Social Work Reflection

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 …show more content…
I have explored alternative approaches – behaviourist and solution focussed and have been able to incorporate these within my practice and these are delivered in a relationship based way. I can recognise the impact this has on my emotional well-being and am aware of ‘vicarious trauma’ and the feelings of anxiety this can bring to my work. Vicarious Trauma or ‘Compassion fatigue’ is the personal damage and stress that is caused by helping or wanting to help a person involved in a traumatic situation, Community Care …show more content…
Social Workers in the 21st century are more likely to work within a ‘huge and diverse’ range of stings in an often ‘complicated multi-professional network’. In addition to this, those employed with a local government are likely to be subjected to working amidst a backdrop of national agendas fuelled by public concerns over high profile cases and serious case reviews’, Ruch et al (2010:24). These pressures are added to the day to day work of a Social Worker engaging with distressed people and distressing situations and practice that involve providing interventions that deal with both the psychological and social difficulties which the people they are working with are experiencing. The work entailing social issues facing the service user often appear to be the more straight forward part of the work, but the Social Worker will also be dealing with emotions and feelings requiring the Social Worker to have the necessary skills to be able to draw on ‘internal, often unconscious dynamics to make sense of these professional encounters’, Ruch et al (2010:26)
For the benefit of reflection I feel that decisions should be reached before the families reach a crisis point to enable the children to reach their full potential through early