Self-Reflection 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. Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence can best be defined as being able to regulate one’s own emotions, while at the same being able to identify and empathize with the emotions of others (Morrison, 2007). This is an important skill to have within the realm of social work practice because as social workers, we are working with people on all levels, micro, mezzo, and macro, who are usually experiencing some of the most emotional times of their life. As those emotional buffers for our clients, we need to be able to regulate …show more content…
For me, self-management has always been rather easy, as I am fiercely independent and would rather be left alone to manage myself than work under someone else. However, the toughest part of this particular domain for me is accepting my own failures or mistakes. While I loved learning to be more independent when it comes to school and working when I started my BSW, I also think I became harder on myself when I did not get the right grade, or the right field placement. One of the things I think I need to work own most, is finding a balance between taking responsibility for my actions and behaviors and being too hard on myself for those actions and behaviors. This, like my flexibility, comes back to emotional intelligence relating to my own self-control surrounding my own disruptive emotions, as I can work through my under-achievements without clouding my own thinking, and continue on towards my goals (Goleman,
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).
Being given the opportunity to intern with the staff at the Family Resource Center in the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) has been a tremendous learning experience thus far. The opportunity has truly surpassed my expectation of what I imagined the journey of internship would be like and how it would help me to evolve into the professional arena as a social worker. I see myself transforming and viewing the community in which I live, the clients served, those deprived, and the tremendous job that we as social workers are tasked with to advocate for those in need from a more open-minded perspective. By enhancing and developing my personal and professional skills, such as active listening, observation, and professional comportment, I will be
This paper is about a reflection on a class interview for a senior social worker. The teacher gave every student ten minutes for this interview. The students did not have an idea of what their situation was about until couple minutes before the interview. This paper will focus on the limits of confidentiality for the client, potential assessment for the client, engagement with the client, and evaluation of the social worker.
Social workers play a very important role in many situations. Most people can only help an individual up until a certain point then they have no clue what to do to help the individual. A social worker comes up with a plan to help an individual that cannot help themselves. Without social workers many individuals will not know how to manage certain situations. They will come up with an idea that they believe is suitable and move on without thinking about it. Social work has come a long way from when it first began. Comparing then and now, social work is much better and very well organized. The people that are in need whether they are mentally ill or someone that cannot support themselves, are being taken care of properly. It is known that years
(2013) separated emotional intelligence into four domains, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (pp. 30, 38). These domains are then broken into two competencies. Self-awareness, the understanding of one 's emotions and being clear about one 's purpose, and self-management, the focused drive and emotional self-control, make up the personal competence (pp. 39, 45-46). While social awareness, or empathy and service, and relationship management, the handling of other people 's emotions, make up the social competence (pp. 39, 48, 51). These emotional intelligence competencies are not innate talents, but learned abilities, each of which contribute to making leaders more resonant and effective (p. 38). This is good news for me because I still have much to develop in regards to emotional
After completion of the social work program I would like to work in a clinical setting. I would really like to be in a mental health center or a hospital working with military members. I don’t have and preference on the kinds of issues that I would like to work with. As long as I am helping veterans, I will be happy. The reason that I prefer to work under these condition is because I have a passion for working with military members, since I am prior military I feel like I can relate to them and I understand what they are going through. I know that it is very hard for military members to talk to civilian about their problems because civilians just don’t understand, no matter what they say. I will be required to have a diverse set of qualities
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.
An individual’s ability to control and express their emotions is just as important as his/her ability to respond, understand, and interpret the emotions of others. The ability to do both of these things is emotional intelligence, which, it has been argued, is just as important if not more important than IQ (Cassady & Eissa, 2011). Emotional intelligence refers to one’s ability to perceive emotions, control them, and evaluate them. While some psychologists argue that it is innate, others claim that it is possible to learn and strengthen it. Academically, it has been referred to as social intelligence sub-set. This involves an individual’s ability to monitor their emotions and feelings, as well as those of others, and to differentiate them in a manner that allows the individuals to integrate them in their actions and thoughts (Cassady & Eissa, 2011).
This is why social workers must also be critical thinkers. Critical thinking applied to the social work profession involves “the ability to define an issue, stressor, or problem; to distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge to formulate a tentative practice direction” (Gitterman & Knight, 2013). Theories, as well as research, “about phases of individual, family and group development; about ethical, racial, religious, spiritual, and sexual identity development; and about individual, family, and group development” provide social workers with a basic starting point for a more complex and situational-based intervention plan that will later be developed. In social work practice, intervention plans and assessments are not blindly developed, but rather based off theory and research. Therefore, although social work is a profession of artistry and creativity; it is also a scientific profession enhanced by the use of theory and
The scope of emotional intelligence includes the verbal and nonverbal appraisal and expression of emotion, the regulation of emotion in the self and others, and the utilization of emotional content in problem solving. (pp. 433)
Research is a necessity when it comes to providing services. Social Workers need it to be able to determine their clients ' needs, to see what resources/services they have access to and if their client doesn 't have much access where can they get it. Research is also used to see how effective an intervention is and whether it would be a right fit for their clients. It provides social service agents with ways to identify problems within their clients, communities, organizations, and the government. Also it helps them to create ways to aid in effective change. It is very beneficial when a social worker needs to "assess the needs and resources of people in their environments, evaluate the effectiveness of social work services in meeting people
Morrison (2007) introduces Emotional Intelligence (EI) as “Being able to motivate one-self and persist in the face of frustration; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s mouth and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope (as stated in Goleman, 1996). In relation to social work practice, EI stresses for social workers to have a working knowledge of emotions; where they derived from and healthy ways to express and manage them. The social worker not only needs to understand these things about their own emotions, they must
Over the course of the semester, I have learned a variety of many things regarding social work. These things vary from learning how to help oneself to understanding how to help others. Not only were the textbooks very useful, but also the materials that furthered this textbook learning. The in class presentation, activities, and guest speakers gave us insight and a different perspective on the material we were learning. I feel like this course has given me a good foundation and prepared me as a future social worker (1).
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
families, and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social workers are change agents and because of that, they aim to help people develop their skills and abilities to use resources provided to them to strengthen and improve their lives and communities to resolve problems. One of the main goal of social workers is to improve the well-being and lives of the most vulnerable populations, fight against poverty, unemployment, domestic violence and the underserviced population by emphasizing on the person-in-environment and social justice model. The social work profession, considerers the individuals’ internal and external struggles, while working with the individuals to examine their relationships, family, work environment, community, and other things that might impact them and identify ways to help address problems and challenges.