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1 Assignment 2 – Personal Awareness and Preparedness for Social Work Practice Thompson Rivers University SOCW 2061: An Introduction to Social Work Practice Wayne Nickle March 10, 2024 Past Beliefs: What were your past beliefs about the profession of social work?

2 My past beliefs about the profession of social work were that they were largely involved in working with the immigrant, abused, and pregnant women. The reason that I had this perception was that, as a unit coordinator, I used to book such patients with a social worker for an hour session so that the social worker could provide guidance, improve overall quality of life, advocate for such patients, and connect them to useful resources. I used to think that only women were working in the profession of social workers; they could only be employed by the government, and social workers are similar to psychologists, who can also diagnose and treat anxiety and depression. Others’ Perspective: How do you think most people define the practice of social work, and why do you think people hold these beliefs? I believe that most people don’t actually know what social workers do; this is because of a lack of awareness and advertisement. I had no idea that the social work profession existed before joining the unit coordinator job at the hospital. Similarly, when I discussed with my father that I wanted to pursue my bachelors in social work, he was a bit concerned because of the lack of awareness and the fact that I would not be able to make living wages out of this career. People have different perceptions about the social work profession, such as that this profession is about helping people in need by different means, such as being similar to counsellors, improving the overall lives of clients, sending children to foster care if their parents are not a good fit for them, being assistants to psychologists, and sharing secrets with them. Community Services: How do you see social work being provided in your own community, region, or country? As you walked around your community, what biases and perspectives were you aware of as you saw individuals or groups in need.

3 In my community, In the past year as a unit coordinator at BC Women’s Hospital, I got a chance to work with and engage with many social workers. The community I live in is diverse and offers a variety of community services. In my community, I see many private and government-funded practices where social workers provide a wide range of services to refugees, immigrants, families, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence, and others. The bias that I would like to mention is that refugee claimant pregnant women find it difficult to get prenatal care and childbirth services in Canada because there are not sufficient supporting documents and health care coverage. I believe health care should be easily accessible, not just because it is the right of every individual but also because they are more vulnerable in such situations. Important Values & Ideology: Describe the values of social work and ideology that you think are most important to your future practice. Discuss how your own culture, life experience, world views, ideology, and personal values will fit into your practice as a social worker and will affect your interpretation of social work values. I think the most crucial values of a social worker that will help me in my future practice will be service to humanity, self-determination, empowerment, and non-judgmental behavior. I believe service to humanity will encourage me to place the needs of other individuals first. Self- determination will give clients the chance to make their own decisions, which will eventually empower them. I will strive to be non-judgmental by accepting the way clients keep my personal biases aside. My own culture and personal experiences will definitely help me in my future practice. The background I come from taught me "SEVA,” meaning selfless service, "SABAR,” meaning patience, and "DAYA,” meaning compassion. By utilizing my positionality, I

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4 seek to address the concerns and specific needs of those whose voices are often unheard in society. Value Congruence: From the CASW/ACTS Guidelines for Ethical Practice , which values are consistent with your values and which may cause a dilemma? Provide examples of how one or two of these values were applied to situations you have experienced or are aware of from the news or coverage on the Internet. From the CASW/ACTS Guidelines for Ethical Practice, there are several values that are consistent with my values, and they mostly relate to “ethical responsibilities in professional relationships." I do not take advantage of any interactions with our patients for any gain, don't take advantage of any professional relationships, and do not engage in romantic or sexual relationships with clients. “Ethical Responsibilities of Colleagues” is another value that is consistent with my values as I work with patients, health care providers, and co-workers in a hospital setting. I strive to understand differences in opinions and connect with all the colleagues, patients, and health care providers in my department and other disciplines with dignity, integrity, and civility. As a unit coordinator, I also supervise students and adhere to some ethical responsibilities, such as not engaging in any multiple or dual relationships with students, fairly evaluating the performance of students, and also informing students to mention their student status to patients. I believe the value that will cause some dilemma is protecting privacy and confidentiality under “Ethical responsibilities to the client.” I experienced a dilemma at my workplace when a post-partum patient of the clinic I work with, New Beginnings, brought a wrist watch for me to appreciate the services we provided at BC Women’s Hospital. She expressed that she used some savings to bring me a gift because we accepted her as a patient and helped her in her low times. The conundrum situation was a bit

5 hard for me to process. On one side, I see her love and way to appreciate our services, and on the other side, she saved money to buy a watch, but that money could have been helpful for the baby’s future. I explained to her without offending or hurting her feelings that I could not accept this gift after sharing it with my supervisor. Role Preparedeness: Which roles within the micro, mezzo, macro systems do your existing skills and experiences most closely align with. Identify at least one role that would be a challenge for you, and discuss what changes you may have to make to feel confident in that role. My work experience closely aligns with counsellor and social broker roles in the micro, mezzo, and macro systems. As I am the first point of contact for the patients at the clinic, I encounter patients facing different circumstances and hardships despite counselling not being a part of my job responsibility, but depending on the scenario, most of the time I end up counselling them through communication, discussion, and support. Also, I have helped patients by acting as a social broker, where I connect them to the required resources by accessing their needs. For instance, if a patient had no health insurance and needed urgent ultrasound and did not have sufficient funds, I provided them with the contact information of a REACH clinic, the organization that helps patients with no health insurance get prenatal care. I believe the role of educator, teacher, or coach will be challenging for me personally because I lack the fundamental skills to coach, educate, and teach clients. I am working towards the change by studying a social work program and gaining the required skills, knowledge, and experience to feel confident in the role. Anti-Oppressive Understanding: Summarize in your own words your understanding of radical anti-oppressive practice. How would you explain this perspective to a friend?

6 According to Henry and Tator (2006), race is the observable physical characteristics (such as skin colour or hair texture) that a group of people have and that set them apart from members of other groups. I believe anti-racist theory will be most important for social work practice because Canada is a land of diversity and there have been spiking cases of racism reported. As per Statistics Canada (n.d.), 35% of racialized women and 20% of racialized men have experienced workplace harassment. The anti-racist social worker addresses how racism impacts the perspectives and lives of people of color. The anti-racist approach to social work is particularly useful in understanding both the human effects of racism and its broader institutional foundations. I have chosen this approach because I am a person of colour and I have experienced racism, which has impacted me and motivated me to select this theory so that in my future practice I can address issues and focus on people who are affected by racism. According to Canadian social work professor Bob Mullaly (2002), oppression occurs when a powerful group imposes control over the minority groups in society. Anti-oppressive practice seeks to recognize the reality of oppression and the complexities of human identity. This information can be used to end oppressive connections in society and promote social justice. The anti-oppressive approach is based on a number of traditions that contribute to understanding and responding to oppressive conditions and associations in society. An anti- oppressive approach to social work practice allows us to recognize the presence of structural inequalities, which are shaped by our multifaceted identities. Furthermore, this viewpoint emphasizes the necessity for social workers to intervene at both the individual and structural levels. While explaining the anti-oppressive approach to my friend, I will use simple words so it is easier for her to understand. I will start by explaining to her the meaning of oppression,

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7 which means unjust or cruel treatment of a group of individuals, usually by governments, education systems, law, and the media. I will also provide an example of oppression for better understanding, such as racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, and classism. I will explain to her that anti-oppressive theory is made to end oppression and promote social justice and well-being. Interview of Social worker

8 I interviewed the social worker, Stacey Walsh, and she works at BC Women’s Hospital in the maternity ambulatory program. She practices in the health field as a generalist social worker. She described that the primary roles she performs are counselling, advocacy, case manager, and social broker by helping people access health care. During the interview, she discussed how she assists many clients facing different social problems on a daily basis, such as poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and domestic violence. She explained that social issues are behaviours or conditions that negatively impact members of society and therefore demand a solution, and as a social worker, I strive to help all these clients with the best possible solutions using my generalist skills. According to Stacey, social work is a perfect profession for her, and she mentioned that what is more rewarding and satisfying than going home at the end of the day knowing that you have made a positive change in someone’s life? According to Stacey, the social work occupation is expected to remain in high demand because it is the world’s fastest-growing profession, and the diverse population relies on social worker’s assistance for coping with every-day problems. A social worker plays an instrumental role in the lives of individuals who are suffering from problems such as mental health, unemployment, substance use, domestic violence, and many other social issues. As a social worker, she uses different values and ethics related to confidentiality, integrity, respect for dignity, competence, and social justice. She mentioned that she uses anti- racism, anti-oppressive, task-centred theory, cognitive behaviour, and narrative theory. Also, as a social worker, the roles she plays in her practice are counselling, advocacy, case management, and social broker. According to Stacey, social work is based on valuing people as individuals and honouring their perspectives and right to autonomy, which is contact, and has not changed

9 over the years. But since she graduated a few decades ago, she mentioned that what has evolved since she was a student in social work is progression in terms of anti-racism and anti- oppressive practice. Historically, social workers have always strived to value people, culture, and social context, but now we are more articulate about it in our practice. She shared an example when she first started this job: her office had a few paintings by Monet that showed Caucasian women in meadows enjoying picnics, and she felt she needed to decolonize her office by removing them. She felt that art was never intended to offend anyone but to create a welcoming space, so she took them off. Earlier in her career, as a huge fan of basketball, she had posters of the team in her office, but with the evolution of anti-racism and anti-oppressive practices, she realized that, in terms of decolonization, this was not a good idea to put them in the office since she works in a country with diversity and can offend clients. Even her intentions were not to disrespect them but were actually about her love, passion, and loyalty towards the basketball team. The interview with the social worker was a great experience, and I got to understand a different aspect of this profession. During the interview, I understood that the social workers not only help clients by connecting them to resources but also build a social worker-client relationship where empathy is conveyed, experiences are shared, and care is provided. Yes, my thinking about this practice was that social workers are changing individuals lives, but what I understood during the discussion was that, if we see a bigger picture, they are indirectly alleviating society by promoting social justice, inclusion, harmony, and equity. The questions that I still continue to have about the profession of social work are: since they were not taught about the anti-racists in her school, how did she manage to adopt the anti-racist and anti-

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10 oppressive practices in her practice? How did social workers prioritize the caseloads? By this, I mean, how did they triage the cases? Do they have guidelines that they follow to prioritize the cases? Another question is: how did she deal with ethical dilemmas in the practice, such as if she is caught between two courses of action that both involve certain adverse and beneficial consequences? Does she seek the help of her peers, supervisor, or manager, or does she try to solve it herself, and if yes, how? Reference Nearly half of women in Canada report workplace harassment: StatCan - National |

11 Globalnews.ca . (n.d.). Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/10288930/workplace- harassment-sex-assault-canada-statistics-canada/ Hick, S. F. (2010). Theory and Approaches to Social Work Practice. Using Knowledge to Shape Our Work with Clients with Purmina Sundar. Social work in Canada: an introduction (3rd ed., pp. 54-75). Toronto: Thompson Educational Pub..

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