The next two years of my undergraduate education were filled with moments of self-discovery and gaining a new perspective on the world. This change was mainly facilitated in my Human Services courses, which required me to dig deep and not only examine my own identity, but also society and the world around me. The Human Services Program at WWU was rooted in social justice and Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory which proposes four levels of context in which human development occurs (Patton et. al, 2016). Every quarter we took a class that focused on each layer of context, first by developing our personal identities in the microsystem and then expanding until we reached the macrosystem, where we learned about current and historical global …show more content…
I began the evolution of developing a non-racist identity when I started to examine my White privilege, trouble the white, homogenous society I lived in, and have conversations about race with my peers. The Human Services Program also provided me with the opportunity to study abroad in South Africa, which opened me up to more of the world and allowed me to continue on the path towards a non-racist identity. Although I still have my biases, I work every day to reject them and think critically about my behavior and contribution to an unjust society. More importantly, I have developed an active commitment to create social change, which is something the WIDM lacks. The White Racial Consciousness Model (WRCM) on the other hand, addresses this by identifying six types of attitudes that White individuals may possess, with the last being an integrative racial attitude. This attitude involves understanding the realities and complexities of living in a racialized society, along with engaging in genuine interactions with people of color and social activism (Patton et. al., 2016). It was through the Human Services Program and my experiences at WWU that I adopted the sixth attitude of the WRCM and developed a passion and commitment to promoting social justice in all things I do. This new perspective on the world allowed me to develop my identity and further become the person I wanted to
The Helms White Racial Identity Model, created by Dr. Janet Helms, has six stages which are now referred to as statuses. The statuses are, contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudoindependence, immersion/emersion, and autonomy. The first status, contact, shows obliviousness to being unaware of racism. This status shows that an individual believes everyone has an equal chance to success and lacks understanding of discrimination and prejudice. The second status is the disintegration status meaning that there is conflict among an individual’s loyalty to their group and “humanistic ideals”. These people may try to avoid people of a different race, may attempt to be “color blind”, and may seek reassurance from other Whites that racism is not their fault. The next status is reintegration. If reintegration occurs, racial/ethnic minorities may be blamed for their problems.
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
Therefore, universities have had to implement new measures that address racial insensitivity expressed by White students. According to Chao et al. (2015), in college campuses, student of color can hear every day racism comments, therefore, to create college campuses with a healthy climate, educators and psychologists must find ways to promote justice attitudes among non-Latino White students and foster racial empathy for targets of racism (p.95). They said: “White empathy refers to White students’ expression of empathy through a deep understanding of their fellow students’ experiences, especially those of racial and ethnic minority students suffering from racism”, (p.95). Educators and counselors must work together in helping students to better understand how to appreciate differences between groups. Chao et al., underlined in their study that to be able to understand individuals’ perceptions toward diversity, researchers have proposed the concept of openness to diversity (OTD), which refers to the appreciation of similarities and differences across cultural groups (p. 96). Open to diversity (OTD) also involves students ' interest to know more and more about unfamiliar cultures without assumptions. They said that “OTD moderates the relationship between White racial identity and White Empathy”, which means that when White students have greater OTD, they may be more likely to understand how minority students experience racism and when White students are less open to diversity, they may also be less willing to consider different perspectives on racial issues (p.
Because I am white, no one wonders if I am associated with terrorists or feels nervous and pulls their belongings closer if I am alone in an elevator with them. Going to school I always had a sense of safety. Having brought white privilege to my conscious awareness, it raised feelings of guilt and shame, because I was ignorant to my oppressiveness for so long. These feelings empowered me to identify various ways in which I can challenge the concept of white privilege in myself and others. On an individual level this can be done by increasing awareness of privilege, reducing feelings of guilt, accepting one’s own role in perpetuating racism. Do not assume that all differences are the same, acknowledge and validate everyone’s experience, avoid assumptions, listen with compassion, and create safety and room for everyone. Additional ways to challenge white privilege consist of exploring resources produced by or about other races, developing relationships with people across racial lines, positioning oneself in a context where they are the numerical minority, and/or exploring the field of whiteness
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.
My overall experience in Intro to Human Services was phenomenal. This class was definitely one of my favorite classes this semester. I loved the way it was taught and I was able to understand how human services works while reading the book Precious throughout the semester. This course isn’t an easy class that you can just relax and breeze through. It has a lot of fundamental chapters that explain the jobs of helpers also known as human service workers. I loved how we were supposed to read the chapters before class and then we would review in class. It made more sense by doing it this way. It never felt like we were rushing through the material and the pace of the class was perfect. I also loved how professor Oropall always was willing to explain
Introduction We live in a society where race is seen as a vital part of our personalities, the lack of racial identity is very often an important factor which prevents people from not having their own identity (Omi & Winant, 1993). Racism is extremely ingrained in our society and it seems ordinary (Delgado & Stefanic, 2000). However, many people denounce the expression of any racist belief as immoral (Miles & Brown, 2003) highlighting the complicated nature of racism. Critical Race Theory tries to shed light on the issue of racism, claiming that racism is ingrained in our society both in legal, cultural, and psychological aspects of social life (Tate, 1997). This essay provides us with the opportunity to explore this theory and its influence in the field of education.
The Social landscape of America is changing. This is largely in part due to the rapid growth of the internet and more social media platforms becoming predominantly accessible. As a result, the reemergence of pictures and images that have been hidden have become available. The constant bombardment of Negative imagery is fading away and being replaced with images of empowerment and positive thinking. “The world is white no longer and it will never be white again”. This is a simple and powerful statement which has taken a shear scope and gravity because of its complexity which might not be conveyed. In other words, for someone, to brush off or ignore such a statement is to brush off or ignore all the social, economic and spiritual changes that are happening all around the world. This topic is a rear chance to examine the strength and character of an entire race of people that may begin to show a form of direction in which an entire generation might go.
The field of human service consists of particular goals and objectives of human needs, and it promotes improved services delivery systems by addressing the overall quality of life of service population. Similarly, Human service delivery system focuses on how human service professionals approach their work. While encompassing a broad range of idea, Human service is a unique useful and purposeful discipline aiming to assist human needs and communities through an interdisciplinary knowledge base. Human services professional is a generic term for people who hold professional and paraprofessional jobs, and it concerns to improve the quality of life of people, accessibility, accountability, and co-ordination among professional and agencies in service
The clear understanding of both the role of the Human Services Worker and the role of the client in treatment.
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.
Not only do we need to understand the ‘issue’ or ‘societal problem’ that many people face and are impacted by every day, but we need to meet and work alongside those whose daily realities are shaped by injustices, while not creating any divides or barriers in the process. Everyday people are affected by the issues that organizations fight for or against, and once we realize how people-centered things like advocacy, outreach and service are, I believe young people will realize their call to action and their potent...
For instance, white people doing anti-racism work can see that their position in the world is not one that they had been led to believe (McIntosh, 2009). As a result, according to McIntosh (2009), whites can register a new found awareness of their unearned advantage, which can serve as discouragement when realizing how deep-rooted the problem of privilege is, within society. In addition, another possibility would be anti-racism work’s ability to empower white participants, to strive towards in changing themselves and their environment (McIntosh, 2009). Hence, white anti-racism can lead better progression in
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).
Before, I had a sense of how I identified in terms of many different factors. With this class, I was able to realize that my racial and overall identity is composed of a mixture of the factors not considering these factors independently from one another. I believe that my strong sense of self has always remained the same, the great difference is that I now know why I think the way I do and I am now also able to see why people think the way they do. My story tells a lot about me; it says that I have always had a strong sense of self and have always tried to live according to that sense of self. It also says that I have not always known how to interpret myself or make sense of why I am the way I am. It has definitely shown that I struggled with understanding other people’s perspectives, especially when they conflicted with mine but I am now working on maintaining an open mind instead of becoming immediately defensive. My story also shows that although I have always been well aware of racism and have always felt against it, I have not done what is necessary of me to stand up against racism. The resources I can rely on within me to fight against racism are the coping skills I have internalized for so long. Some resources I have outside myself include the skills I am learning in my Master’s program at Simmons as well as some local community outreach programs that strive to advocate and end racism and other oppressive