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An essay on social work values
An essay on social work values
An essay on social work values
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The social work value of dignity and worth of the person is extremely important. As a child, my mother taught me to treat all people with respect. Therefore, the value has been in my life for numerous years. As a future therapist, the strong embedded value will assist me in treating all clients with respect when their thoughts and beliefs are different than mine. With all the diverse people in the world, I believe it keeps life enjoyable and interesting. While working at a middle school in a special education classroom as a teacher’s assistant, I have seen the children be treated with no dignity and worth. Due to the students’ oppression of various disabilities, the teacher in the special education classroom did not teach them. She did not check the papers that the students completed and gave them the same assignments at least four times even if they knew the material. Also, the teacher would tell me all of the kids are hopeless since they come from black parents that were ignorant and unintelligent. Consequently, the lack of values this teacher demonstrated was difficult to watch. She treated the students and parents with absolutely no dignity or self-worth. …show more content…
The children were already behind in their academics, and she put them further behind by not educating them. She was not keeping her professional obligations of teaching the children and did not care about the well-being of another individual. While being the teacher of the students, she took no accountability for her poor actions. She was dishonest and gave any grades that she desired to give on each student’s report card by how she liked them only. As a professional in the education field, she did not have the competence to teach any special needs
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,
According to Erin B. Comartin and Antonio Gonzalez-Prendes (2011), authors of the article “Dissonance Between Personal and Professional Values: Resolution of an Ethical Dilemma” the six core values of the social work profession are, “service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence” (p.1). As professionals in the field of human service, personal values of a social worker will not always be congruent with the core values of this field. As Comartin et al., (2011) suggests “social workers benefit from understanding that growth occurs when these conflicts are acknowledged, explored, and resolved” (p. 11). Having worked in the substance abuse field for nearly a year, I find that my personal values have conflicted with the core value of “dignity and worth of the person” on numerous occasions. One specific situation that I continue to struggle with the most are women who continue to abuse illicit substances despite discovering that they are pregnant. Though I have personally not had the opportunity to provide therapeutic services to a expecting mother abusing illicit substances, I have had the opportunity to observe fellow therapists manage such situations. As a counselor, if I had the opportunity to work with a mother using illicit substances during
According to NASW (2010), values are descried as the mission of the social worker in which this includes service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. An essential value that is applicable to my practice setting is the service value. This value is define as the social workers’ priority to help people and addressing social problems in the environments As an intern, it has been a priority to provide services to our client depending on their specific needs. There has been times that client have needed transportation in order for them to attend monthly events, clothes’ donations, and mentoring services. Another importance value that
The National Association of Social Workers, NASW, considers the following as its six most core values; service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. The value of service is considered to be a core value because offering help to those in need is a crucial goal for all of those looking to practice in the field of Social Work. These services can include, but are not limited to, addressing social problems, helping those in need, and volunteering their knowledge to those who cannot otherwise afford such help. Social Justice is also an important core value for a Social Worker to develop. As a Social Worker one will encounter many people from several different walks of life, no two cases will ever be exactly the same. Some of these walks of life can leave a client vulnerable, defenseless, exploited, oppressed, and troubled. Therefore it is important to learn what Social Justice is, and how to help people from falling victim to injustice. Dignity and Worth of the Person is one of the most important values that one should uphold. People who need the help of a Social Worker many, but not all, times feel powerless, embarrassed, and worthless because they feel as though they cannot control aspects of their life an...
Entering the field of social work you must be prepared to encounter many personalities. Knowing this, you have to become aware of people with different backgrounds and morals. By doing this you will be able to help your clients to the best of your ability, without forcing your personal beliefs or values on to them. A value is a set of rules or or beliefs that affect your every day decisions (Sheafor & Horejsi, 2011). Applying your personal values to every situation is very important, however, you must learn to separate what you know and what is in actuality the best outcome for your client. I will be discussing the ways I feel about the “Vignette’s”, while also incorporating different things I have learned from the readings and class discussions.
She had serious family problems that led her to misbehave. However, since she was in the ESE program, they could not expel her for any of the level 1 breaches to the student’s code of conduct. The team started organizing paperwork during the entire previous year to have enough evidence to get her into what they said was going to be “the best learning environment for her”. They were not thinking about her well-being and most definite they did not think about the long term consequences to her life. They were just trying to ease the tensions of a group of teachers who were not ready for changes. They were part of the “old school” type who just lecture and all the students must learn on their own. They did not take any responsibility on her learning goals or her life. I still regret that I was not able to defend her rights. However, I never agreed with the decision, I expressed my concerns, and did not sign the IEP meeting log. As a consequence, I was working in another school only three months after the meeting. As a leader, I would follow my ethical responsibility by never taking an easy path if it means the student’s
As social workers knowing your community resources to refer clients to is one of the most important areas of knowledge in proving quality-based services. Having a contact person at such agencies, makes this transition s seamless, as our clients come to trust us and our confidents in the agency we are referring to, can be felt by our clients.
It is important for Human Service workers to be aware of their values because sometimes those values can cloud judgment on matters and may not make the clients treatment the best treatment possible for them. Say for example a worker had an experience with cheating, so they think cheating is disgusting, and a client cheats on their husband/wife, the worker will not be able to treat the person properly unless they can identify their value and separate themselves from it.
As a social work professional, you must take into account your own personal values before you can be an effective worker in this field. Social workers sometimes need to put their own values aside when working with clients who don’t share their same ideals. Clients are diverse and are not going to always have the same values that the worker has. Social workers need to be professional and adhere to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) guidelines when working with any client.
Reamer explains that values are important in regard to “The nature of social work’s mission; the relationships that social workers have with clients, colleagues, and members of society; the methods of intervention that social workers use in their work, and the resolution of ethical dilemmas in practice” (p. 15). Reamer discusses the importance of ethical decision making and ethical risk management in regards to any ethical dilemma a social worker may face. Reamer also explores how our values can challenge our profession; opposing or conflicting personal, professional, cultural and religious values in particular. Other ethical issues include confidentiality, privacy, divided loyalties, professional boundaries, dual relationships, conflicts of interest, and a client’s free will or determinism (Reamer,
While values play a critical role in the effectiveness of social workers on a professional level, they also play a critical role in their personal lives. Values create a foundation for social workers to work from providing a framework to complex and often difficult situations and scenarios. Though values also help establish professional standards and principles that serve as best practices to ensure the best interests of the social workers and those they serve are maintained. In addition, values serve as a critical piece within the profession of social work they are also a significant piece in the personal lives of social workers. In the personal lives of social workers, and lives of others, values support the significant areas and piece in
I grew up in a poor community and often times did not have my needs met, whether in the school environment, community environment or the resources and support of my family, to better understand what I later found out were significant learning disabilities. Through trial and tribulations I have learned what it means to be an advocate and stand up for people who need support and a voice for the voiceless. These are direct connections to the upbringing I did not have, which deeply affected how I performed and adjusted in the school system. I often time was also bullied and picked on in school by other students who had more than I did and made a point to remind me of these things. I was never the smartest student, the prettiest or the teacher’s pet, as much of what I considered to be valuable in searching for my own
students have a disability they must be taught different. I have also learned that students with
In the time I got to observe Mrs. Brown, she went through the eligibilities of her students and explained to me the types of services they require and she provides to her students. I was aware of these student’s because I taught them last year, so the students were comfortable enough with me to act as if I wasn’t observing the class. There were 7 students in her class. Three student’s eligibilities were Learning Disability (SLD), three were Other Health Impairment (OHI), and one student’s eligibility was Autism. The instances I observed her classroom, Mrs. Brown used a variety of teaching techniques to allow her students to access the grade level standards to the best of their abilities. Techniques such as grouping, center-based learning, and
Personal values determine who we are as individuals. Whether it’s for the good or for the bad, values play an important role to our personal lives. Some people don’t have personal values set for themselves, and continues to live life as normal. It doesn’t necessary means they don’t value anything just means it could be for the wrong reasons. When I think of values I think of importance. Personal values can be helpful to someone’s life. Values may consist of religion, identity, self-respect, and or culture. When you have values you must know when it’s not the best time to discuss when its related to the profession of social work My personal values that may be alike or different from others would be education and health, and I