Three Part Reflection Paper, each reflection should include at least two peer review articles that align with the reflection (Please note which references was used for each reflection). Identify any competencies that are utilized when completing the reflections. If a social work competency is not utilized, please take time to explain why. Each reflection should be at least two pages. APA format should be utilized. Students should utilize course (social work) concepts and theories in the reflection papers.
Reflection 1:
- Why do you think the airline personnel instruct people to put their oxygen mask on first before assisting others, and how do you think this relates to field education?
Reflection 2:
- What are your communication strengths and weakness, and what do you need to develop your competence?
Reflection 3:
- What is your culture lens? How does your culture impact your view on partnering with individuals, families, communities, and organizations? How does your agency show responsiveness to diversity and difference in practice? *To support your explanation of the responsiveness to diversity and difference in practice, you can expound on the fact that this particular agency has went as far as to form a diversity team. The diversity team does activities, sends newsletters, purposely acknowledges and provides information on most if not all holidays celebrated around the world. *
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Three Part Reflection Paper
Student Name
University
Course
Professor Name
Date
Reflection 1: Why do you think the airline personnel instructs people to put their oxygen masks on first before assisting others, and how do you think this relates to field education?
I think that airline personnel instructs people to put on their oxygen masks before helping other people because failure to do so risks the passengers’ wellbeing. Those who do not use the oxygen mask experience a significant drop in their oxygen saturation levels may drop significantly leading to disorientation, weakness, and inability to help themselves or others. This scenario illustrates that it is impossible to help other people for a long time if one has not taken the necessary steps to care for themselves. When people put their needs first, they can do more for other people.
The described scenario relates to the concept of self-care in field education. As per Drolet and McLennan (2016), self-care includes practices and activities that people engage in regularly to reduce their stress levels and promote better health and wellbeing. The social work profession can be very stressful because of numerous challenges encountered daily. These challenges include complex caseloads, constant exposure to clients’ trauma, and insecurity, especially among those working within the criminal justice system. Lewis and King (2019) further explain that for students who are in their field education, stressors associated with a new work environment, inadequate supervision, and lack of experience are common. Additionally, social work students may feel overwhelmed when working with patients with complex problems and this may lead to stress.
Therefore, social workers should use self-care to ensure that they remain in a position where they can effectively work with their clients. According to Glassburn et al. (2019), self-reflection is an important part of self-care that helps social workers identify their vulnerabilities and reduce the risk of re-traumatization. For example, in field education experiences, students should always pay attention to their emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and decisions including how they impact their physical and mental health and how they interact with clients. Self-reflection makes it easier to identify personal strengths and weaknesses and develop effective strategies for dealing with the weaknesses to promote both personal and career growth.
Self-care also reduces the risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. In field education experience, the pressure associated with high workloads increases the risk of burnout. Constantly providing emotional support to clients increases the risk of burnout. Self-care helps students to meet their emotional, psychological, and psychological needs which in turn enhance their wellbeing. Other aims of self-care include facilitating the development of better relationships with colleagues and with clients. As students, it is important to engage effectively with supervisors and other social workers to promote collaboration and create a positive work environment. Therapeutic relationships with clients promote better communication and enhance social work outcomes (Lewis & King, 2019).
Just like airline personnel have a safety plan for their passengers, social workers should also develop self-care plans. In my opinion, self-care activities should be those that people enjoy doing. For instance, some people may prefer watching movies as a form of self-care while others may like working out. Regardless of the choice one makes, the end goal is to manage stress and improve health in a manner that facilitates work-life balance. Students in their field education experiences should always make time for self-care.
The main competency utilized when completing the reflection is demonstrating ethical and professional behavior. I believe that self-care is part of professional behavior since it directly influences a social worker’s productivity in practice.
References
Drolet, J., & McLennan, C. (2016). Wellness and Relational Self-care in Social Work Field Education. The International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society, 6(4), 9-21. https://doi.org/10.18848/2156-8960/cgp/v06i04/9-21
Glassburn, S., McGuire, L., & Lay, K. (2019). Reflection as self-care: models for facilitative supervision. Reflective Practice, 20(6), 692-704. https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2019.1674271
Lewis, M., & King, D. (2019). Teaching self-care: The utilization of self-care in social work practicum to prevent compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious trauma. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 29(1), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2018.1482482
Reflection 2: What are your communication strengths and weakness, and what do you need to develop your competence
Effective communication is an essential component of social work practice. Generally, social workers are expected to demonstrate skills such as interpersonal communication, verbal, non-verbal communication, empathy, and active listening skills to engage with their clients. Communication skills are also important when working with diverse clients. Social workers should view communication as a two-way process that encourages partnership and collaboration with clients and other social workers (Artelt, 2018).
My main communication strength is that I can engage well with people from various backgrounds because, throughout my life, I have interacted with people from diverse cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds. I have good verbal communication skills that facilitate better interactions with clients. I am good at asking questions that stimulate better interactions. Additionally, I feel that am a very good listener and I can easily pay attention to the details that clients provide when talking. According to Artelt (2018), effective listening skills ensure that social workers convey interest in their clients and discover their point of view regarding specific issues or situations. Furthermore, active listening skills make it easy to gather sufficient information when conducting client assessments and to actively involve clients in the treatment and evaluation processes. Moreover, it is easy for me to build trust with my clients because I listen to them without being judgmental, respect their opinions, and ensure that they are informed of every step that will be taken in the assessment, treatment, and evaluation processes. Whenever am working with clients, I give them time to express their concerns and always involve them when making any decisions that affect their interests.
My main weakness concerning communication is that I tend to focus on the verbal aspect and sometimes, I fail to notice some non-verbal cues. For example, I tend to focus on some non-verbal cues such as eye contact, and in some cases, I miss some gestures which make it difficult to fully understand my clients’ situations. I also need to improve my conflict resolution skills which are a significant component of communication in social work. Whenever am in a conflicting situation with colleagues or clients, I find it hard to diffuse the situation and I end up avoiding the situation. According to Alotaibi et al. (2020), social workers require effective conflict resolution skills during advocacy, when working as group facilitators, and when engaging with families.
To develop my competence, I need to be more observant when talking to other people to easily detect non-verbal cues and interpret them to make more accurate conclusions about clients’ problems and how they feel about them. I also need to learn to express my feelings to others during conflict and pay attention to what others tell me to solve conflicts amicably instead of avoiding them altogether. I should also focus on utilizing the help of a mediator in case I feel unable to handle conflict. Furthermore, I should learn how to address and clarify any points of misunderstanding, especially when intervening with clients to minimize the risk of conflict.
The main competencies utilized when completing this reflection include engaging, assessing, intervening, and evaluating practice with individual clients, groups, and families. Communication is essential in all aspects of practice and is necessary when working with other social workers and diverse clients. Therefore, completing this reflection also demonstrates other competencies including ethical and professional behavior and engaging diversity in practice.
References
Alotaibi, A., Mohamad, M., Jana Saim, N., & Zakaria, E. (2020). Conflict and conflict management in Social work in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications (IJSRP), 10(7), 126-132. https://doi.org/10.29322/ijsrp.10.07.2020.p10316
Artelt, T. (2018). Developing your communication skills in social work. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 15(6), 707-709. https://doi.org/10.1080/23761407.2018.1521322
Reflection 3: What is your culture lens? How does your culture impact your view on partnering with individuals, families, communities, and organizations? How does your agency show responsiveness to diversity and difference in practice?
Cultural lens refers to an individual’s perspective of their environment that is based on their culture, values, and attitudes (Danso, 2016). As an individual who grew up in a diverse community, I quickly learned that people are different and that some behaviors and actions were more acceptable in some communities than others. Therefore, I learned to behave accordingly when interacting with people from different backgrounds. However, I later realized that I act differently around different people and that very few people knew my real character. Although it is important to be aware of other people’s cultures, it is also important to be genuine when interacting with them. My latest challenge has been demonstrating genuineness by being myself when interacting with diverse people. I always reflect on all my encounters with clients and colleagues and focus on identifying any behavior or actions that may not be sincere. I am also working on identifying biases I may have about other people to ensure that they do not influence my practice.
After reviewing my cultural lens, I feel that when partnering with people, families, organizations, and communities, it is very important to be genuine. As per Murphy et al. (2012), in social work practice, genuineness entails having a deep understanding of personal values, attitudes, prejudices, and capabilities which is important when developing a working relationship with clients. Genuine social workers also demonstrate consistency in behavior and communication with clients and accept when they make mistakes. When working with clients from diverse backgrounds, social workers should demonstrate a genuine interest in improving their welfare through their behavior.
My culture has also taught me that family is very important and that any conflict within the family impacts all members in one way or another. Therefore, when partnering with individuals and families it is important to focus on developing resilient families where members communicate effectively and work together to overcome any difficulties. This concept aligns with the systems theory which according to Lub (2018), posits that an individual’s behavior is influenced by factors such as family, economic class, social settings, and environment which work together as a system. Improving these systems helps to improve individual welfare.
My culture has also taught me the importance of appreciating other people’s cultures and that although people are different, they all deserve to live comfortable lives. I have always wanted to work with people and help them live their best lives and being a social worker is an opportunity to improve equality in access to resources. Therefore, I believe that when we partner with communities, individuals, families, and organizations, the main focus should be to promote justice and equality through advocacy and by improving access to community resources.
My organization is responsive to diversity and differences in practice. The agency has developed a diverse team whose role entails recognizing and appreciating any differences within the staff. For instance, the team purposely acknowledges and provides information on different communities all over the world. The team also enhances understanding that people have different life experiences. While some people may live in poverty, others are privileged. Such differences must be understood to effectively work with people from different backgrounds.
The main competencies utilized when completing this reflection included diversity and difference in practice, advancing human rights and justice, and engaging in policy practice. These competencies are based on the importance of cultural competence and advocating for equal access to opportunities and resources.
References
Danso, R. (2016). Cultural competence and cultural humility: A critical reflection on key cultural diversity concepts. Journal of Social Work, 18(4), 410-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017316654341
Lub, V. (2018). Theory, social work methods, and participation. Journal of Social Work, 19(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017318757297
Murphy, D., Duggan, M., & Joseph, S. (2012). Relationship-Based Social Work and Its Compatibility with the Person-Centred Approach: Principled versus Instrumental Perspectives. British Journal of Social Work, 43(4), 703-719. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcs003