Self Awareness By Esther Urdang Summary

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). Urdang starts the article by establishing exigence and credibility. The reader is aware that there are

The intended audience’s interest is immediately captured when Urdang establishes exigence. The audience is most likely to continue reading because they want to learn how to avoid things like burnout and inappropriate relationships. It can be easy for a reader to feel scrutinized or anxious when reading an article on how things could go wrong in their profession. However, Urdang’s personal stories and common scenarios make it seem like the dilemmas are common and the mistakes are easy to make. Urdang’s article is well written and highly informative. It maintains the reader’s interest and provides applicable information to social workers. After reading the article, I will continue to focus on myself, who I am, and what I know is right. This well help me to become more self-aware and avoid burnout, inappropriate relationships and emotional distress. It can be assumed that most people after reading this article felt the same way. This article contributes to social work students by pointing out big issues in the field of social work and then offers methods and solutions to avoid these