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Social work theory and burnout
Gender issues and social work
The Qualities, Skills, Values, And Principles of Social Worker
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Since I was young, I have had the desire to help others. Out of four children, I was born the youngest in my family, therefore I contribute my knowledge to my siblings. In addition, my mother was a great influence to me. In fact, she taught me the value of integrity, how to be a compassionate person, and understand the importance of helping others; and she is the biggest reason I felt this major would be the right fit for me. Furthermore, my empathetic personality led me to become a program facilitator at Girls Incorporated. Since I value the importance of human relationships, I was grateful to have the opportunity to be a role model to young girls, as well as teach life skills in my community. My experiences with Girls Incorporated paved …show more content…
Being genuine is especially important when dealing with clients. For example, a professional social worker should aim to ensure their clients that they are able to be trusted and willing to help as opposed to just earning a paycheck. I find that being genuine can serve one to have better and honest relationships with others. What are your personal qualities and attributes that might detract from your ability to be a professional social worker? A quality that could potentially detract from my ability to become a professional social worker could be becoming too sensitive to my clients. I aim to help clients with dedication and empathy. However, I do not want to become too involved and damage my inner self, creating burnout. To prevent this, I need to take action to get involved with a form of self-care. 2. Give an example of a situation in which you experienced stress. How did you respond and how might this affect the way you respond to others experiencing …show more content…
In particular, being a volunteer at Adult Day Services was insightful in terms of learning about individual clients. Because of engaging in direct contact with clients, I was able to see a different perspective from clients’ view, and also understand the reason for their referral to the agency. Initially, I wanted the experience working with older clients. However, in addition, at this agency, I gained experience with clients with intellectual disabilities. By volunteering here, it opened up a desire to work with older
As a professional one must practice personal reflection and self-correction to assure continual professional development. As the social worker, I would identify my areas of strength as well as areas where improvement is needed, seek and act on corrective feedback from my supervisor or mentors, establish effective working relationships with clients and peers, and seek to resolve identified problems with performance of professional responsibilities. I would also make sure I practice within my area of competence by developing and enhancing my professional
I knew I loved to help others but it was not until I was an emerging adult that I knew what my calling was. My devotion to improve the quality of life for those who are disadvantaged is one of the reasons I have chosen to pursue a Master’s in Social Work. After obtaining my masters, I plan on diversifying my masters by getting licensed and becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I would like to study social work because I feel it will lead me directly to one of the most emotionally fulfilling careers available, as well as giving me the chance to combine helping people 's mental well being with their physical
Professionalism in the social work field goes beyond licensure and expertise (Cournoyer, 2014). According to Cournoyer (2014), social work professionalism encompasses the concepts of integrity, self-efficacy and knowledge, self-understanding and self-control, and social support (Cournoyer, 2014). Embedded in social work professionalism is the person-environment perspective, which posits that our personal attributes, interactions and relationships with others, and environment influence a social worker’s practice. Cournoyer stresses that it is a social worker’s responsibility to acknowledge and regulate his or her personal biases, ideologies, and beliefs when working with clients in order to prevent them from negatively impacting the therapeutic
There are several populations that interest me however possible preferences include families that deal with domestic abuse and those who are disabled. Working with families that have experienced domestic violence is an interest because in the past I had friends whose family was dealing domestic violence and the impact could clearly in all members of the family. Seeing the difference that was made by those who worked to help their family made this population a preference. Another population that is a possible preference is are those who are disabled. The interest to help those who were disabled started when a faculty called Edelweiss opened. Up to that point there had been no interaction with those who lead different lives than myself. Through the year that was spent volunteering the changes in those that had lessons became obvious. Being able to see the achievements of those who had lessons made it a continued interest. In the past couple of years a new side of this interest was shown. There is someone that is a close friend who is disabled because of seizures who has had trouble with employers. Seeing how she has been treated made it even clearer that this population needs help and has made it a continued interest professionally and personally.
1. Listening skills, such as listening to the client and understanding client needs and wants more carefully and responsively. Acknowledging the feelings they are expressing. Compassionately allowing them to express their feelings. Listening and reflecting back on what I hear allows me to identify client’s thoughts. Listening in the field of social work is crucial in understanding client’s situation. Listening responsibly lets the client know you care about them.
Being able to empathize with clients to understand and identify with their experiences, even if they do not describe their thoughts or feelings explicitly to you. A good social worker can empathize with a wide variety of people, understanding their choices and feelings even if, as a social worker you do not agree with them. I need to be emotionally attuned to individuals ' needs, and will also have to be able to help them identify and articulate their feelings. An angry person, for example, might be struggling with feelings of inadequacy that fuel anger. I consider myself to be a highly empathetic person, therefore, I will be better equipped to detect
Advocating for vulnerable persons creates emotions and feelings that could lead to inappropriateness amongst clients. As social workers, we walk a very thin line sometimes in the aspects of helping a client. This makes it easy to stray away from policy and procedure and go with our own personal feelings. The consequences which can result from not establishing appropriate boundaries can be detrimental to my career as a social worker and to a client.
I have chosen social work as a profession because of my passion to help others. I want to make a difference in someone’s life and help them through the problems they are having. Whether the client needs counseling, guidance, or advocacy I want to be the person to help them. My drive for helping others and motivation to change social policies for the better is why I have chosen social work as my future profession.
Volunteering made me find my career plan in sociology / Social Worker. With a college degree in one of these areas, I hope to impact my community in ways. First, with the knowledge from college, I hope to counsel with young people& adults. In today's society, there are so many negative things that influence adults & young people. I want to help them understand the importance of setting goals and striving to become great citizens. I also want to give them a sense of hope that with perseverance, they can become great role models for other adults &young people by
My current job as a Behavioral Intervention Specialist for Bakersfield City School District has motivated me to pursue my masters in social work. Working with troubled students on a daily basis has allowed me to see the great need for social workers at schools. Many students are not successful in school due to their emotional and social issues in their daily lives. I want to be a professional social worker so I can better understand behavior, trauma, and learn of more ways to assist the students at my school. I truly feel The Master of Social Work (MSW) program will prepare me to help create that change in the schools that is desperately needed.
My interest persisted and grew as I began to see how my efforts had the ability to improve the lives of people around me. I first noticed this on a personal level as friends would come to me for advice or for me to listen to their struggles and provide comfort. No matter how mundane, horrific, unique, or common the story was, I listened to them in a genuine and non-judgmental manner. I truly enjoyed hearing people’s stories and providing comfort and advice when needed. These moments helped me realize the power of simply being there for someone, and it increased my interest of pursuing a career where I can support those who need it most. I want to become a social worker so I can provide direction to those who may not be able to get it from other sources, just like I have done for various people throughout my life.
Engagement is considered one of the most important parts of working with a client. Coady and Lehmann (2008) consider engagement the first of four steps in the problem solving model of social work. Engagement can begin as early as the first over the phone contact or referral notification with the client. To become aware of the client’s background (ecology and life circumstances) is crucial part of this stage. It is also important for the social worker to become in tune with their own thoughts and beliefs when coming into contact with this client for the first time. After tuning into the client it is key for any social worker to make a client feel welcomed with a sense of warmth, empathy and respect. Too much empathy and warm, however, can be detrimental to the course of service provision. Coady and Lehmann (2008) note that the engagement process is never ending and can continue well into counseling.
The personal qualities that I equip for the social work profession is the ability to work effectively with people from diverse populations. I was born and raised in a community composed of diverse populations which has given the training/knowledge to become a social worker. During the internship and the volunteering, I learn to be empathy with other people. I have what I takes to be a social worker because I want to help
However, there is still a great amount of competence to grasp. Dimitrijoska and Vladimir (2016) state that “[t]he social worker is responsible for his/her professional development and must continually work on gaining new knowledge and learning new methodologies (p. 55). Moreover, as I move forward in social work courses, I will need to take a few actions to ultimately become successful. I will need to do more research, whether it be scholarly articles or assigned texts. I would like to engage in my community by volunteering at more agencies, and making connections with the organizations and learning from social workers. The last step I would like to take is from this point forward, I would like to engage in mindfulness practices. This step in particular is for me to be able to have a healthy relationship with myself, so I am able to continue working for clients in the future, and be able to act as an effective
Social work is a profession which promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and enhance well-being. It is important to acknowledge the history of social work and the purpose of social work and why it exists. Social work is a questioned theory with different perspectives on what it is and how it should be practised. Social work helps people to deal with personal and social problems so that people can overcome or adjust to any personal difficulties. Social work is a combination of social stability and social change. Social stability promotes individual and social welfare and social change seek to change negative aspects of society. Values are implicit within the law and policy and these tend to reflect the values within society. Personal values can influence the way social workers interpret and implement their profession.