Reflection On Social Work Practice

Social work practice requires many skills, which need much practice themselves. This needs social work students to be open to trying within safe environments and scenario’s for mistake, such as with their peers and with emotional safe scenarios such as stress at University. This begins with a requirement to do 5 minutes of interviewing with a peer which includes many social work skills such as active listening, encouraging, paraphrasing, being/creating a welcoming and safe environment and other such basic and beginning skills. In the interview that I participated with Casey as Lucy, I feel that showed the beginning development of skills that social workers require. The skills I feel that I utilized well were paraphrasing; which allowed her

I believe nearly all my skills require further development, but the skills I feel require the most attention and development is control of myself and how I listen to my client. My own values and assumptions I feel are hampering my development of skills. Ways I can improve on this is by doing my own research into different or opposing values and assumptions and finding their positives and finding the negatives within my own, to help find a more balanced practice. The way I listen could greatly improve as it took Lucy pointing out how she wanted and/or needed support from me, for me to make the session more productive. As I need to listen equally to answers of inaction and answers of action. And focus more on listening to Lucy and not problem solving, as I said during our session “you’re safety and [those] around you are safe … are the ultimate goal of our session’s”. (Harms, 2007; Ivey & Ivey, 2007; Trevithick, 2005). The analysing and planning of further development of my skills has given me hope within my current short-comings, and my future

My peers gave me mostly positive and encouraging feedback. Veronica’s advice on confidentiality needing to be communicated more accurately, with more factual language such as always instead of mostly, has meant that I will more thoroughly practice more confidentiality to memory with more appropriate language, as confidentiality is important and powerful legislation I need to be as factual as possible for the benefit of both myself and Lucy. My peers encouragement mean that I will want to continue practicing with them and encouraging them as it was a nice self-esteem build to be told that I use empowering language, key terms, a variety of questions and that I created an approachable relationship with the beginnings of trust with in it, and this feedback is encouraging and is useful to me to be at the same stage of peers (Harms, 2007; Ivey & Ivey, 2007; Trevithick, 2005). As a social worker in training I bought positive development in skills, though many still need more attention, some more than others. Social workers require many flexible skills that are hard to begin, but I feel I have made a good start with my peers, my short-comings and strengths included. The reflection individually and with peers is an important tool to my skills growth, as well as the practice in doing it, which builds my confidence in my future in skill growth and a competent social