…
Social Workers value the maximum feasible self – determination, empowerment, and enhancing strengths to increase the client’s voice in decision making. ‘The Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EAPS) affirm the commitment of social programs to the core values of the profession: service, social justice, dignity, and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, competence, human rights, and scientific inquiry’ (NASW, 2008 A; CSWE, 2008; as per Hepworth, Glenda and Kim, 2010). Social Workers demonstrate respect for and acceptance of the unique characteristics of ‘diverse populations that are characterized by great diversity, including the intersection of dimensions such as age, class, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, identity and expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental ability, age, and national origin’ (CSWE, 2008; as per Hepworth, Glenda, and Kim,…
I also would love to be able to assist my clients in designing a personal social action plan. I agree there are many injustices in the world and I would like to be there as a source of support for my clients overall. I imagine that it would be quite difficult, but that I could help advocate for those who need it the most. Advocacy work seems to be a less known part of working as a counselor. We all need to get more actively involved with these issues because it is in our best interest to ensure that are clients are receiving the best care possible, including advocating for their needs as a profession. Some counselors are more involved than others, but nonetheless it is a very important part of the helping field overall. As you mentioned,…
This assignment is a critical reflection on the in-class roleplay demonstration where I played the role of a social worker from the Department of Human Services (DHS) and another batch-mate played the role of Marika, the client. A social worker is bound to have a complete understanding of the objectives and goals of the process of counselling so as to be able to meet the client needs. (Geldard, 1989)…
The field of Social work is broad in terms of service delivery. Social workers can work in several institutions like Hospitals, Schools, Communities, Day care centers, with families, in government established re-habilitation centers etc. My focus in this write-up is to highlight the theoretical perspectives of social work practice in the hospital. A social worker who specializes in this aspect of social work can work in other health care settings.…
The difficult part was the service users that I worked with had their own diverse values and that is where I experienced some tensions and dilemmas as to what was the right thing to be doing came up. Different people had different views on what creates risk. In my position as a Social Worker it needs the ability to identify and balance values of benefits and harms, taking into consideration where one’s own value base impacts on the decision making and where we can support people to achieve the best outcomes, using professional rather than personal values. However we are guided by the purpose of the organisation we are employed in, as well as the legal and policy parameters of our society. Additionally, it would appear that the focus of social…
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines child welfare as services and institutions concerned with the physical, social and psychological well-being of children, particularly children suffering from the effects of poverty or lacking normal parental care and supervision (Child Welfare, 2010). Working with children and families is the second largest area of practice for social workers, and it is most popular with those who have a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Degree (Berg-Weger, 2010).…
Social workers can engage in micro, mezzo, and macro level of work to promote change and development in the society. The non-profit sector is one of the areas where social workers engage in mezzo level of work as program manager, capacity builder, researcher, case worker, manager among other. The Non-profit sector plays a key role in the protection of minority, experimentation and embracing the diversity of thought. There are many challenges that cause organizational problems in Non-profit sectors. The main cause of these challenges is resource based, structural and environmental which include political, policy and relation with the community. The organizational decision making shifted from community organization to organizational…
The following social work applied research was utilized to develop and evaluate a social service agency that offer a variety of programs. The programs will provide affordable day care, transportation, computer and life skill development trainings, family counseling, community recreation, and meals for seniors. The programs are designed to meet the needs of individuals, families and groups on a micro, and mezzo level. As a generalist practitioner the qualitative research will be used to guide practice while assisting the client’s needs. In addition, it will be used to evaluate the service outcome in order to continually improve the provision and quality of services most appropriate to the client needs. Therefore, as a consumer of research, the…