Mary Ellen Richmond This paper will explore the life of Mary Ellen Richmond – one of the most well-known Social Work advocates in the profession, the contributions she made to the Social Work profession, and the impact of those contributions. It will do so by exploring her background, the specific contributions she made, the populations these contributions affected, the impact of her contributions, and the practice implications. Brief Biography Murdach (2011) wrote that Mary Ellen Richmond was not wealthy like most of the charitable people of her time. Both of her parents died of tuberculous before she was seven years old, and she was raised by her maternal grandmother and two aunts (Pumphrey, 1961). Richmond attempted to live in New York City …show more content…
According to Murdach (2011), Richmond, throughout her career, taught that social workers were teachers – they used methods that dealt with the educational and social aspects of a client’s life to help develop them into better functioning members of society. Richmond saw education as an absolute must for charitable workers (what would become Social Workers). She developed short training programs during her time with the Baltimore Charity Organization Society that focused on house-hold economics, child care methods, and health measures so clients could be better served (Murdach, …show more content…
Her scientific casework methods are still used in assessing clients in today’s practice. The Social Work profession also built off her values of individuality, dignity, and importance of human relationships in the core values of the profession, these can be seen in the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics. While Social Workers still follow most of Richmond’s values today, other values have been re-evaluated as time has progressed. Instead of Richmond’s suggestions of gathering personal information without the client’s knowledge (Pumphrey, 1961), the Social Work profession now values confidentiality and privacy when dealing with clients. Richmond has made several contributions to Social Work, which is why she is known as one of the “founding mothers” of the profession. While Social Work has progressed and changed methods throughout the years, many of Richmond’s contributions are still utilized today. Specifically her ideas of scientific casework and the Person-In-Environment, or Systems theory, she was just beginning to uncover. Richmond is one of the main reasons Social Workers are so highly educated today. She took the charitable volunteer work of upper class women and created a greatly needed profession out of
Mary Richmond and Jane Addams were two historic social workers that were known for their great work in the history of social work profession. They gravitated their focus on real world social problems. Which in today’s era social workers of today, also gravitas on bringing social justice for the injustice on behalf of the clients.
Abbott and her sister, Edith, were two of the earliest and most influential figures in social work (Costin, 1983, p. 227). Like many other social work pioneers, they fought adamantly against the widespread notion at the time that vulnerable
"The Story of Mary Ellen." The Story of Mary Ellen. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2014. .
This class, Social Work Theory & Practice was made to be able to introduce me to social work theories, ideas, and skills needed to work in the social work profession. This class main tool used was a book called A Brief Introduction of Social Work Theory by David Howe which discusses social work theories in a compressive and explainable way. This class is important to my higher learning because it break down the theories that I will need to use during my practice and a...
Image there was a career that revolved mainly around helping people; making sure they they have a place to sleep, food to eat, or just for moral support to motivate them to take that extra step. That career exists and it’s called social work. Social work is a job for advocates who help those lesser achieve whatever it is they need to live a better life. Today there are around 700,000 social workers in the field, but that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Jane Addams (Boman 2). Jane Addams can be credited with starting the career of social work, and in the span of her life, has made many contributions to our society. Throughout her life Addams was the co-owner of the Hull House, a community home that housed immigrants, classes, and
Social work pursues to meet the demands and addresses the changing profession of fighting for human rights, improving social policies, and practice. I agree with the Abramovitz article that we have to know and understand the history of the social work profession. If people go without learning and comprehending the past, people cannot make accommodations for the future. Knowledge of the past will keep history alive, it will guide workers and their efforts to reform. The past also helps society in understanding programs that did not work. Society needs to understand the values that historical knowledge can bring positive changes in the future. Advocates for early social workers and their issues and concerns are still relevant in today's
The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics (2010) proposes three core values of Social Work, respect for persons, social justice and professional integrity (pp.12). These core values establish “ethical responsibilities” for the social worker (AASW, 2010, pp.12), specifically, the value of respect for persons, which sustains the intrinsic worth of all human beings as well as the right to wellbeing and self determination consistent with others in society (AASW, 2010,p.12). This Code of Ethics stipulates the duty of care a social worker must provide, a...
National Association of Social Workers [NASW]. (1998). The New NASW Code of Ethics Can Be Your Ally: Part I. Retrieved from: http://www.naswma.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=96
Mary Richmond and Jane Addams are two very influential women in social work history. They helped shape what social work is today. Mary Richmond helped with her charity organizations and Jane Addams with the settlement movement. Not only did they help shape the history of social work, but they paved the road for the generalist practice as well with their work at the micro and macro levels. They are two very different women with two very different approaches.
Social work practice is a profession where it works alongside the ‘code of ethics’, these consist of formal statements which represent values of the professional community. The national associations such as Britain state the core values within this field are human dignity and worth, social justice, service to humanity (human rights), integrity and competence. The professional field is regulated by the ‘British Association of Social Work’ (BASW). The core values within social work are huma...
This paper will explore what the primary mission of social work as a professional means to me. Through self-reflection of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, I will delve into why I chose social work as a career, the type of social worker I want to become, and ponder what challenges and obstacles may impede my chosen path.
All social workers are beholden to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Professional ethics are the main core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The code is composed of thematic sections that outline a social worker’s responsibility to clients, colleagues, employers, and the profession. Some responsibilities that a social worker has to a client are that the clients are their primary responsibility, fostering maximum self-determination in clients, respecting the privacy of clients, keeping information that has been shared during the course of their duties confidential and charging fees for services that are fair and considerate
While there, Mary published multiple books like What is Social Case Work? and the Social Diagnosis "the first book to address professional social work practice, in 1917. A guide for beginning caseworker, the book outlined ways to diagnose and assess need, and it greatly influenced the new profession. Mary Richmond 's work codified the emphasis on casework in the tradition of focusing on the individual" (Popple,1995; Segal, Gerdes & Steiner, 2010). Her book also "constructed the foundation for the scientific methodology development of professional social work" (History of Social Work). Not only did Mary published books but she also orchestrated research studies. One of them was the Nine Hundred Eighty-five Widows where she studied different aspects of marriage, families and widowhood. Mary helped to take research to another level "it was Richmond who systematically developed the content and methodology of diagnosis in the period around 1910" (History of Social Work). She connected how people 's environment can play a role in their situations "she believed that social problems for a family or individual should be looked at by first looking at the individual or family, then including their closest social ties such as families, schools, churches, and jobs. Finally casework would then look at the community
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen
The work of a social worker is complex and all encompassing. Social workers work in many capacities seeking justice, liberation, and equality. There work is global, as they work to put policies in place to govern practices. To keep up with societal shifts and generational changes there learning is continuous. As new questions rise so does the need for the continuation of research, not only to answer these questions but to implement into