Social Work Framework

Introduction

Social work has been my dream career since I was ten years old, since then I have always worked with a ddk3mind to pursue this career and perfect my profession one I graduate from college. Social work is a career whose practitioners are devoted to helping people live and enjoy life by improving their social conditions. It entails caring for the people who are usually referred to as clients by relieving their suffering be it drug addition, absolute poverty or neglect among other causes. As a professional worker, I should adhere to specific working standards as stipulated by the profession. Besides, I need to apply my personal knowledge and attributes to give my best to the professional practice. Working among the Aboriginal community has been one of the most challenging and fulfilling experience at the same time. In order to succeed in my area of practice, having a framework for practice in place will act as a guideline to follow and steer me towards providing the best care to my clients in a professional manner.

The following represents my framework of practice in my career.

My goals as a Social Worker

As a professional social worker, I aim at achieving the following; First of all I have a goal to improve the lives of Australia’s first people, these are the Aboriginals. While growing up, I witnessed the social injustices that the Aboriginals usually undergo in their day to day lives. Compared to the Whites, they have limited social amenities, suffer discriminations and generally undergo hardship lifestyle compared to the Whites. As a social worker I aim to employ my professional and personal skills to improve the lives of the disadvantaged Aboriginal citizens. Secondly, I plan to engage all the stakeholders at the community and national level in a bid to attain human rights and social development, advocacy of the less advantaged and continually practice ethical conduct thought my career. I look forward to improve the general well-being of all the clients I will be working with.

Personal values and ideologies

I will adhere to all the social work values which include social justice, service, integrity, dignity and worth, competence and human relationship. One of the characteristics I have is compassion, I easily recognise a person in need and always look for ways to relieve pain and suffering from such a person, as long as I have the capacity to do so. Through my compassionate heart and dignity and worth among fellow human beings, I will ensure that I assist the disadvantaged in my community until his/her welfare significantly improves.

Apart from a compassionate heart, I highly value integrity while undertaking both personal and professional endeavors. I understand that social work profession call for someone with high level of integrity, with regard to high levels of integrity; I will practice honesty, reflective self-awareness commitment, honesty, transparency, reliability and empathy. My clients should fully rely on me to solve whatever challenge they may be undergoing in terms of social services. In addition, I will put myself in the shoes of my clients, by doing this, addressing their problem in the most comfortable will be easily attainable. By practicing integrity, I will be in a position to adequately utilize the resources allocated to me to cater for my clients. Before addressing the problems faced by other people, I need to have self-aware, this implies that understanding my tolerance level, anger management among other personal attributes should be a priority because lack of self-awareness is likely to lead to conflicts between my clients and I. I will employ any other positive personal attribute from my heart, within my knowledge and apply my physical ability to improve social justice and the welfare of the disadvantaged communities in the society. I believe in self-motivation, social justice, integrity and professionalism in doing my work.

My theoretical and conceptual framework

One of the theoretical frameworks I will rely on is the functional theory. The functional theory focusses on a person’s internal resource, which is the healthy or desirable component of personality. I would prefer using this theory because to succeed as a social worker, I need to be equipped with the right set of mind, have the desired personality such as decisiveness, service and self-reflection. By having this in place, I will be in a position to influence my clients in a positive manner. Furthermore, not only will this theory apply in my own pursuit to conduct a fulfilling career, but it is also needed on the part of the client. Although, most of my clients will in most cases be out of their normal condition due to the challenges they are facing, they will still require the inner motivation to get through the rehabilitation process. For example, in the class case study, the Aboriginal woman that had undergone sexual abuse, lacked proper housing and was under drug abuse, had to state her objectives of the rehabilitation program before she was enrolled in one. In this case, she indicated that she would like to get her son back and regain her life to normalcy. Thus functional theory is applicable both to the client and myself for social work profession to achieve its intended goals.

The second theory that I will be relying on is the Behaviour modification concept. This is a theory of learning which provides social work practitioners with the skills to understand why a person or given society behaves in a certain manner. In addition, this theory has the potential of enhancing my skills in instilling behaviour change in my clients, especially those that require behavior modification in order to successfully undergo a rehabilitation process. For example, I may need to understand why my client is overeating or abusing drugs before trying to change that behaviour. This conceptual framework is important to my study because, I will be dealing with clients that mostly need behavioural change to be in a position to successfully attain the goals on a rehabilitation process.

The third concept that I will rely on is that one of Social justice. Social justice is build on the tent that every human being deserves to be treated in a fair manner. Every human being is important regardless of their level of education, age, race, economic status among others. In my case, I need to understand that the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islander people have equal rights like any other White Australian. Thus, they should enjoy all the rights and should be treated with respect and dignity while addressing their condition. Last but not least, I will also rely on the Transactional Analysis theory, Crisis theory and Communication theory while undertaking my duty.

Human rights and social justice issues to consider

The practice of social work views every individual as a unique and inherent person with the full rights to wellbeing, self-determination and self-fulfillment just like other people in the society. Social justice is a basic duty that each society should be called upon to uphold. Every member of the society, more so the government should ensure that social justice is attained. Consequently, human rights are basis needs that every government is implored to provide for its citizens. Regardless of the knowledge on the duty to ensure social justice and upholding on basic human rights, our societies have largely failed in numerous ways. As a social worker, I will use my knowledge and personal traits to change the inequality in the society by prioritizing the following.

In regard to social justice, unequal distribution of opportunities plays a major role in fuelling disparity between the minority communities and the White majority in Australia. Poor resource allocation has denied the Aboriginals access to medical care, education, social amenities, proper housing and many more. The consistent lack basic services have led to a spiral of poverty because every generation is faced with challenges that are passed on to the next one. Addressing this issue would see a roadmap to bringing to an end all the social and physical problems faced by these communities. As a social worker, I will use my position to challenge policy makers to put in place measures that will ensure affirmative action is taken for more resources to be allocated for the development of the Aboriginal community. The affirmative action should stay in place up to when the minority would be enjoying similar services as that of their White counterpart before equal distribution can start.

The declaration of Human Rights by the UN was a recommendable achievement by the body, however, since it came into being, majority of countries have failed to implement them to the later. Australia is one of the countries that have continuously failed to uphold the human rights of the minority groups. As a social worker, I have the capacity to assist those I come across during my line of profession access their basic human rights such as food, clothing, shelter and education. I believe that before a person’s secondary needs can be met, primary ones should be met first. For instance, in the case study, getting the Black woman from the streets was the first to be undertaken before conducting a drug rehabilitation exercise on her. I would use my transactional and networking skills to find the right institutions to assist in providing the basic needs for my clients.

My main strength and areas of development

One of the strengths I possess is a compassionate heart, as a social worker, having the zeal to assist the disadvantaged persons in the society is an important element. Without it, one would easily give up especially when he/she comes across a client that may not be willing to be assisted due to mistrust. Furthermore, I value life and see every person as important before the eyes of God. As a Christian, this value would assist me to fight for the rights of the Aboriginals and other marginalised communities with the knowledge that they to deserve and as important as the rest of the people in the society. I also have high level of integrity that will enable me fulfill my duties without fear or favour. Apart from the personal attributes, I am equipped with the right knowledge and skills from my college and believe in myself.

Some of the grey areas that I will require to improve on is lack of decisiveness, sometimes, I lack the capacity to make decisions in a timely manner and this may affect the entire process of rehabilitation. In addition, I can sometime be overwhelmed by grief whenever I witness immense suffering of a client, this may send the wrong signal thus affect the outcome of the process.

In conclusion, I believe that I possess what it takes to be a social worker and understand that , becoming a great social worker is a learning process. The more situations I handle in my career, the better skills the skills I will acquire.

Australian Association for Social Workers (2010). Code of Ethics. Australian Association for Social Workers.

Agnew, Elizabeth N. (2004). From Charity to Social Work: Mary E. Richmond and the Creation of an American Profession. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press

Popple, Philip R. and Leslie Leighninger (2008). The Policy-Based Profession: An Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analysis for Social Workers (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Wittenberg, Renee (2003). Opportunities in Social Work Careers (Revised ed.). Chicago, IL: VGM Career Books

VITA, Álvaro (2012), Liberalism, Social Justice, and Individual Responsibility. World Political Science Review,vol.8, Nº 01, pp. 297-329