Ellison, Posada, and Richardson (2015) discuss the importance of self-care in social work as individuals are constantly giving ‘other-care.’ It is the goal to apply ‘other-care’ to the self. The NASW’s focus on self-care has been continual over the years. The NASW defines self-care as “a core essential component to social work practice [reflecting] a choice and commitment to become actively involved in maintain one’s effectiveness (NASW, 2012, p. 268).” One study found that over half of workplace stress is caused by a lack of time and heavy workloads. Having one’s own self-care plan is a necessary aspect of a professional development plan. Meeting the needs of one’s physical and mental health is vital. The plan needs to add to the success and …show more content…
They define vicarious trauma as “the taking in of the experiences, emotions, and reactions of trauma survivors by professionals working with them in the healing process (Pearlman, Saakvitne, & Buchele, 1995).” Vicarious trauma is prevalent is the social work field as clients are often broken in one way or another, and many times have suffered from trauma. Social workers invest time and energy into clients. Their motivation for working in the field is their care and compassion for others. Therefore, social workers are susceptible to vicarious trauma. Dombo and Gray (2013) make a distinction between ‘taking in’ and ‘taking on’ clients’ experiences. Taking in refers to listening and being present with the client in a professional way. Taking on is when the clinician absorbs the experiences the client is disclosing. Taking on is closely linked with burnout. Dombo and Gray (2013) provide a self-care model that incorporates spirituality on the micro, mezzo, and macro level. Meditation practice on the micro level is beneficial when working with trauma. Three types of mediation are proposed: compassion meditation, letting go meditation, and finally reflection meditation. These types of meditations focus on a different outcome while still going through the same steps of mediation. Sharing spiritual practices in a supervision setting or with a mentor is …show more content…
The participants of this study were 185 NASW members who volunteered to join the study. The results showed that the more self-care a social worker engaged in the lower their emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were and also had a higher level of personal accomplishment. The results also showed that the specific type of self-care social workers participate in does not ultimately matter rather the important aspect is participating in self-care in general. The final finding of this study is that the more years a social worker worked in the field the less they experience burnout. This could be hypothesized by they have effectively found how to take care of themselves to prevent burnout or that individuals already left the field due to becoming burned
In this article, the author, Esther Urdang, shows the readers how self-awareness is a necessity in the field of social work. She notes that being more self-aware protects social workers from things such as inappropriate relationships, burnout and not following necessary ethics. Urdang explains how specific casework, similarities between the client and worker, mental disability, involvement in a client’s personal life and self-disclosure can aid in developing inappropriate relationships. Towards the end of her article, she further emphasizes how social work education should focus on helping students become more secure in themselves and their experiences so they know how this affects their work (Urdang, 2010).
Social workers are generalist practitioners that utilize various theoretical frameworks to assist in problem-solving for individuals, family, groups, and communities. They aim to provide interventions at any level based on the need of their clients. The generalist social worker assist with a broad scope problems and can be found in a variety of institutions. When assisting with adult clients who suffer with social development due to childhood trauma, social workers must know what trauma is. Trauma is prevalent in the social work community, almost every social worker has had a client that has suffered from trauma. In order to assist adults that have social development issues stemming from childhood there are The four-fold principles
Freud’s approach trauma is based in the treatment of hysteria. According to Ringel and Brandell, Freud and Breuer, considered an “external event” as responsible of determining hysterical symptoms. The common component between hysteria and trauma is the outcome of fright. Freud and Breuer emphasis the importance of cathartic experience as a way of decreasing or vanishing the effect. The “cathartic method” that was developed by Breuer, assisted to release of inhibited emotions. Freud believed that the libido, necessary to be relished for the symptoms to be improved (p. 43).
Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
Many times social workers are so focus on their clients, or on their work that they put their own self-health on the back burner. This is a major problem in the social work community because if social works do not help them selves first they will not be able to help others as well as they could have. “Social workers and their employers must recognize their personal limits and look after themselves first if they are to help others.” (McFadden, P. 2013) It is well know that social works need to help themselves before they can help each other, nonetheless why do so many struggle to do so?
Social work is a multifaceted, ever adapting profession, which has had many purposes and identities through the years. It is imperative for the vocation to constantly evolve alongside the social climate and the new ways in which we identify and treat those who are in need of support. Social workers can be required to take on the role of counsellor, advocate, case-worker, partner, assessor of risk and need, and at times (as the government seeks to push social work further and further towards the health and education sectors) a servant of the state. The profession is dramatically subject to affection by societal change, thus demanding social workers have a duty to be up to date with the latest developments in understanding how and why people get to the point of requiring social work intervention, and how best to prevent and cater for it.
Spiritual empathy is to be able to feel and understand what another person is feeling or trying to communicate. As social workers, we work with clients who are going through a life crisis. A life crisis would be anything that threatens the clients well being. Stress and anxiety can lead to health problems and damaging dysfunctional behaviors. To best serve our clients we have to show spiritual empathy. Spiritual methods of therapy are controversial among workers in the health field including social workers. Many are not comfortable using spiritual interventions. Being spiritually empathetic can help the social worker notice signs of spiritual need. I believe that spiritual empathy is crucial in order to help the client’s needs. In this paper I will go over the importance of spiritual empathy, recognize spiritual needs, and interventions.
Social work practice has become a vital part of our society. They are found in almost every aspect of our community as well as our schools. Social workers are problem solvers that help people deal with daily issues that may become problems that affect them. As our society becomes more challenging, social workers help bridge the gaps for people who face extraordinary challenges in their lives. The social worker’s scope of practice may contain helping at risk or overwhelmed individuals find resources, develop new coping strategies, resolve problems and conflicts, and secure opportunities to improve their quality of life. (Flynn, 2013) Although the scope of practice is basically the same, there are various types of social workers with various levels of education. It doesn’t matter if you are a medical, clinical, school, military, psychiatric or community social worker, the goal is
I would to begin this paper with an authentic definition of the Social Work field. Social work practices involves facilitating change—in other words, working with others, not doing something to them or for them(Dubois). Most people and social workers would always use the world ‘help’ in some way or form when defining social workers. Which is true but the confusion come in when asked where they work, who they assist and how they differ from other helping professions. Social workers can be sustain abuse therapists, child welfare specialists, and school social workers. We are not limited to just the department of social services. They can work in nursing homes, hospitals, and even in legislation.
Standard 2: Self-Awareness of the NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice explains the importance of self-awareness in Social Work practice in. It reads,
The field of social work is one that requires much self-reflection on the part of the worker. In doing so, it helps the worker better understand his or her own emotions and the thought processes that these emotions come from. The goal of this paper is to provide my own self-reflection, relating it to my own emotional intelligence in the domains of relationships, tolerance, flexibility, self-management, and emotional awareness, and my future plans and goals in Widener University’s MSW program.
Spiritual self-care seems to be a newer concept with old ties. It is an emerging awareness that is helping people provide spiritual support and guidance. It helps one focus on themselves, and not so much the world around them. Cheryl Cope discussed spiritual self-care being as important as physical cares (Cope, 2012). Cope continues to express how one can provide self-care by speaking and learning to listen to God. It was also noted that joining a fellowship could be a valuable tool in providing spiritual self-care (Cope,
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen
Illness may disrupt one’s life and cause feelings of helplessness (Kinsey, B. 2011, p.92); spiritual healing gives people responsibility and control over their own health and treatment, which can be tailored to them as an individual, and not dictated by institutions or tradition (Melton, G. 1990, p.216; Heelas, P. 1996, pp.82-83). Spiritual healing offers opportunities for not only physical healing, but also self-actualisation, self-fulfilment (Gilhus, J. and Sutcliffe, S. 2013, p.54), and remedy problems of identity common in the contemporary world (Gilhus, J. and Sutcliffe, S. 2013, p.229), taking their personal experiences and environment into account. Furthermore, due to the emphasis on holism and harmony, spiritual healing presents a chance for not only betterment within oneself, but also with the natural world and in relationships with others (Heelas, P. 1996b, p.53). All of these things hold the promise of improving a person’s wider life. Spiritual healing also provides a means to spiritual enlightenment (Melton, G. 1990, p.75). Even if spiritual healing will not cure a person, it is known to give people peace of mind in the face of chronic or terminal illness (Heelas, P. 1996a,