Social justice and acting as an ally are two incredibly important social work practices, as both concepts are intrinsically linked to the core principles of social work. Social work interventions must employ the ally model as well as social justice principles, in order to comprehensively assist clients and move towards social equality (Gibson, 2014). A particular social work context that would require a social justice and ally model is working with oppressed and marginalized individuals. Which is a case that I have come across while working in a social service organization. While working within a social service organization, I have come across a client who requires assistance acquiring a suitable job and housing situation. Client is a 25-year-old …show more content…
Indigenous male, who was previously a ward of the crown. While assisting the client, I have found that the client has little motivation to change, as the client claims that the “odds are against him”. Upon further investigation, it has been found that the client has been a victim of extreme harassment and discrimination from other service institutions because of his Indigenous heritage. The client was treated unfairly in past social service agencies, and was placed into situations where social service providers made him feel powerless, and unworthy of help. After conversing with the client, I have found that he feels resentment towards his Indigenous heritage, and feels anger towards himself because of the situation he is in. This case requires social justice and progressive approaches to counteract the intense discrimination that the client has endured. This case is a structural social work issue, as the multiple parts of the client’s life are negatively affecting his ability to access services and find employment. Due to the extreme forms of harassment that the client has been exposed to from multiple institutions, the client feels undervalued and as though his negative situation will never change. The fact that he is an Indigenous male, has affected his ability to acquire the appropriate resources to change his life, as the resources and services that he acquired in the past were plagued with discrimination. The systematic oppression and undervaluing of Indigenous Canadians, has had a longstanding impact on the Indigenous community, and is impacting the client’s ability to access resources and services. The dominant ideologies present within contemporary Canadian society allow for the mistreatment and undervaluing of Indigenous individuals. Throughout Canadian history, the Indigenous community has been disrespected and abused by dominant groups (Reason, Millar, & Scales, 2005). In this specific case, we can see dominant and discriminatory ideologies have developed within social service provision, which is largely due to the discriminatory structure of contemporary Canadian society. Therefore, in this particular case, the mistreatment that the client faced, was not because of individual shortcomings or problems, but because of broader social circumstances that have paved the way for such discrimination and hatred to take place. The solution that will best benefit the client, is for the social worker to act as an ally to restore positivity into the client’s life, in order to ensure that he no longer holds negative opinions towards himself.
Furthermore, interventions must redress and denounce the discrimination that the client has been exposed to. In this particular case, the social worker must act as the client’s ally in order to remedy the discrimination and self-resentment that he experiences. The problems present within the client’s life are inherently personal, therefore, in order to properly assist the client, the social worker must be a close ally to undo the harm that has been done to him in the past. I will work as an ally to this client, as acting as an ally is the best way to promote and practice anti-oppressive principles. Working as an ally is integral to the practice of comprehensive and anti-oppressive social work. Acting as an ally to a client means closely working with the client towards their own personal health, and also towards social justice. The ally model believes in the enactment of social justice and social equality, by closely working with oppressed clients towards empowerment and social change. With this client, an ally model is necessary, as the oppression and discrimination that he has endured can only be resolved through a close social worker relationship, and a move towards social justice and equality (Gibson, 2014)). As acting as an ally to the client will ensure that social work interventions work comprehensively, as the empowerment of a client cannot occur unless the client trusts the social worker. Furthermore, employing progressive social work intervention tactics, such as anti-oppressive and strengths based approaches, empowers and advocates for the client. A key principle of social work practice is respect for the dignity and diversity of individuals, which was a principle that was not upheld in the client’s past social service experience (Heinonen &
Spearman, 2001, 74). In order to counteract the negative experience, the client has had, progressive models of social work must be introduced in order to restore the power and strength that has been diminished overtime. These approaches are linked to structural social work, as progressive approaches along with structural social work, aim to give a voice to the voiceless, solve the broader social issues, and heal the affects that social issues have on clients. In order to comprehensively assist this client, I must first employ an anti-oppressive intervention, and then a strengths based approach. As the client must first understand that the social problems that are evident in his life are not due to individual shortcomings, but broader social inequalities, and then the client can work on the self-resentment using an approach that focuses on the client’s strengths. While progressive approaches are critical in this case, acting as an ally to the client is equally as important to the success within the social work relationship. As the social worker, I must take into account that most models of social work often neglect an Indigenous individual’s culture and values. Therefore, I must make conscious efforts to understand the worldview and
Ideas of community, social progress, and culture are an ever-evolving social work issue. How do we as social workers choose to approach needs of groups and communities at the macro level? In order to grasp an understanding of true helping systems it is important for one to have a range of knowledge to justly participate within the formal helping structures an models that comprise of the social work field. In attempt to create our identity as active justice based social workers it is essential for one to conceptualize the framework of intersectionality. According to Kirsten-Ashmen, “Intersectionality involves the idea that people are complex and can belong to multiple, overlapping diverse groups “The intersectional perspective acknowledge the breath of the human experience, instead of conceptualizing social relationships and identities separately in terms of either race or class or gender or age or sexual orientation”; rather an intersectional approach focuses on the “interactional affects” of belonging to multiple groups (p. 48).” In order to remain committed to intersectionality I will apply theories and models to a progressing community in the city of Boston. A critical analysis of the strengths and weakness within each theory related to the specific community will be discussed. I will expose the intersecting layers, allowing for identity development through the lens of the macro social worker. I will begin by discussing my experience through the research process with my team members. After giving a detailed description of the project we can further explore the empowerment theory and systems theory to better explain the development of Dudley Street. The two theories are able to give an understanding of Roxbury’s forward progre...
The challenges that the social worker identified and the impact the abuse could have on Brandon include the trauma and abuse, illness and struggle may be injurious, but they may also be sources of challenge and opportunity. Every environment is full of resources. Resources can provide great strengths. One of social workers’ major roles is to link clients with the resources they need to empower them to improve their lives (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman,
Weick (1992) states “every person has an inherent power that may be characterized as life force, transformational capacity, life energy, spirituality, regenerative potential, and healing power, which is a potent form of knowledge that can guide personal and social transformation” (p. 24). No matter the crisis or oppression, it needs to be brought to client’s realization that they are strong, resilient and can overcome. They may not be aware of this inner power due to the constant stress and overwhelming sense of impending doom in their lives, but with the help of the strengths perspective, we can assist clients in realizing that they have strengths as well as weaknesses. Clients want to know that they can rely on social workers to provide adequate resources and respect their current situation, no matter how difficult it may be. Clients want to know that we can empathize with their situation and provide support, care and concern for the issues they are going through; they need to know that we will help them achieve their goals and not give up on them as many may have before in their lives. Saleeby (2013) states “your cli...
It does not matter what nationality, place of residence, sex, ethnic origin, color, religion, language, or any other status the person is, everyone should be treated equally (United Nations human rights office of the high commissioner [OHCHR], 1996). There is an international human rights law that protects human beings against the government and that limits the government’s power on their people. Human rights are protected by the law to protect people or groups against any type of discriminations. There are different organizations that promote and protect human rights. Social workers should also protect and fight for their clients’ human rights. It’s important for social workers to be knowledgeable about human rights so they can be able to advocate for their clients. Social workers should also teach their clients about human rights and how all human beings are entitled to their human rights. All human beings should be aware and knowledgeable about their human rights and social workers can be
The National Association of Social Workers, NASW, considers the following as its six most core values; service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. The value of service is considered to be a core value because offering help to those in need is a crucial goal for all of those looking to practice in the field of Social Work. These services can include, but are not limited to, addressing social problems, helping those in need, and volunteering their knowledge to those who cannot otherwise afford such help. Social Justice is also an important core value for a Social Worker to develop. As a Social Worker one will encounter many people from several different walks of life, no two cases will ever be exactly the same. Some of these walks of life can leave a client vulnerable, defenseless, exploited, oppressed, and troubled. Therefore it is important to learn what Social Justice is, and how to help people from falling victim to injustice. Dignity and Worth of the Person is one of the most important values that one should uphold. People who need the help of a Social Worker many, but not all, times feel powerless, embarrassed, and worthless because they feel as though they cannot control aspects of their life an...
Unlike cultural competence, Anti- racism and the Anti-oppression framework has a clear focus, to directly address oppressive practices, and privilege in large institutions. In the “ More than being against it: Anti– racism and Anti –oppression in mental health services “ the authors Simon Corneau and Vicky Stergiopouls, identify seven strategies of the anti-racism and anti-oppression that should be employed when practicing direct service with clients. These seven strategies are "empowerment, education, alliance building, language, alternative, healing strategies, advocacy, social justice/activism, and fostering reflexivity” (Corneau & Stergiopoulos, 2012). The goal of using these seven strategies with clients is to engage the client in the process of care by recognizing the strengths and knowledge that the client brings to the relationship and honoring the idea that there is a racial feature of oppression that is inherent in the dynamics of the client clinician relationships. For example, the use of this practice in my current job with the Family Drug Courts could have a profound effect on the outcomes for both parents and children involved in the program. One example is the case of a 28-year-old mother of three that was separated from her children because of her drug addiction. This parent had an extensive history of trauma,
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...
One must consider the nature of oppression and how it is present within social work. The nature of oppression infiltrates all aspects of life. Social work theorist, defines oppression as “relations that divide people into dominant or superior groups and subordinate or inferior ones. These relations of domination consist of the systematic devaluing of the attributes and contributions of those deemed inferior, and their exclusion from the social resources available to those in the dominant group”. When humans experience a perceived threat to their personal identities and lack the ability to maintain and affirm a unique identity, they exclude others by contrasting themselves against a constructed, and inferior, identity of the other. To better
Wilson, K. et. al., 2011. Social Work ' Introduction to Contemporary Practice'. 2nd ed. Essex, England.: Pearson Education Ltd .
The core of social justice is equality and fairness, specifically concerned with addressing a person or a group of people that society marginalizes or diminishes the power the person has. The goal of any social justice movement is to empower individuals to regain the power and dignity and/or to change the situation that is oppressing people. Counseling is also a practice centered on change and empowerment (Brackette, Rezaei, & Kuyinu, 2015). It is evident that professional counseling and social justice go hand in hand, yet the how and the deeper why need to be considered and explored so that counselors can fulfill their calling and client can regain dignity and the journey to wholeness. Counselors can engage in social justices practices on
Social justice is a core value in the social work field. We define social justice as, “all citizens would possess equal fundamental rights, protection, opportunities, obligations and social benefits (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015, p. 29). Unfortunately, we understand there are many members in today’s society that are not receiving social justice. Some may not want help and believe that s/he is able to do it on their own and then there are the individuals that we may not know about that could really use our help. Our jobs as social workers is to help those who need help no matter if they are rich, poor, disabled, white, Hispanic, it does not matter because everyone should be treated equally. As NASW states, “The original mission of social work had much to do with championing the rights of society’s most vulnerable members, from children to homeless people to the physically disabled” (NASW: National Association of Social Workers, 2015, para. 1).
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
Among an array of Values from The Code of Ethics (TCE) of social work Value 1 dictates that as social workers we must respect the dignity of our clients and refrain from passing judgement onto them (Canadian Association of Social Work, 2005, pg.7). As a social worker, it is important to follow this value as it prevents the distancing of the client from the worker as the client will have a better chance of opening up to someone who does not instantly tell them what to do or reprimand them for their actions or non-action in their lives. Oppression relates to the TCE in that it says the social work profession’s main purpose is to raise their clients who are vulnerable, oppressed and/or living in poverty (CASW, 2005, pg.7). Taking this into account
By empowering clients it may change their way of thinking, manage relationship in their life and the way they interact in their social environment (Walsh, 2013). Social workers help clients become aware of the conflicts with themselves and their surroundings that oppress or limit them and help clients become better able to free themselves from those constraints (2013). Those there are also limitations to empowerment practice. Clients may rely on the social worker’s guidance to seek solutions for their problems, referencing the social worker as an expert. Most importantly, a social worker cannot empower their clients if they themselves don’t have power. Social workers must have respect and influence among their peers in the service professions (Walsh,
Social workers challenge social injustice. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. The meaning of this value is to ensure that individuals going into the social work profession pursue change, most importantly with, on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals, and with groups of people. Additionally, this social work value forces social workers to constantly affect social change primarily focused upon issues of poverty, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice by creating activities that seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic