Empowerment Theory Of Social Work

social work, patients are empowered to identify their goals and change their circumstances to improve their quality of life. Social work clinicians with a multifocal vision, who understand the historically disadvantaged and oppressed population they are servicing, can competently integrate this theory into the practice setting. This process involves the ability to accept that everyone’s perspective is filtered through their own cultural framework, acknowledge the power differences that exist between racial, ethnic, and gender identities, as well as develop a deep understanding of the disparities between people. Segal (2012), suggested that despite research indicating that people are hardwired to be empathetic, based on neuroscientists' findings of regions of the brain that correspond to empathetic thoughts, we cannot rely on that evidence alone and need a historical and contextual understanding of people of non-dominant cultures to promote social action, foster transformative social

Information was disseminated to patients that educated them on the impact of social conditions, one group session focused specifically on those affected by natural disasters, to promote empathy and inspire individual and collective action. The patients were tasked with writing a letter of support to a hypothetical person or family that was impacted by a natural disaster. The patients then generated a world map and placed their letters around the map, which signified the strength of a unified community. When the patients shared their letters with the group, it was revealed that several of them had been personally impacted by natural disasters, which strengthened their understanding of why social empathy is an important concept and empowered them to continue to cultivate