Social Worker Competencies

Define: Identifying as a professional social worker and conducting oneself accordingly means to work with competency in order to best assist clients. Competency 2.1.1 is the foundation for all the other competencies, so without it, there would not be a point in having other professional guidelines. If a social worker is successfully complying to competency 2.1.1, it is likely that he or she is also complying to the other competencies as well. The purpose of working as a professional does not simply exist so that social workers can be viewed as a professional. Though that is a large part of the social work profession, the basis behind being a professional in social work is to protect and help clients in the best way possible; everything that is done in social work is to benefit the client, not oneself.

Some of the most commonly used tactics are: advocating for client access to services of social work, practice personal reflection and self-correction to assure continual professional development, attend to professional roles and boundaries, demonstrate professional demeanor in behavior, appearance, and communication, engage in career-long learning, and using supervision and consultation. Utilizing these tactics to help clients will keep the client protected from any harm that a social worker can cause, even though a social worker is not there to harm others. If a social worker is not complying to their professional roles and boundaries, he or she can do more harm than good.
Analyze: Conducting oneself accordingly is extremely important as a professional social worker, as it is with any profession. Social workers must evaluate each situation that he or she is found in before acting. Steps should be taken to review each of the ways that professionalism can be implemented and act based on a professional