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Social Work-Differences

  • Post category:Nursing
  • Reading time:8 mins read

Using the resources below:

Describe a case or project from your previous field placement (the previous placement would be case management for returning citizens/ individuals recently released from prison) or related work experience. Using the readings from Module 1, address the ways in which difference was constructed and experienced. Address the meaning of difference in this context. How did you make meaning of the differences you experienced between yourself and the client(s)? What elements of oppression can you identify? Finally, address how the NASW Standards of cultural competence in social work practice apply in this context.

Write a 4-5-page paper, using APA style, and be sure to reference all material and fully define all concepts. You will be graded on how well you apply the concepts from the material in Module 1 to the assignment.

Textbook (Can be shared if needed)

  • Rosenblum & Travis (2015)
  • Section I: Constructing categories of difference.
  • Section II: Experiencing difference.
  • Section III: The meaning of difference.

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Social Work-Differences
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Social Work-Differences
Social workers have so much relevance in the current society where people need various kinds of help but are not able to get it because they are misinformed. Social workers have many roles including “teaching people about resources and how to develop particular skills such as budgeting, the caring discipline of children, effective communication, the meaning of a medical diagnosis, and the prevention of violence” (McIntosh, 1989) To execute these roles successfully, social workers must understand the people they are dealing with and their needs in order to take the most appropriate action. As a social worker, I have handled various categories of people battling different problems. In this study, I will give an example of an ex-convict released from prison and struggling with reintegration into the community.
Case Study
In 2019, I was handling an ex-offender (Mr. Lee) who served three years in Spring Creek Correctional Center in Alaska. Lee was just 28 at the time of his release and went back to stay with his elder brother in Fairbanks City, who helped him to get by. His parents had died before his incarceration. Even though he had been advised by a social worker before release to apply for the benefit on release, he did not.
He felt stigmatized by his sister-in-law (Perrie) and nephews and nieces. His brother has three children and was finding it hard to take care of Lee and his family at the same time. Perrie always treated him with suspicion and warn the children against him. One day Perrie to him to go look for a job and rent a house for himself. After failed attempts to secure a job, Lee went back into alcohol abuse and depression. Eventually, he was referred to me by his brother.
I visited Lee at his brother’s place to help him claim the benefits they were entitled to. I realized that Lee was too anxious to get home that he did not see the need of making the homelessness presentation. However, the home was never anxious to get him back. Three of his best friends had graduated and were have good-paying jobs. They did not have time for him. He struggled to secure a job but was always being turned down because of his criminal past. His sister-in-law and a few other neighbors would call him an ex-con and did not hesitate to accuse him of any small offense that happened in the neighborhood. To make it worse, he had no access to a professional to remind him that such behaviors were normal and it would take a personal effort to overcome and win back people’s trust.
I connected Lee to a facility offering correctional services, Correctional Facility Service Center where he was employed as a cook, where he also got registered to continue with a catering course. His brother insisted that he had to stay with him. As such, we had to talk with his sister-in-law to learn how to accept him back and give him a second chance. Though the situation did not become perfect, Lee was content in the hope that he had a job and a career to look forward to.
Discussion on Differences
The case of Lee is an example of a common situation that ex-convicts go through in a normal society. Ex-convicts are alienated and stigmatized because of their differences. Differences in society take various forms and affect people at all levels in the community. According to Rosenblum & Travis (2016), a difference can be seen as a “broad and ever-expanding set of particular groups or categories such as race, gender, age, sexual orientation, class, and physical or mental ability.” This example provides a case of social difference in which people are discriminated based on their social characteristics such as age, class, culture, race, ability, and sex (NASW, 2015). Lee is being discriminated because of his experience and social class. He is a convict, homeless, jobless, and poor. People like his sister-in-law who are richer, employed, have homes, and have no criminal records are treating him with contempt because they perceive themselves as better.
Making Meaning of the differences
Personally, I share the same differences that the others also have with Lee including being richer, employed, having a home, and having no criminal record. For the first time meeting with Lee, I could only see the essential difference that he was young, poor, not in good health, and black. However, from the talk with his brother and with him, I learned about other differences. I understood the meaning of these differences based on the treatment he received from others. For instance, his sister-in-law just took him for a criminal just by the virtue of having been convicted. Such a perception was shared by employers, neighbors, and friends. People also shunned him because he was homeless and jobless, and appeared like a beggar and drunkard. Some of his friends had climbed the social ladder and could not entertain his destitution and joblessness.
Elements of Oppression
Lee is facing oppression as seeks to find a job. No employer is willing to give him a job because of his criminal past. Oppression in this context refers to systematic mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation of others by a group (or groups) of people who hold power in society by controlling social institutions, customs, society laws, and norms (Rosenblum & Travis, 2016). Lee has paid for his crimes and is declared fit for society. Denying him his right to get a job by those who hold such opportunities is oppression.
Application NASW Standards of Cultural Competence
The NASW (2015) highlights ten standards of cultural competence that social workers should consider in their practice. They include Ethics and Values, Self-Awareness, Cross-Cultural Knowledge, Cross-Cultural Skills, Service Delivery, Empowerment and Advocacy, Diverse Workforce, Professional Education, Language and Communication, and Leadership to Advance Cultural Competence. In this case of Lee, I was compelled by service delivery to refer him to the Correctional Facility Service Center, Empowerment and Advocacy to advocate and vouch for him, professional education to reconcile him with his sister-in-law, and language and communication to enhance communication and understanding (NASW, 2015). However, I still had to uphold NASW ethics and values, self-awareness, cross-cultural knowledge, and cross-cultural skills.
A society with no social workers may be limited in many ways to address some of the challenges that people face in the community. People face various issues that they might not know how to address due to a lack of information and knowledge, hence the need for a social worker. The case of Lee demonstrates one of these challenges that social workers address. Social workers must exercise top most professionalism while handling differences in society and work strictly within the standards of ethics. Perceive differences in society cause conflicts and must therefore adequately addressed to encourage acceptance and tolerance.

References
McIntosh, P. (1989, July / August). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom, pp. 10-12.
NASW. (2015). Standards and Indicators for Cultural Competence in Social work practice. National Association of Social Workers.
Rosenblum, K. E., & Travis, T.-M. (2016). The meaning of difference: American constructions of race and ethnicity, sex and gender, social class, sexuality, and disability: a text/reader. McGraw-Hill Education.