Critical reflection

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Thompson Rivers University *

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2061

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Apr 3, 2024

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1 Assignment 1 : Critical Reflection Thompson Rivers University SOCW 2061 Dr. Wayne Nickle Social activism and social justice

2 Ray Abernathy is a contemporary social activist in Burnaby, British Columbia, who has a passion to do something for the community. He volunteered to mow lawns and do small household repairs, but while working in the yard for the Vancouver transition house, he noticed other needs of women and children. He realized they will need more when they leave the transition houses and start a new home. He tries to bring forward the need for basic necessities for women and children in transition. He started to collect furniture and other household merchandise from his family and friends, and he distributed it among individuals who needed it the most. Through word of mouth, he outgrew his own garage and started finding a warehouse that he could use to store household merchandise so he could help people in need. He also found a permanent warehouse space later. The organization Helping Families in Need has blossomed into a local organization that helps by providing essential household necessities to women in transition, single parents receiving income assistance, newly immigrated families, refugees, and other Burnaby residents in order to lessen the financial burden of starting and maintaining a nice home. Ray Abernathy aimed to turn housing into homes and helped more than 1,300 families every year. I strongly believe in the organization helping families in need in society by providing the basic needs to live their lives comfortably and relieving them of the cost of buying household goods with the rising cost of living in Vancouver. I believe social activism and social workers go hand in hand. Social activism will bring the issue forward by focusing on systemic root causes, and social workers will connect clients to resources and provide programs that focus on individuals.

3 Social Work in Your Community As a unit clerk at BC Women’s Hospital working with immigrant and refugee pregnant women, I often get a chance to work with and talk to social workers at the hospital and in the community. The social workers that I work with use both generalist and specialized skills. Social workers use specialized skills within specific areas; for instance, social workers provide cognitive-behavior therapy to individuals, couples, or groups experiencing anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and phobias, whereas the aim of social workers is to help the patient manage their behavior and emotions. On the other hand, social workers using general skills assist in a wide range of settings like schools, hospitals, etc. I have noticed many activities associated with both helping and social justice, such as active listening and counselling the client and referring them to other social services providing financial help, legal aid, housing, and medical treatment according to their needs. For example, an immigrant pregnant woman who escaped from her house has no access to shelter and medical coverage and seeks help. In this case, the social worker provides both help and social justice to the client by counselling her and referring her to a maternity clinic, a transitional house, and legal aid. I have been working with social workers for the past year, and I learned about these services since I joined the New Beginnings clinic at BC Women’s Hospital. I worked in the retail sector in the past and had no understanding of these services. I believe social work services are made for people and to help people relieve suffering, fight for social justice, connect them to the right resources, and improve their overall lives. I perceive that people availing of these services need guidance but are smart, aware, and determined to overcome difficult challenges in life.

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4 Ethical Choices Sally is in eighth grade and is a thirteen-year-old student. I went to school after a month since I was filling the position of social worker at another school. I saw Sally, and she was very happy to see me. She shared a secret that her older brother is hurting, and she insisted that I don’t share this conversation of ours with her parents. Since we both share a good bond, this situation puts me in a dilemma, and I decided to refer to the ethical principles screen and the values and principles of the CASW/ACTS guidelines for ethical practice. As per the ethical principles screen, the top of the pyramid has the protection of life, which means that the protection of the client is first. Since Sally disclosed that her elder brother is hurting her and since she is thirteen- years old, it limits her ability to practice self-determination. As a social worker, I will ensure that the principle of life protection is applied. Despite the fact that me and Sally share a good bond, keeping the principle of protection of life first, I will apply the Protect privacy and confidentiality principle under the CASW/ACTS guidelines for Ethical practice: when disclosure is required to stop essential, predictable, and impending harm to a client or others, the expectation that social workers will keep information confidential does not apply. Social workers can reveal the least amount of private information required to accomplish the intended outcome. The first possible course of action that I will apply is disclosing the information to Sally’s parents after explaining her social work guidelines. The possible harm is that Sally will be a little upset about the fact that I shared her secret, but if I share this information with her parents, the possible benefit could be that she will not get hurt again and we can potentially find a solution. Another possible course of action that I will apply is keeping the bond priority, not telling the secret at first to anyone, and approaching my supervisor to seek help. The possible benefit is that Sally will not feel betrayed at first,

5 but she will also get a solution. The possible harm is a delay in the process and reporting this incident to Sally’s parents, and she will feel betrayed.

6 Karen’s Roles in “Case Study: A Day (and Night) in the Life of a Social Worker” Karen used the role of case manager and acts as a social broker to help Miguel by providing multiple direct services and connecting him with needed resources, such as by presenting him with emergency assistance through food and transportation vouchers and resolving the problem of Miguel’s destitute situation. As the current requirement of Miguel was food and transportation, I believe that they were met to a great extent since Miguel gets a voucher for meals and transportation, but Karen could have focused on child safety through supportive counselling, advocacy, risk assessment, and helping with family connections. Except for providing emergency assistance, social justice was also accomplished. Being a part of society, every individual has the right to access resources so that their basic human needs are met. Karen meets the expectations of the social broker role by connecting Miguel with resources. Karen’s relationship with the people she was working with was professional and respectful, and she used her professional relationship in an appropriate manner by meeting her supervisor in order to get emergency assistance for Miguel, which helped him since the referral was declined by the income security agency. Karen showed understanding and empathy towards Miguel’s situation. When she got to know about Miguel’s situation from a nurse, the first thing she did when the office opened was interview him, understand his concerns empathetically, and connect him with the resources. I believe the most effective thing Karen did was meet her supervisor, who helped her get access to emergency assistance for Miguel. She could have been more effective if Karen had also discussed some skill development and focused on child safety through supportive counselling, advocacy, risk assessment, and helping with family connection options in order for Miguel to function well in society and his personal life.

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7 Theory in Practice Karen used social system theory in order to help Miguel. Social system theory is based on the notion that each individual lives inside and is impacted by a variety of interconnected systems. Problems are often encountered when there is a misfit between the individual and their surrounding environment. According to the theory, during the interview with Miguel, Karen evaluated the root causes of problems faced by him and worked to shape solutions to the problems. While assessing the situation, she incorporated empathy and reflection. I believe the alternative approach she could have used is the structural approach, which focuses on how larger societal structures such as racism, sexuality, class, and others affect individual issues and also includes secondary structures like family, society, and bureaucracy. This approach would have been more helpful because Karen will help Miguel deal with problems and, if possible, change the overall situation that caused the issue. Karen's role as a case manager and social broker justifies the microsystem knowledge by connecting Miguel with needed resources, such as providing emergency support by presenting him with food and transportation vouchers. Karen neither applied the structural approach nor the anti-oppressive practice. Since the structural approach focuses on the influence of a larger societal framework on individual issues, Karen only focused on the current needs of Miguel, and the anti-oppressive practice acknowledges that the society in which individuals live shapes their lives, and the oppressive structure within that society is often the root cause of many issues. Karen did not go into depth on Miguel’s case in order to find out why he is suffering from this situation and what can be done to overcome the oppressive relationship with the society.

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