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A reflection essay about forgiveness
A reflection essay about forgiveness
A reflection essay about forgiveness
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In this paper, I will be writing a final reflection from the class, Spirituality and the Practice of Human Services: An Integrative View. This will include my present religious personal journey. Additionally, my current understanding of spirituality and religion in human services. Lastly, I will incorporate my vision on how I will function ethically, responsibly, and competently as a human services professional. My present religious personal journey is a growing and developing path. I have come a long way since my childhood to develop into who I am today. My upbringing helped shaped who I am, but also as an adult I have also had to make numerous life altering decision and overcome obstacles. As a child I was raised in a Christian home, went …show more content…
One thing I know for sure, is that I will never know all there is to know. Another thing I know, is that I will never be perfect. What I do strive for is to have an open mind and heart. Often biblical teaching can be opposite of what I naturally feel, such as forgiveness. It is easy to feel mad, anger, and hold onto resentment. But it is taught to forgive others which actually give freedom from the pain. Aagaard discusses the eyes of faith and how a way of seeing has become difficult to defend. She writes, “It is possible to merely look at things, and not see. It is possible to relate to ‘‘the world’’ as an objective reality prior to a modern empty look that waits to be somehow filled with content” (p. 63). It can be difficult to defend why forgiveness is so important. My personal experience is that forgiveness does allow the filling of …show more content…
This will often include setting aside my own beliefs so that I can make an authentic connection with the client and develop an understanding of what they believe. Crisp discusses how social work is known for being a holistic profession including having interest in the person, their environment, and taking into consideration contextual factors for the persons wellbeing. This includes being enmeshed with ensuring vital resources for physical and mental health. However, it wasn’t until more recent years that a growing awareness of the necessity for professionals to take into account the spiritual needs of clients (p. 663). These spiritual needs could be different for each individual as well as diversely different from my own. As a human services professional I might not be able to share my own religious beliefs directly with clients. However, this does not mean that my religious beliefs cannot be brought into the workplace. Truly, I will be using my religious beliefs on a daily basis when working with clients. I can do this because my beliefs are part of who I am and how I treat others. My beliefs allow me to have a greater understanding of the need for compassion for all
As a practicing social worker, I at times have found it difficult not be wrapped up in my personal thoughts and beliefs and transfer them to my clients. This is what happened with Mindy during her relationship with Mr. Marshall. Spirituality and faith often times are the guiding forces for many people including myself and although it sees easy to separate my beliefs from the task as a social worker, it is very difficult. There is policy, that guides my practice with my agency and there are core values that guide my interactions with clients and these are not congruent. For Mindy the medical center/clinic’s policies related to her job performance were to assist Mr. Marshall in planning for his treatment and end of life care. This took time as Mindy’s role as a social worker entailed her to synthesis all information provided to her by Mr. Marshall about his childhood, family situation, marital experience and his faith and to assist him in taking all of this information and preparing a care plan that was client directed. While in the midst of Mr. Marshall’s illness her social work core values created dysfunction within herself and she stepped out of the worker/client role into one of friend/client role. This is why I feel that Mindy’s competency would be increased if she was able to receive further educational
I find comfort and security in knowing that love and forgiveness, regardless of my mistakes, is never withheld. Not believing in something greater than myself soon leaves me in the darkness and despair of the unknown and I feel like the meaning and purpose of my life is robbed from me. My religion also impacts my nursing practice. I have faith that God hears our cries and prayers. I believe that he does answer them, although it may not always be in the way that we want, expect or understand. If a patient of mine is struggling I can turn to God for assistance in caring for one of his children. If they happen to disclose their beliefs and are open to talking about them, I can walk beside them on their journey with life and death. An individual’s beliefs, culture and diversity impact actions and behaviours in the workplace (Harris,
Mark McMinn purposely writes this twofold book to first, address the pragmatic assimilation of psychology, theology, and spirituality. Secondly, he explores the spirituality of a Christian counselor, and how this aspect of character affects the methods he or she may use to represent Jesus Christ when dealing with clients. Altogether, this book discusses the dual need for Biblical Counselors to multitask with clients while pursuing personal development in spirituality to advance a Christian worldview. The objective is to “help Christian counselors and researchers unite around certain key questions and perspectives so that our interventions become increasingly relevant and effective" (p. 6).
Professionalism in the social work field goes beyond licensure and expertise (Cournoyer, 2014). According to Cournoyer (2014), social work professionalism encompasses the concepts of integrity, self-efficacy and knowledge, self-understanding and self-control, and social support (Cournoyer, 2014). Embedded in social work professionalism is the person-environment perspective, which posits that our personal attributes, interactions and relationships with others, and environment influence a social worker’s practice. Cournoyer stresses that it is a social worker’s responsibility to acknowledge and regulate his or her personal biases, ideologies, and beliefs when working with clients in order to prevent them from negatively impacting the therapeutic
There are very many key ideas that were discussed during this interview. The main ideas that were of most interest to me included counseling individuals from various religious and spiritual backgrounds, maintaining one’s safety and the importance of counselors practicing
... spirituality when they are at risk for developing spiritual distress, I may potentially save my clients life, decrease their emotional instability and help them develop their own abilities to cope.
My main concern when counseling a nonreligious client is ensuring that he or she is treated as fairly as possible without unwarranted bias, undue judgment, or discriminative views on my part. This is due to the fact that “The more a patient deviates from a therapist’s values, the more likely he or she is to receive a severe diagnosis and poor prognosis” (Szasz, 1970; as cited in Lewis & Lewis, 1985, p. 926). Like it or not, our values, beliefs, and morals (i.e., our worldview) can and will to a certain extent determine how we assess our clients. While LeTourneau students are educated in matters of multicultural competence and the integration of religion and psychology we are still human and as such are prone to make the same value-laden judgmental mistakes as everyone else.
Senreich (2013) discuss that an individual may have certain spiritual belief systems that becomes their definition of spirituality, which gives them different viewpoints and morals to live by on a daily basis. The NASW code gives social workers core values and six specific purposes that will direct and guide their decisions and behaviors while working with clients. This similarity is a key for social workers to understand, because as they have these codes to direct their daily practice, it does not guarantee that all of their actions will be ethical, however, they must strengthen these values to ensure that the most ethical decisions are made (NASW, 2016). Therefore, when a client is struggling with physical or mental health issue and their behaviors wavier from their spiritual belief systems, it is important for the social worker to acknowledge their client’s spiritual strength and help them overcome their issues. The NASW value of dignity and worth of the person will allow the social worker to be mindful of the client’s unique differences and perspectives in order to help give them the opportunity to address the psychical and mental issues they are experiencing (NASW, 2016). Overall, spiritual care and the NASW codes have a few differences, however, the many similarities that both possess can give social
Christianity provides a valuable platform for practicing psychology and understanding human nature. This article is valuable for understanding the relationship between Christianity and counseling. Effective counseling must take into consideration the spirituality of clients to understand the root causes of their problems. This article is highly recommended for any psychologist or aspiring counselor.
When I started the Human Services career I always believed that I was going to be able to help anyone that needs help and it did not matter what type of crimes they had committed. Little did I know that this career was going to challenge me as a person and was going to make me think about my own biases and make me think how can I over come my own biases to be an effective helper. Being a single mother of two children, I am overprotected with my children and even like that its sad too know that sometimes child molesters are someone you know. At one point, I believed that a child molester should not even be allowed to live in this country and they should be in jail for life.
More importantly, if the religious values/belief system are too difficult to over look then the social worker can ask for the transfer of the client to another worker. However, this does not help the social worker improve because by going into a carrier such as social work individuals must view each client without judgement. Hence, once you are in the profession of social work your religious values should not change how you view your clients, as doing so will impede the time allotted for listening to them unbiasedly and the chance to help them solve their
In this paper, I will be writing about my spiritual and religious journey and applying it to my career in human services. I will be referring to the textbook, “Religious and Spiritual Aspects of Human Service Practice” written by James W. Ellor, F. Ellen Netting, and Jane M. Thibault (1999). This will include where I am currently in my spiritual and religious journey and understanding. Also, what my journey has been so far and the role of community in my past and present journey. Additionally, I will be applying the application of a whole person model. Lastly, I will examine the self-assessment questions and discuss which ones are most crucial for human service professionals and which ones are less important.
In order to be an effective counselor, one must remember to keep the client(s) in mind. The goal is to assist the client(s) in living the best life possible for that particular person or persons. With that being said, one cannot forget that they have their own set of morals, values, ideas, and the like. Social workers have to keep in mind that there will be cases that are complex and a favorable outcome may not be possible. In the instance that I am confronted with an issue that conflicts with my religious beliefs, I plan on assisting the client as much as possible by adhering to the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics, NASW standards for the Practice of Clinical Social Work, and discussing my concerns with my supervisor while compiling a way to reconcile my feelings and the client’s needs.
The Moral Philosophy has been developed primarily over the course of the last century (Reamer, 1993). While the concepts of morals and ethics have always played a part when working with human beings, the focus of the subject as a whole has shifted over time. Originally, the profession of social work began with an emphasis on the client and centered upon their actions in the process. This means that the morality under question was that of the individual coming to the professional for help (Reamer, 1993). In the early practice of social work, it was the goal of the provider to assist the client in fixing their life and "enhance the morality" in order for the individual to begin a more fruitful and what
This paper will include a self-assessment of my own spirituality and how I view spirituality. Peer-reviewed scholarly articles will be included in the essay pertaining to spirituality and my belief. In the following paragraphs will also include the integration of spirituality within social work practice. I believe spirituality does various things for me in my life: it heals me, helps in a time of need, and guides me towards positive aspects of life, which many people believe the spirit does the same for them.