Reflective essay and ecomap

Introduction

The goal of social work and human service is to support individuals and groups to get better control over their lives by promoting fair social structures. I always had a passion to support disadvantaged people who lacked access to the basic necessities of life. I believe that all affluent members of society have a responsibility to meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable groups. I realized that social work is the best pathway to enhance the well-being of people with complex needs. To devote myself fully to this mission, I decided to enter this profession. Through this reflective paper, I will reflect on my motivation to complete a degree in social work and my own personal understanding of the profession. I will evaluate my capability to fulfil the values of the AASW.

Reflection on practice

Since my childhood, I have witnessed my community member’s services towards mankind. I was involved in helping poor and needy people. The social worker is associated with similar activities and they try to provide support and services that promote the physical and social well-being of vulnerable groups in society (Dziegielewski & Holliman, 2019). I developed the habit of helping people since then and I have connected with many charity organizations to ensure we can contribute in any way. My childhood experience made me realize how social workers act as change agents and arrange resources to strengthen the lives of people. According to Healy (2022), social workers require a clear yet sensible sense of professional purpose which is informed by theories, knowledge and values of the profession. Thus, pursuing a degree in social work can help to achieve the above goals. It was my dream to become a social worker. During my educational journey, I learnt just donation is not enough for social work. I decided to pursue a degree in social work to gain the skills and capacities to work with vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society. The motivation behind pursuing the degree was my passion towards social work and the urge to give back to society. Thus, my childhood experiences and motivation towards charity encouraged me to establish a career in social work.
My personal value towards social work was shaped by my experiences in the community and with my family. My personal values included compassion, dignity, social justice and advocacy. My father was involved with many charity organizations and he donated frequently. I developed an interest in social work through my father and I started volunteering in many organizations. Based on my experiences in this organization, I gained knowledge of the core purpose of social work (AASW, 2020. The goal of social work is to promote the well-being of humans and satisfy the human needs of all people. It pays special attention to fulfilling the needs of vulnerable, oppressed and below-poverty-line groups (Briggs, 2020). The role of social workers is to empower disadvantaged groups through social justice, social change and acting against discrimination, oppression and other types of social injustice (Pease, 2020). This is possible through direct practice, consultation and advocacy processes. Asakura and Maurer. (2018) argues that social justice is one of the professional values of social work that is articulated in ethical codes. It relates to my own personal values as I have been active in raising my voice for the disadvantaged sections. By becoming a professional social worker, I will get the power to further end any form of social injustice by connecting with relevant stakeholders. In my future work, my values of compassion and dignity will support me to listen to the concerns of oppressed groups and advocate for them by utilizing mediation, negotiation and navigating systems on behalf of patients (Asakura & Maurer, 2018). This will ensure meeting different needs such as educational needs, need for housing and shelter, sanitation and medical care needs.

During my preparation to become a social worker, I gained knowledge about different professional values and practices linked to the profession. The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) developed the Code of Ethics for social workers which emphasizes on principle responsibilities integral to the social work profession (AASW, 2020). The three core ethical principles that all social workers need to abide by are respect for persons, social justice and professional integrity. The first ethical principle implies respecting the inherent dignity, human rights and autonomy of a person. The second principle of social justice defines promoting justice and social fairness by decreasing barriers and expanding the choice of all persons, bringing change to social systems and opposing works that violate human rights (Australian Association of Social Work, 2020). I anticipate that achieving all the elements of social justice could be difficult for me because when a change in a social system is required, I may not be able to get the desired results. This is because the change in a system requires changing mindset and I lack the skills to negotiate with an unjust society. Language and stress-related barriers could also affect my performance (Browne, 2019). I feel I cannot initiate system-wide change and it would require a broader skill set. The study by Levenson (2017) supports that social work professionals need to handle sensitive issues such as violence, substance abuse, and inequality. Building trust with vulnerable groups is difficult and it may not be possible to connect with such clients. Thus, effective communication will be important to manage clients and power relationships. I plan to work on my communication skills and gain confidence to build rapport with vulnerable sections of society.

Social workers act as the mediator between people and their social, cultural and physical environment. They have a dual function of promoting social functioning and identifying systematic issues within the system (Fook, 2020). When reflecting on my own personal capabilities as a social worker, I found that negotiation is one of my weak skills. I plan to learn more about the practice standards needed for negotiation in the social world (Browne, 2019). According to the standards of ethical conduct 8.1.8, social workers should engage in ethically and professionally appropriate negotiation processes. The management and supervision roles can be useful in this regard. The standard 7.2 states that social workers should receive ongoing training and professional education to meet staff development needs (AASW, 2020). In accordance with the above, I plan to engage in professional training on negotiation skills.
A social worker needs to engage with different stakeholders to support the needs of vulnerable clients. They directly collaborate with the client, social service staff, policymakers, health service department, local government and community support groups (Browne, 2019). The relation is further shown in the ecomap below. Through collaborating with each of them, accessibility to service and meeting other needs of clients are prioritized (Briggs, 2021). To understand my personal capacity to interact with different stakeholders, I will reflect on my personal values and link them with the values required for the profession. Reflexivity is an important requirement in social work as it can support clients’ self-actualization and growth. Through their own experience of self-actualization, they can relate to clients in a genuine and authentic manner. Reflective practitioner recognizes their values and interactions with that of the service users (Leung et al., 2011). Personally, I have dealt with homelessness and my honesty supported me to build my strength and self-agility.

Based on my experience of homelessness and adversities, I will be able to sympathize with clients. I have the ambition to change the social systems that keep people poor. They often lack the support system to bounce back and build a good quality of life for themselves. I aim to make open connections with such vulnerable groups and understand ways they could be supported to lead better life. Through my values of honesty, I will try to rebuild resilience and self-confidence in my client (Newell, 2020). I will especially work with housing practitioners to understand how appropriate housing support can be given to the vulnerable group. My personal value of honesty and trust will help me to display respect for my clients and advocate for their needs and human rights. It is aligned with the ethical code for social workers which states that they should respect the dignity, human right and duty of care towards the client. They should foster individual well-being and autonomy and respect the community's collective needs (AASW, 2020). In future also, I aim to maintain a journal for ongoing critical reflection on self-assumption and values and use them to build my professional integrity.

Ecomap

Conclusion

To conclude, based on reflection on my personal values and capacity for social work, I identified values of compassion and social justice as my strengths. It will support me to deal with vulnerable clients and adhere to the AASW social ethical principle of respect, social justice and professional integrity. My goal is to bring changes in the system so that the poor do not remain poor. To be successful in this goal, I will have to work on my negotiation skills. Reflexivity is important in the profession and I aim to reflect on my practice in the future to develop self-awareness and respect for other people’s needs.

References

Asakura, K., & Maurer, K. (2018). Attending to social justice in clinical social work: Supervision as a pedagogical space. Clinical Social Work Journal, 46, 289-297.
Australian Association of Social Workers (2020). Australian Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/13400
Briggs, L. (2020). Collaborative assessment from a cross-cultural perspective. In Practice Skills in Social Work & Welfare (pp. 179-195). Routledge.
Browne, T. (2019). Social work roles and healthcare settings. Handbook of health social work, 21-37.
Dziegielewski, S. F., & Holliman, D. C. (2019). The changing face of health care social work: Opportunities and challenges for professional practice.
Fook, J. (2022). Social work: A critical approach to practice. Social Work, 1-100.
Healy, K. (2022). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Leung, G. S., Lam, D. O., Chow, A. Y., Wong, D. F., Chung, C. L., & Chan, B. F. (2011). Cultivating reflexivity in social work students. The Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning, 11(1), 54-74.
Levenson, J. (2017). Trauma-informed social work practice. Social work, 62(2), 105-113.
Newell, J. M. (2020). An ecological systems framework for professional resilience in social work practice. Social Work, 65(1), 65-73.
Pease, B. (Ed.). (2020). Doing critical social work: Transformative practices for social justice. Routledge.

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