My reflection on carrying out an assessment and a clinical intervention is a complex process. Many factors are involved which creates lots of difficulties over the process, especially when applying theory into practice (Beder, 2000; Howe, 1987). Often these factors require a substantial effort of social workers to establish connections between them to gain a holistic view of a given situation, and to create a theoretically sound framework to guide their practice (Howe, 1987). I assign these factors into two categories: analytical and conceptual. I will now discuss my reflection on the two types of factors in more detail in relation to practise as a social worker. In terms of the analytical challenges, I assert that it mainly comes from my personal experience. It comprises values, belief, knowledge and the ability to reason (Howe, 1987; Parrish, 2009). The formation of personal experience starts from childhood and becomes more sophisticated as I have gone through different life events. Because I rely on my personal experience to make sense of the world, my understanding will be subject to my personal point of view. Yet, personal experience also creates a barrier for me to perceive things from a different angle. This view is gained from my current job where I am looking after autistic children. My experience cannot help me to understand why my clients behave in the way they do, even though I have a basic knowledge of what is autism from my undergraduate study. After a period of time, I eventually develop another way of understanding the children. I believe I will encounter to this challenge over and over again, during my journey of practising as a social worker, whenever I meet with new clients and try to understand them from their... ... middle of paper ... ...and negative influences of analytical and conceptual challenges when apply theory into social work practice. The positive influences of such include learning a new way of thinking and understanding as well as seeing things from another perspective. The negative influences are those that challenge my ability to judge. And, I argue that the biggest challenge is my own bias and then follow by the weaknesses of theory. Another difficulty is that social workers need to be able to integrate various theories into practice. However, combining theories is a complex process, with the absence of having actual experience of doing so; it makes me feel anxious about undertaking the two practical placements in the near future. Yet, I am also excited about taking on placements. Learning is a lifelong process and I hope the course can help me gain more knowledge and skills I need.
First of all, through this assignment, I have learned that a theory is an interrelated set of concepts and propositions, organized into deductive systems that explain relationships among different aspects. It is an overall explanation of the person in environment configuration, and helps explain why a problem is occurring. It will also provide a social worker with a set of ideas that will help the social worker get a better understanding of the problem. In addition, there are many different theories, and perspectives that are used in the social work field to empower people and to promote a positive society for all. This particular case is associated with bio-psychosocial approach
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...
In order to formulate a thorough assessment or intervention a social worker must first evaluate all the contributing factors that influence a client’s life. Problems faced by clients are rarely a result of a single factor or influence. Many individual, interpersonal and environmental factors must be evaluated to fully understand the cause of problems. Multidimensional assessments must be used to determine biological, psychological and environmental issues that contribute to problematic outcomes (Hepworth, Rooney, R., Rooney, G., & Strom-Gottfried, 2013.). Along with conducting multidimensional assessments, social workers must also evaluate stages of development, and assess how age can influence behaviors (2013). All contributing factors must
Social workers should have a strong knowledge base comprising of information gathered from variety of empirically tested theories which allows them to effectively appreciate the nature of people’s problems. Theory is a vital component in social work practice that guides the way in which social workers view and approach their clients, at micro, mezzo and macro level. Theory helps predict, explain and assess situations and
As a social worker, I have never interrogated my theoretical orientation, in part because I considered that common sense, agency´s directions, and social policies guided social work interventions. In fact, Mullaly (2010) discusses that social workers do not see the relation between theory and practice, and social work is perceived as a performance of practical duties. This was my perception until now, in particular, because I have been analyzing anti-oppressive principles and I realized that my experience has many nuances of those principles. Therefore, my past interventions have some commonalities with the anti-oppressive perspective, and then some strengths and limitations compared to the Canadian social work. (1) One of these strengths is empowerment. Power is an important element of
Parker, J. and Bradley, G. (2003). Social Work Practice: Assessment, Planning, Intervention and Review. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd.
Maclean, S. & Harrison, R. (2008) Social Work Theory: A Straightforward Guide for Practice Assessors and Placement Supervisors. Kirwin Maclean Associates, Staffordshire
The adult mental health social work may be considered complex and challenging due to the issues it faces. The practice entails the involvement of a certain number of professionals which have the authority to make an immense impact on the service users’ lives. The association with the social services may initiate within the service users a certain amount of discomfort and vulnerability. This may be because it could carry with it a certain degree of unwarranted labelling and prejudice. Apart from the impact that the involvement of the social services have on the service users, it is worth noting that there are further challenges which may be encountered, and they do not only arise from the complexity of the service users’ situation alone, they may also stem from the social worker’s capacity and experience to practice, laws, policies, funding and other factors that cannot always be controlled. The social workers have many tools to help and support the service users, however, been entrusted with authority as well as an element of power to make decisions through their assessments, they are also expected to practice responsibly because of the immense impact their evaluations have on people’s lives. These together with the legal accountability and the professionally required, ethical and moral congruence may be a fertile ground for conflict of interests. For example, a discrepancy between the views of the social worker and the service user regarding needs of services.
Theory has been defined as, “an organized set of assumptions, beliefs, or ideas about particular phenomena in the world (Teater, 2015).” Theory is used to understand and explain possible and perceived instances, behaviors and outcomes (Teater, 2015). Social workers use theory in order to understand, as well as, introduce interventions and solutions to their client’s individual situation. It is important for students entering into the social work profession to have a base knowledge of theories, with basic understanding of their similarities and differences to appropriately apply theory in practice. The theories which will be focused on in this paper include Systems Theory and Cognitive Behavioral Theory.
This paper highlights the unique contributions that social workers can bring to the field by using diagnosis in clinical social work. Though it has been debatable whether it is significant in the practice being that social workers are not doctors, but rather clinicians. Some people believe that social workers should practice diagnosis in clinical social work while others feel that it’s unjustified. This paper will explore the pros and cons to diagnosis in clinical social work practice through the history of social work, DSM, labeling, misdiagnosis. While applying strength perspective and empowerment in Clinical Social Work Practice. As a result, Social workers are competent to diagnosis patients, due to their level of education that has taught the ways of assessing, diagnosing and providing counseling to clients through the code of ethics.
Assessment is a basic skill of generalist social workers. As my current place of employment does not employ any defined assessment, I will utilize information from a generalist text and a sample assessment. The parameters of a generalist assessment are often defined by the specific practise agency (Birkenmaier, Berg-Weger, & Dewees, 2011). The assessment is utilized to identify relevant information such as demographics and the major areas for work such as the client’s goals (Birkenmaier et al., 2011). Many theories such as psychoanalytic or strengths perspective can influence a generalist assessment based on the assessing social worker’s theoretical preference (Birkenmaier et al., 2011). The sample generalist assessment used focuses on the client’s: living skills; health and disability; educationemployment; legal issues; housing; significant relationships; understanding of the issue; demographics; and crisis management (National Council of Social Service, 2006). The social worker has the opportunity to delve further into those areas if deemed necessary by their agency (National Council of Social Service, 2006).
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
Chenoweth, L & McAuliffe, D 2012, The road to social work and human service practice, 3rd edn, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne.
As the police adapt to the social climate, teachers try new learning methods and those in the medical profession use new medicines, social workers must too adapt and develop with the times. Everything was once an experiment, and there cannot be progression if Social Workers are not prepared to alter their mind-sets and practice according to new evidence and research. Being research minded, and able to question yourself and the things you are taught is integral to being a good social worker, and one who will be able to enable and protect the service users they work for through an ever changing, developing society.
Over the course of the semester, I have learned a variety of many things regarding social work. These things vary from learning how to help oneself to understanding how to help others. Not only were the textbooks very useful, but also the materials that furthered this textbook learning. The in class presentation, activities, and guest speakers gave us insight and a different perspective on the material we were learning. I feel like this course has given me a good foundation and prepared me as a future social worker (1).