Self Determination In Social Work Essay

1246 Words3 Pages

As a social worker, it is important to be able to process and consider possible situations that may arise, conflicting with either one’s personal values or the values of the profession. Without the consideration of possible situations related to one’s work, the likelihood of the client not receiving competent services increases. The reason being is that for a social worker to effectively pour into others and assist them in experiencing varying life circumstances, the social worker needs to be able to be aware of and process their own values and beliefs first. In addition to the social work ethics, there are a set of values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence …show more content…

Within every relationship between a social worker and a client, there should be the opportunity for the client to address their own needs, thus fulfilling self-determination (NASW Code of Ethics, 2017). The only time(s) in which it would be appropriate for the social worker to limit the client’s right to self-determination would be when the client or somebody else is in harm. Due to the fact that most social workers want to empower their clients, lacking client self-determination is detrimental to the therapeutic relationship. If the client is not making their own decisions, it is likely that he or she will struggle to feel …show more content…

Additionally, the social worker is continuously striving to learn more and research various topics to better enhance the services that are provided for the client. The social worker should also be looking to find new ways to better the profession as a whole (NASW Code of Ethics, 2017). Even though competence feels like one of the values that can be easily attained, it comes with some struggles as well. A potential situation related to competence might be attributed to the issues of transference and countertransference. If the social worker is experiencing negative countertransference regarding their client, it will be more difficult to engage in competent practices. Already at my internship, I have experienced negative transference with a student. As of right now, the best I can do is to simply be aware of my countertransference in order to provide competent services; I should not provide less assistance to a client simply because I am experiencing

More about Self Determination In Social Work Essay

Open Document