Essay On Nasw Code Of Ethics In Social Work

"The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession's focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living" (NASW code of ethics).

NASW has 10 cultural standards. These standards that are given are supposed to enhance knowledge and skills that I will learn more about during throughout my course of human services. These standards

give the support and guidance to social workers and their practice on everyday basis, so they can be as effective and efficient as can be when working with families. The four standards : Ethic and Value, Self Awareness, Language and communication and Diversity In The Workplace are the standards I believe and hope to grow and become more educated about so I can apply them to my own practices.

The National standard 1: Ethics and Value defines each ethical principles based on a social work core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence.

Service is the idea of chosen life path for every social worker. Generally, every job that aimed on the common good is service, however, some professions uses this word in its high, spiritual sense. Service for social worker is not only the act of help or assistance; it is also the possibility and duty to serve people.
Social justice is rather complicated idea, generally it means the social application of justice as the concept. I prefer thinking about social justice as a movement and activities that aimed on the social just world. Under this approach social justice is “based on the concepts of human rights and equality, it includes the equal possibilities, opportunities and outcome.” For social workers social justice could be the highest idealistic aim of

serving.
Dignity and worth of person as an idea and also has a lot of common with social justice. It means the equal treatment to all the people independently of their age, race, gender, origin, disabilities and so on. Dignity and worth of person were always in the center of human community, and disparagement can be hardly combined with the idea of social justice.
Importance of human relationships – humans are social being and the lack of companionship or separation from other is always the problem for individual which could possibly be a conflict that my clients may come across but I will also resolve that by making sure they have specific tools and interagency where they can feel they can get the help they are seeking .
Self Awareness is the 2nd standard in the NASW Cultural Standards. Self Awareness means “the recognition of our personality, strengths and weaknesses and likes and dislikes”. As a social worker, self awareness one of the most essential elements to prepare oneself to encounter the clients' personal matter, their attitudes, thoughts, etc. It is common that when come to minorities such as prostitutes, homosexuals or the street sleepers, different religions and aspects, people may regard their behaviors as unethical. It may be due to their personal values, cultural, religious and other beliefs which people take for granted to adopt and become more informative when facing these issues. One specific way I would apply this standard to my practice to the people/ clients is by doing my own personal research on the different minorities I come across and learn how to deal with them so I can help my client i plan to serve in human service because I could easily have unkowling words that may harm offend or trigger my client without any intentions of doing that or knowing they would be offended it by it which I feel I may struggle with somewhat only because until I would be able to get to know my clients and families I would not know any of this information. Although there are limitation to the service I will provide to my client and they’re many ways to minimize the inadequacy and maximize the openness and respect to the other way people live and personal situations and their life-styles .

Communication in my own definition would be the exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium'.

It cannot be described in such narrow terms within social work because of the different techniques involved in working with different service users in a multitude of situations. Language and Communication is the 5 Standard in NASW Cultural Standard Indicator. Communication is one of the biggest factors within the social work practice. Communication is such a vague word and can’t be defined within narrow terms because there so many different techniques involved. When communicating with my clients the fundamentals are communication which are voice, body language, hearing observing encouraging and remembering are key thing that I would be apply and be mindful while communicating with my clients. For example and ethical dilemma I may come across is communicating with families for the first time, introducing myself , informing them on details about their case, assess them,refer them to service etc they may not responding accordingly which could be difficult but would reassure them to remain calm and to better explain I’m here to help them in way of

assistant
Diversity in the workplace is standard 7 in NASW Cultural Standards. Diversity simply means differences and has become on of the most popular topics across the nation. Diversity simply means differences. Diversity at work refers to a strategy that promote values, behavior and working practices which recognize the difference between people and thereby enhance staff motivation and performance and release potential, delivering improved services to customers (Thomas, 1991). Among the workplace diversity is a much common thing especially as a social worker. Diversity brings a lot of positive aspects such as creating awareness, enforcing the equality law, fighting discrimination competitive pressure. Overall I believe a diverse workplace enhances the performance of the business. One example how being in a diverse workplace is I will gain the skills to recognize and respect different viewpoints of other that may help me in my own practice. Overall diversity in the workplace makes others more educated and increases the changes of everybody being able to enjoy and equal opportunity.