Although social work may be categorized as many things I believe what sets it apart from other occupations is the need to promote social justice. Barusch (2015) explained social justice for social workers is working towards an end goal for their client’s.
Social is a broadly defined profession many kinds of profession who serve people in need. Social workers are unique in the way that they look at many different aspects of a problem, from the individual to the physiological, to the political. Common ways of serving clients including providing counseling, or therapy as well as connecting clients to appropriate public or private resources.
The social work profession at the simplest level, is providing service and achieving social justice for our community. There are various ways in which social workers can do this, ranging from simply providing necessary support to getting children out of dangerous situations. I always knew that my calling was to help and advocate for populations in my community that were vulnerable and often forgotten.
I think we need to start with discussing what social work is and where it started. Social work, social problems, and the organizations that were developed is an attempt to cope with problems have had almost a parallel history. There are many people who have helped develop more progressive attitudes and programs toward the poor, the mentally ill, the unemployed, and children at risk. Many of the social welfare policies and programs we take for granted occurred quite recently in our history. Social work is an exciting career area that is highly related to psychology. Many individuals earn an undergraduate degree in social work and then go on to their masters. You can do so much with a social work degree. Social worker has a broad range
Social workers have been around to help society for years. Social work is one of the most renowned occupations when it comes to helping people. Though many don’t know that social workers do not get enough resources and support to be able to help those in need especially those who are in need the most at the most important part of their lives, adolescents. Social workers have a strongly demanding job in society today and are spread thin with the amount of work they must do, but with the overwhelming demand of their job they are faced with unmanageable caseloads, and lack of support. With the social workers being spread so thinly this in turn effects the children and teens who need their help the most, are not getting the attention and help that
Social workers are increasingly recognized as an inevitable part of interdisciplinary teams in addressing the needs of clients who seek for legal remedies and services. The relationship between social work and law has been developing since 1917, when Mary Richmond, an architect of modern social work, acknowledged the role of legal authorities while developing her conceptual model for casework (Forgelson, 1970). Later, Mary Richmond drafted an early social work code of ethics in the early 1920s (Reamer, 1987). However, from the development perspective, all 50 states in the US have passed statutes requiring professionals from certain disciplines, including social work and law, to report any abuse or crime happened in the past or is going to happen in the nearest future if there are good reasons to believe that is true. Dubose and Morris (2005) stated that very few states passed similar mandatory reporting statutes for attorneys. It is not surprising that only a few states accepted these statutes because of the presence of the attorney-client privilege statute, which is true for all states. Due to differences in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and NASW Code of Ethics, professionals from the respective disciplines may have conflicts while both provide social and legal support to the same client from a domestic violence organization. There are two main reasons that allow the tension to happen, social workers are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect but lawyers, on the contrary, have an ethical responsibility to maintain client confidentiality (Taylor, 2006).
Mr. James has arrived for his assessment at the Gadsden County Human Services office. His demeanor is somewhat different from the last meeting. He is more reserved today and seems to be open to effective communication. The case manager, Tameka Footman enters the room and greets Mr. James. Mrs. Footman asks Mr. James, how he’s feeling about the session today. Mr. James responds and says that he’s feeling good about it. Mrs. Footman reviews the events that took place last session and asked if there were any questions from the previous meeting. Mr. James says that he doesn’t have any questions are is eager to get started.
A social worker works with individuals and their families, their aim is to help improve and empower the service user to improve outcomes in their lives. Social work is a profession that is based around people, from babies through to the older people.
Kathy Scott is a hospice social worker with Hospice of Springville. She is a thirty-three year old Caucasian woman from a middle-class family. Kathy has a master’s degree in both theology and social work. Kathy Scott is an experienced social worker with eight years of hospice work and two years of pediatric team. Kathy is a respected colleague that is thoughtful and reflective.
The LPN-Team Lead contacted the social worker about Dr. Sundaram’s patient. The patient is a single, Caucasian grandmother and mother of two; she is alert and orientated to person, place and time. The patient reports that she lives with her 16 year old daughter and 3 month old granddaughter. The patient states that she works two jobs, one full-time and one part-time job and she assist with the care of her new granddaughter while her daughter is a work. The patient report that she is feeling (angry) and hurt because her boyfriend of 11 years cheated on her when she was in the hospital and left her a month ago; this and the loss of her child last year at 6 months gestation in addition to her CHF, COPD and influenza appears to have left the patient feeling of depression and hopelessness. The social worker noted that the patient scored a 19 on her PHQ-9, although she denies thoughts of suicide at this time. The patient states that she suffers from insomnia and gets approximately 2-3 hours of non-continuous sleep a night.
Through previous work experience and time spent as an undergraduate student, I have developed various strengths, skills, and knowledge concerning social work. I have strengths in my readiness to learn and my eagerness to be in field. I have direct practice skills through participating in SOWK 4425 – Practice III (Wright, 2016), and I have acquired ample knowledge on theories, policies, and social work practice through other social work and supplemental classes at Texas State. Furthermore, I have experienced self-discovery to find that I have a set of values that correlate with the core values found in the National Association Code of Ethics (2008). Going forward, I want to further develop direct practice skills, as well as expand my knowledge and skills concerning more macro social work. I also would like to push my comfort zone in order to
The term ‘human nature’ cannot be defined easily. With respect to different approaches, such as psychological and biological sciences, religious studies, politics and ethics, the definitions of human nature include complex characteristics such as human perception, reasoning, behavior, ways of feeling, and thinking. However, in addition to those definitions formulated in the course of actions performed by an individual in the context of his/her socio-political surroundings, it is commonly claimed that there is no fixed definition of human nature, because of our different attitudes to the questions regarding what causes those characteristics to take shape within the processes of human thought, in what exact manner the casual factors work, how
The term human nature is often thrown about haphazardly in everyday life. From phrases such as “it is just human nature for boys to like playing with trucks more than girls” to “it is human nature to want to protect yourself”, the term is used by many to imply that there are certain universal characteristics shared by all humans. The layman frequency of its use gives it a false facade of simplicity, rather, what human nature is, and even whether it exists has been and is currently hotly debated in the philosophical and biological communities. Those who support the existence of a human nature are often split into two camps; the essentialist view and the nomological view. On the other hand, some such as Hull are suspicious and pessimistic of
Social workers have many tools at their hand to enabling personal values to remain in check. The general practitioners communication with supervisors and collages can provide guidance on this issue. They can attend professional workshops pertaining to subjects such as ethics, and maintaining professional relationships. Social workers can continually evaluate their own values and beliefs and seek professional help such as therapy when
Social work as a profession strives to help the welfare of those within the community whether its persons or families through advocacy. Often times clients are those who may be vulnerable and disadvantaged. Social workers aim to help people fulfill basic needs in their everyday lives and assist them by providing beneficial resources and intervention counseling. They do more than just help them in their current situation, it’s about helping them to survive and set attainable goals to live a fuller and better life for themselves, and most time for their families.