Six Core Values In Social Work

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Recommended: How are ethics reflected in the nature of social work

When working with this population, if a client is withholding their diagnosis from their sexual partners and having unprotected sex the social worker faces an ethical dilemma. Confidentiality is a major concern but so is duty to warn and the duty to protect. According to Granich (2012), “Mental health professionals do not have the legal right to disclose that a person is HIV-positive to another person. This is at the discretion of physicians in many states. However, social workers and mental health professionals must struggle with this legal situation if a client insists on potentially harming another person through risk of transmission of HIV”. Social workers need to consider the society in which they are working and the society that the …show more content…

The value of service involves the social worker placing the needs of the client above personal interests. The social worker accesses their knowledge base to assist clients and engage in social problems to evoke change. Additionally, social workers are expected to be philanthropists by allocating time to pro-bono work. It is expected that such contributions are categorized as volunteerism and does not include the service provided in the professional setting where there are earnings involved. Social justice lies at the foundation of social work. Social workers continuously strive to advocate for vulnerable and disenfranchised clients facing oppression and social injustice. They exhibit efforts in the name of social change in arenas of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, amongst others. Social workers seek to continuously educate themselves on cultural diversity as well as connecting client’s with necessary resources to improve the quality of their lives and empower them to sustain lasting change (Reamer, …show more content…

When thinking critically and carefully examining bodies of work and cyber classroom discussions, I frequently reference the code of ethics. According to Reamer (2013), “Values have been important in social work in several key aspects, with regard to (1) the nature of the social work mission; (2) the relationships that social workers have with clients, colleagues, and members of the broader society; (3) the methods of intervention that social workers use in their work; and (4) the resolution of ethical dilemmas in practice”. Thus far, the only conflicting value of the profession I encountered is the responsibility to volunteer and do pro-bono work. I believe heavily in the importance of volunteerism and have spent years of my life doing so. However, with the increase in my work load with an advanced degree, I do not foresee that being a viable option. A balance needs to be maintained, between work life and home life. If I am working full time, in a marriage, and parenting, I cannot feasibly be volunteering and being a political activist outside of my career. It is my hope to someday have the means and additional time to allocate to volunteerism and participation with social work at a macro level, but at this time that is not feasible. I believe it is unhealthy for social workers to

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