Integrative Social Work Practice: Reflections And Insights

Reflection 1

This learning course on Integrative social work practice was helpful for me in several ways as the activities incorporated in the course module allowed me to prepare myself for the professional journey as an entry level social work practitioner. Using this learning module I was also able to identify, examine and analyze what it means to establish a professional identity as a social worker which is needed to take clients’ needs, social context, capacities as well as professional knowledge, theory, and skills into consideration. The activity one associated with this course learning also helped me in understanding why it is the primary responsibility of communities, governments, families, and businesses to take the responsibility for helping or assisting others in need. This helped me in enhancing my image as a better social worker in present and in the future as well.

The course module and activity also explained that change within the lives of practitioners, clients, and in social workers is only possible through the involvement in the evolution process of different practices and ideas where each idea is influenced by the formal or informal theories of what actually social work is. I also understood that an imperative objective of social work in solidarity, connectedness, and integration within the societies in which it operates, and thereby as an individual of the society, it is imperative for a social worker to combine, coordinate, collaborate, plan and partner with a range or variety of care services with the lives of human beings it assists in needs. I also understood that it is imperative that individual develops a sympathetic attitude toward researching their own social practice and while contributing the same to others. This would help in auditing the required social practice and form a better partnership with multi-professional colleagues to perform better. Hence, I would stick to my opinion of the primary personality of families, communities, governments, and businesses to assist required people in need. This would enable the individuals in reviewing their practice and the results of the work in specific cases of assigning people in need and lead to future developments. I also believe that implementing a governmental policy that is specifically designed to benefit the lives of the service users can prevent several ambiguities leading to make complex reactions rather than being mutually supportive. Thus, I believe that it is imperative to consider social work to be integrative and accordingly work constantly on the service users in order to attain an achieving experience of assisting others in need and develop a better social environment. Doing this will also help different communities come together and provide the required assistance and resources that would enable the challenges to be managed properly and integratively. Doing this will help in reaching to a balanced view and help people with painful experiences. therefore, all social worker's practices in organizations, families, governments, and other institutions must involve themselves in different leadership activities as this would help in having a better influence on the lives of people they are helping (in need).

Reflection 2

The article by Payne aims at helping practitioners feel confident in using different theories in their respective practice and also demonstrates how social work theory is socially constructed in interactions between the practitioners and the clients within their agencies and in wider social, cultural as well as political arenas. Payne explains that all the practice is influenced by either formal or informal theories of social work and how to do the same in the client’s world.  These social theories help in understanding thereby contesting concepts which in turn assist in staying professionals who are accountable as well as self disciplined.

There are several work practices theories explained by Payne in this article. However, the theory that resonated very well with me was the theories of the client world. After going through the article, I understood that these theories are all about the social realities and complexities that a social worker deals with and the majority of which came from areas such as family and organization with which the individual is associated with. Hence, I understood that p[practicing this theory would require me to have appropriate knowledge from other fields of study and this would develop as well as enhance my current skill and knowledge to a great extent. as a whole I would be able to organize the gathered knowledge and accordingly transfer the same into the social work delivered. I also believe that by using this theory, practitioners would use their overall experiences and general cultural meanings towards developing a better and more meaningful reasoning of the situations encountered. Thus, taking these insights I would like to consider myself in the first quarter of Payne’s framework to be socially democratic that allows better social development.

Hence, if I were in Payne’s position, I would have focused or aimed at explaining that social theory could be primarily considered as a contribution that enables individuals in interacting with the real world and surrounding comprising of different social relationships (Kourgiantakis et al., 2020). Hence, it is the responsibility of the individual or the social worker to help clients develop and adopt the services offered. In order to do the same, I would have suggested that the individual to identify, direct, and manage the encountered situations. This would enable the social workers and the clients in making appropriate decisions that in turn would be responsible for integrating different purposes and practices with the sought ideas and accordingly place them to the required practice or situation encountered. I was always keen in helping others and make the lives of the individuals easy to the extent I can. For hi I have joined and is currently a part of several NGOs that help me in longing to fight for a social changes as well as human rights. This also helps me in learning through experiences and develop as a person.

From this article by Payne, it was clear that theories are responsible for presenting clear sets and sequences of action for the practitioners and clients to work on (Tesi, 2021). Therefore a proper balancing factor is required that is capable of supporting cognitive, behavioral as well as task centred practices in spite of the problem solving attitude. This is because it would enable the individuals and in emphasizing sequences that are concise and clear. Identifying and exploring the principles associated with the shared value in this manner as explained by Payne could help social practitioners in producing a better criteria for evaluating the contributions made by the theories associated with social work practice (Payne,2020). Therefore this article by Payne is successful in explaining that change in social work along with clients is only possible through the required engagement along with better evolution of practices and ideas.  

Reflection 3

The article on “The end of social work” explains that the social work literature is highly saturated with calls to reform social work in a diverse as well as contradictory manner. The basic theoretical attempts in the social work theory are recognized as challenging or preventing the profession from getting reconciliation of the aims that would enable an individual in obtaining social justice (Kreuger, 1997). This method has also challenged the social workers and their respective aspirations towards professionalism thereby actively distracting social workers from working with communities and people.  However, I also understood that social workers cannot be expected to solve the issues of the work immediately and as individuals, it is imperative to have the ability to identify and demonstrate a few progressive measures towards the same. This would help in championing considerable reforms and prevent social injustice to a great extent.

This article also helped me in understanding that social work is dragging its feet in arenas such as climatic justice and climatic actions as well. However, social work has relatively been accused of being weak, disappointing, and delayed at some point or the other. Maylea is also capable of making readers understand that the professional work of social work and the implication of this social workers’ sense of identity is within the area of contention and the individuals who are capable of asserting the same recommend that there is a significant dissonance between the enacted valued as well as the professed valued of the profession (Loriol, 2019). However, I believe that social work values integrity within individuals, and the social workers are responsible for delivering what their promises to others. Hence, I think it is imperative for all the special workers to be open and transparent about what they do and say and accordingly deal with the people they want or require to help (majorly who are less powerful in the society and less powerful in the social care services). The article by Maylea is also capable of identifying the causes of the terminal decline of the social work and makes everyone understand that there is no specific response to the practice reality that assists people in adopting an unfair system thrashing the social justice and human rights that would help social workers like me in future as well.

I think that bringing ideas and concepts together from the literature and practice is imperative for doing the same as this would help us in enhancing our method or manner of understanding the practices. Developing a particular focus is also imperative to identify the importance and difficulties and place the techniques in a better place thereby stimulating social improvements more effectively. Hence, these different or varying perspectives about social work could be considered as dynamism that is incapable of addressing or responding to the modern challenges of the society. Hence, I believe Maylea is correct on this point that it is imperative to give an effective social work mode that would help in attaining the contemporary goals of the organization and the society both at the same time.

References

Kourgiantakis, T., Sewell, K. M., Hu, R., Logan, J., & Bogo, M. (2020). Simulation in social work education: A scoping review. Research on Social Work Practice, 30(4), 433-450.

Kreuger, L. W. (1997). The end of social work. Journal of Social Work Education, 33(1), 19-27.

Loriol, M. (2019). Introduction: What Does the Social Construction of Stress Mean?. In Stress and suffering at work (pp. 1-19). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Payne, M. (2020). Modern social work theory. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Tesi, A. (2021). A Dual Path Model of Work-Related Well-Being in Healthcare and Social Work Settings: The Interweaving Between Trait Emotional Intelligence, End-User Job Demands, Coworkers Related Job Resources, Burnout, and Work Engagement. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 2333.