Portfolio Part B: Reflection on the overall learning within the module Prior to starting this course the MA Social Work course and the PPSWP module I felt very confident in the aspects of communicating effectively and working with a diverse range of people, and after the reading the professional capabilities framework I believe that I hold the same personal values which is expected of a social worker. The PCF6 talks about the importance of critical reflection and reflective practice explaining that it helps improve accountability, professional development and helps to you understand your own tacit knowledge and gain new knowledge, which improves outcomes and experiences for social workers. (Capabilities within the PCF, 2016) For this reflection …show more content…
I feel like I have strong emotional intelligence having the ability to identify my own emotions and the emotions of others. I also understand that a display of emotion isn’t always and obvious implication of what a person is actually feeling. Being a woman of colour I feel like I could face challenges such as racism within the work place or out in the field working with service users. Often people find racism as a portrayal of hatred but I understand that not everyone is going to be open to the diversities of the world and that is not always down to racism, sometimes and it can stem from personal experiences, ignorance and sometimes it can just be learnt behaviours. I feel like it is my duty as a 2nd generation British born Caribbean women to change the perceptions of others based on the experiences they have with me. I understand that this will not always go in my favour and from my previous experiences I have found that some behaviours and opinions cannot be changed. This is when has potential for conflict to arise. During one of the workshops we discussed that our safety is dependant on our conflict management style. The seven stages of escalation being the calm, trigger, agitation, acceleration, peak, de-escalation and recovery (class notes); this all coincides with risk management and making sure that you take adequate precautions when lone working. This can be done by not entering a home with no clear exit, not allowing your service user to lock you in their home, allocate your seating near the door. Being aware of pets, parking within a secure
P4- when looking at strategies and communication techniques used with different individuals with different needs whom need to overcome different challenges many aspects must be looked at. A challenge Patrick may face may be awareness and knowledge, he may face this as well as others. Patrick may be aware that he has HIV however he may not be aware how much this will effect him and he may not be aware how to deal with it as he may lack the knowledge. In order to overcome this Patrick could educate himself in depth on HIV, this will help him come to terms with it and will also help him to help others understand HIV. A challenge Alice may face might be acceptance or belief, she may not have the determination to become alcohol free and therefore
The social work practice skills I have achieved to date include a wide range of communication and interpersonal skills that have been developed through writing up case notes after meetings with clients, as well as debriefing with other social workers. Advocacy skills have been developed through liaising with other services and speaking with supervisors to extend clients financial and casework support. Further, active listening skills have been developed through listening to the client’s needs and asking important follow up questions; this has allowed me to establish trust with my clients and obtain a better understanding of their circumstances. Moreover, I have obtained a greater self-awareness through reflecting in supervision and regular debriefing with peers in my PSAG group. Self-awareness has also been developed through my previous placement where I had the opportunity to observe a Family and Community Services (FACS)
My understanding of Human Services is to help people who need additional help and guidence to move forward with their life. Sometimes people need help with external problems such as the loss of a job, the need for food or housing or for help getting out of a dangerous situation or mental and physical health crisis. The Human Services practitioner is a professional who acts as an agent to assist and or empower individulas, groups, families and communities to help them function more effectivly in all areas of life and improve living condition. Human Service professional will always advocate for their clients and will never give up on them and make sure to strive for the clients well being as long as the client want to change.
First of all, I had the opportunity to interview Kim Bartells who’s a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in Michealsen Health Center and learn more about her role as a social work. Before I started interviewing Kim, I asked her if it was alright with her if I recorded the conversation and she said it was fine with it. I started the interview with asking what type of population Michealsen Health Center serves and she told me it was mostly elderly people. Kim works in a “Microlevel intervention involves working with individuals--- separately, in families, or in small groups---to facilitate change in individual behavior or in relationship” (DuBois and Miley 69). This types of individuals she is working with are elderly residents “who utilize long-term care experience a combination of physical or cognitive limitation that require some level of assistance in activities of daily living” (DuBois and Miley 314-315) and their families as well.
I am confident that the skills that I will gain from completing a social work master’s degree will help me collaborate with people in need and aid sustainable growth in their lives. My first introduction to social work as a profession came while living on a small
From time to time, social work practitioners face different challenges and one of such example is being confronted with ethical dilemmas. An ethical dilemma is defined as “when the social worker sees himself or herself as facing a choice between two equally unwelcoming alternatives, which may involve a conflict of moral values, and it is not clear which choice will be the right one” (Banks, 2012). Ethical dilemmas can occur in the context of either client or organisational-related conflict situations at work. The first ethical dilemma is when the patient refuses medical treatment and services because he or she would not accept that there is any problem.
I am applying for a place to study social work because I have always wanted to be able to make a difference to people's lives. With social work I believe I can do this in a caring and supportive way. Many of my life experiences have led me to who I am today. The first thing I remember that caught my attention was how my cousin would always stay with my family. He would be spent weeks with at my house without contract with his parents.
Tasks:2 Make a critical reflection on any two areas of knowledge (knowledge base) in International social work practice. Social workers are often very concerned even when faced with situations that require effective decision-making. To achieve this, more information and knowledge must be obtained so that the quality of decisions taken is the most effective in the best interests of its clients.
The career that I am considering as a future possibility is the clinical social worker. Clinical social work is a specialty practice area of social work which focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness, emotional, and other behavioral disturbances. These practices can happen individually, in a group and/or in family therapy, which is common treatment styles. Social workers that provide these services are required to be licensed or certified at the clinical level in their state of practice. To become a licensed clinical social worker student who did not earn a bachelors of social work, must complete a traditional masters of a social work program that typically takes two to four years depending on whether a student attends full-time or part-time.
Reflection is like looking in a mirror and describing what you see. It’s about thinking back to an experience and questioning what I did, and emotions that I felt during the experience, and then reflecting on a better and more sufficient way of doing it in the future (UNISON, 2016). Gibbs Reflective Cycle is the model that I have chosen to use while reflecting back on the module “Learning from service users and carers”, Gibbs believes that this module is useful for helping people learn from what that they experienced. He calls this “Learning by Doing” (Mind Tools, 2016). When finding out that a module I would cover on the social work degree was learning from service users and carers, my initial thought was care homes and carers within them.
I began college as a freshman at Central Michigan University thinking I was going to become an elementary teacher. I knew I wanted to make an impact on peoples lives but after my first week of classes, I remember telling myself becoming a teacher is not how I wanted to do it. I went to my counselor and added a social work course to my schedule. I had finally found courses I enjoyed taking and academically excelled in. Which brings me to where I am now, pursuing my degree in social work.
This is difficult process and should be coupled with use of theoretical approaches. Adams et al (2008) advocates that social workers need to use an eclectic approach to their practice by selecting different elements from theories in order to produce one approach appropriate for the individual’s needs. Epstein (1992) suggests that to overcome the limitations of theories continuous reflection and debate is vital to incorporate complex
To become a reflective social work student, I need to be able to undergo self-reflection. This is a process of conducting self-assessment and observation. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle influence user like myself to self-reflect and more importantly it encourages users to develop an action plan. This enables me to look at my practice and evaluate on the areas I did good and bad. In turn, by taking these experiences into learning I can use them to improve on for the future.
Over the semester I have learned many new aspects of social work that have helped deepen my understanding of what social work is really about. This course has taught me things that will help me become a better person and will also help me with my future working with children. Self reflection is a key skill to have when working in social work. We need to understand how we are, and our social location, influence everything we do with social work. My beliefs and values would be beneficial for being a social worker because I have a caring no judgment, personality that allows me to be a neutral and to listen to people.
Much discussion is devoted to the literature regarding group work as it remains an integral part of the social work field. Group work is important as “the need to belong is one of the most basic and powerful human needs as well as the most social” (Ashford, & Lecroy, 2008, pg. 140). Group work is found to be an effective intervention and has become a major treatment modality in the mental health services (Knight, 2017; Clements, 2008). This intervention has been found just as effective as an individual intervention (Knight, 2017). Groups have played an instrumental part in transforming how the social work field thinks about the helping process for clients.