Reflective Social Work

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Recommended: Roles of social work in enhancing social functioning

NASW (1994) describes social work as “the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and to create societal conditions favorable to their goals.” One of my reasons for entering the social work field is to enhance one's social functioning, specifically adolescents in the criminal justice system. These individuals have risk factors that have influenced their decision making and behavior that led them to delinquency. I wish to work with this population, enhance their positive factors and help them lead a successful, new chapter in life. A major key of social work is having the ability to understand. In order to help an individual, group or community, it's vital to understand what they have experienced and their beliefs and values on life. Using the systems theory, I will be able to understand the relationships my clients has with other individuals and subsystems (Lum, 2004). These …show more content…

With this respect, I hope to see clients becoming open to change and having a better understanding on their negative actions. Working with my clients, I also hope to see them gain respect for themselves, that they think of the consequences of certain actions, and act towards a positive lifestyle. It is also important to understand the client's self-concept. According to Rowe (1996) “self -concept is an organized internal view consisting of the individual's perception of himself alone, himself in relation to others, and himself in relation to his environment and to the values attached to these perceptions.” In order to fully understand how a client feels, you have to understand how they see themselves in certain situations. What makes them nervous, scared, happy, and sad. A client's self-concept can differ positively and negatively regarding their

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