Reflective Social Work

Alston, M. & McKinnon, J. (2005). Social work: Fields of practice. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press. Gottman, J. M. & Gottman, J. S. (2007).

I can do this by taking time out for myself, getting help from peers, actively listening to patient needs, attending workshops, courses, or seminars focused on emotional intelligence, empathy, and communication. By acquiring knowledge and skills in these areas, I can improve my ability to understand and respond to the emotional needs of

The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)

AC 2.1: The main features of social work provision for children. Social work aims to make provision for children in care, provide in regard to child welfare, and provision about regulation of social workers. The Children and Social Work Bill 18 May 2016, Social work ensures stability and safety of children, makes assessments of the effects of the past abuse on the child and reviews the current and likelihood of the future abuse. Places children into foster care if necessary and makes follows ups on looked after-children in foster care, orphanages and those who have been adopted to observe their integration and progress over time. Social work has the responsibility to safeguard children and young people from potential harm from anybody could be from family members, carers or others.

Social Care Practice is a generic term that has been used to define the practice of providing physical, emotional and or psychological support to people with variety of needs and in contemporary times, the social care environments has widened to include care for the elderly, care for people with a physical or intellectual disability, community care, family support and residential care for old people, children and adults (Lyons, 1998). Social care practice takes place in the shared life space, where experiences, perspectives, feelings, emotions and beliefs are fussed and in the process of meeting service user’s needs, social care practitioners needs to be aware of the dynamics and position of referent power which they occupy over the vulnerable

Going into my second week as an intern at the Department of Social Services, I begin to feel comfortable with different activities. One of the tasks completed this week was completing a Voucher Check Request Form for a client in need of purchasing a bicycle in order to have transportation back and forth to work. By completing this task, I was able to experience the process for requesting the materials clients need and finding the resources that are beneficial to his/her circumstances. Therefore, competency Skill 9 was experienced through the completion of this activity. This skill requires social workers to be able to proactively present client issues/needs in supervision.

The essay that follows will critically reflect on an account in practice, whist discussing an individual's scenario that has been observed in practice. I'm a Social Work Student (SWS) based on placement in a hostel that accommodates for vulnerable young people age range 16-25. The agency is a housing association that strives to help young people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The confidentiality statement is as follows “ You must not disclose customers names, whereabouts or occupancy to outside callers, without permission to do so” (Agency, 2015). This essay will be presented in the first person.

With this policy goal in mind it also aligns with the code of ethics of Social Workers. As seen on Box 2.2 on page 26 of Chapter 2: Social Work and Other Helping Professions we can identify that Social workers promote social justice and change and work to make sure the well being of humans and their basic needs are meet. Social workers then and now have made sure that all students are able to have access of education. As we look at some of the Social workers values such as dignity,worth of the person, and integrity.

The application of observation methods informs social work processes and provided a reflective learning tool to my own SW values, ethics and anti-oppressive practice. Moreover, it provided ‘in action’ and ‘on action’ reflections from watching others and allowed for greater scope for reflections whilst observing. This method made me aware and observe the behaviours in others and how those behaviours are incongruent SW values and AOP. As an observer, you see things in others, things in yourself that you may not be aware of if

Social work skills, theoretical knowledge and values that has been learnt and obtained through both of my placements has and will continue to be a fundamental component of my emerging social work identity. Work being undertaken, whether that being in a government or non-government organisation, has proven to be at times difficult, as often organisations which state that they provide diversity, social justice and inclusive practice are restricted by funding constraints, hierarchical structures and rigid polices. Personally having had two non-government placements, it has been difficult to be able to first-hand make these comparisons. However, through speaking with peers in my PSAG group and through government agency visits conducted on my previous and current placement, it has reinforced that even though we as social workers are working with such rigid and stricken policies, by using a wide range of practice skills and theoretical knowledge that has been acquired throughout my two

I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values. -Sidney Poitier Although I am in my late thirties, I am elated to find my purpose. The aforementioned quote from Sidney Portier could not express my sentiments more.

After reflecting on all that you have learned in this course, share what you believe is one current trend in the human services field in meeting the needs of individuals, families, and/or the community. This course has been a revelation for me. In the past eight weeks, I learned many things about running a nonprofit organization, and I am sure I will learn a lot more. There are so many different elements that goes into managing an organization like how to build capacity, funding/budgeting, assessment tools, the role of the board of directors, and past/current trends in the field.

Throughout the community in which I was raised, many negative connotations and stereotypes surrounded the ideas of social service provisions, particularly such programs as SNAP and TANF. Many people in my community made the assumption that a majority of people relying on government assistance were simply abusing the system in order to get extra money. Judgments regarding the color, gender, and religion of these people also spread, resulting in racism, sexism, and other discriminatory beliefs and practices. The limited perspectives shown to me through news networks and magazines colored my own views of the social welfare system. After thorough observation of the DSS office in Verona, VA, however, I was able to reevaluate the expectations and judgments that I had been exposed to in my

Social work is a career that I have recently become interested in pursuing. I spent many years with misconceptions concerning the sector. However, following three years of working close by these experts, I have picked up a more profound comprehension of the significance of the work. I am especially interested in working in child welfare along with terminally ill children. I have got to a stage in my career where I have started to search out instruction that will make me more efficient in creating plans and providing services for vulnerable people.

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.