A Reflective Self Assessment Paper Social Work Essay

A Reflective Self Assessment Paper Social Work Essay According to EPAS competencies, a social worker should engage in self-reflection, self-monitoring, and correction; engage in career-long learning. When starting this self-reflection, I ask myself, which part of social work practice may influence my ability in performance. I think maybe, I will try not to deal with cases involving children living with family violence. In 2003, when I was only 16 years old, I was sent to Portugal for a year as a cultural exchange student. One day, my host mother asked me to pick my 9-year-old host brother home after school. When I entered his school, a little boy just rushed to me and kicked me saying Chinà ªs! Chinà ªs! (Chinese in Portuguese). I thought that I never knew this boy and there was no use to argue with a little boy so I just ignored him. Then while my host brother and I were walking out of the school, the boy appeared again and came to beat me saying again Chinà ªs! Chinà ªs!. I got really angry and went to the principals office to report the situation. The headmaster told me that the boy was a Brazilian and his family background was quite complicated. He grew up in a climate of family violence and he always performed aggressively at school. After that incident, I started to have fear and lost trust in this kind of children. Recently during my part-time job in Centre on Behavioral Health of HKU, we are having a pilot study on abused women and children in Harmony House. My supervisor asked me to be in charge of the part of children, who are of 5 to 12 years old. Later in the formal study, the sample size will be much bigger. I found it difficult in designing questionnaires and conducting interviews properly for children, especially those who are living with trauma and family violence. We used several validated questionnaires, but the kids could not understand the questions, neither could they comprehend expressions like suffering, fear and worries. Moreover, when doing the interview, they would suddenly lose patience in talking with you, thus many questionnaires remained uncompleted at all. For those children, reading peoples faces are sometimes a necessity to survive in the family. In order to pretend as normal as other children and to behave as a goody boy or girl, they tended to give us answers which t hey thought their peers would possibly say and their parents and we interviewers would prefer to hear. Therefore, I tell myself, in social work practice in the future, I will avoid children if at all possible, particularly children living in domestic violence. When I precipitated to write this self-assessment, I reflected and found that my past ideas seemed very immature and they were against social work principles. We believe in the equality of every human-being and we pursuit social justice all the time. But when it comes to the issue of children, I have bias against them and directly avoid them. Children who live with family violence are vulnerable and oppressed and we social workers have our primary mission to pay attention to their needs and empowerment . We social workers respect the dignity and equality of every individual, and we are committed to assist them to solve the problem and get the needed resources. Social workers also strive to make social institutions responsive to human needs so we should also put efforts on the restoration family functioning to meet childrens needs. Therefore, to be a qualified social worker, I should apply these principles and values to guide my professional practice other than personal experience and bias. As we all know, Family is a special social system which performs certain functions and certain responsibilities. It performs the essential function of attending to the social and educational needs, health and well-being, and mutual care of its members. So parents have responsibility to meet childrens needs and provide adequate care, affection, safety, stimulation, guidance, boundaries and stability. Inside the family, parents are significant support systems and attachment figures for childrens socio-emotional development. So when the functions and responsibilities are replaced by verbal, sexual, physical violence and various forms of maltreatment, and when support, care, and harmony no longer exist, family can be very harmful to a child. According to Harmony Houses statistics, the number of children admitted to their shelter has increased by 60% in the past twenty years, from 155 cases in 1985 to 250 cases in 2005. 100% of them witnessed domestic violence at home and 65% were directly abused by their fathers. Over 96% of child witnesses felt scared, while over 70% felt angry, helpless and did not know how to seek help from external resources. Around 30% of them even tried to fight against their abusive fathers to protect their mothers, causing and long lasting scars throughout their lives. In addition, 85% children having witnessed domestic violence will suffer from mild to severe levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Experiencing or witnessing a violent event is a very strong stressor to children, especially when it is human designed, long-lasting, and the aggressor and victim are close to them. Children who are abused, neglected and exposure to family violence are more likely to produce problems of emotional and behavioral adjustment, and even PTSD symptoms like withdrawal, regression, aggression, anxiety, helplessness, low self-efficacy, lack of concentration and so on. In Osofskys study, he divided children suffering from domestic violence into three categories by their ages. 1) Very young children are likely to show emotional distress and immature behavior. Sometimes they would also have somatic complaints and regressions in toileting and language. 2) For school-aged children, they will probably exhibit a greater frequency of externalizing and internalizing. Externalizing includes aggressive and delinquent, while internalizing consists of withdrawn and anxious. 3) Adolescents may have a highe r level of aggression but a common acting-out. Moreover, their cases are often accompanied with anxiety, behavior problems, school problems, truancy, and revenge seeking. From the perspective of social learning theory, children will learn and intimate what they experience and see. What can kids learn from domestic violence? 1) Violence is an appropriate way to solve conflicts. 2) Violence is a part of family relationships. 3) The perpetrator of violence in intimate relationships often goes unpunished. 4) Violence is a way to control other people. So intergenerational transmission of violence often occurred and children are likely to become offenders in the future. . In addition, if parents are emotionally unavailable and abusive, children will lose the basic trust to others in their development. When a childs parents are in a state of hostility, they have to somehow make a choice. Such choice of loyalty to one of the parent inevitably will bring about the worsening of the family communication and relations. Growing up under such stressful conditions with unmet childhood developmental needs will affect their view toward themselves as a person, and thei r view toward parents, family, marriage and interpersonal relations. When I start to work with a child from family violence, I should keep my role in mind all the time that I am coming to help and try to establish a professional and helpful image in communication with the child and the family. In problem assessment stage, I need to make clear what is known and what is not yet known, and carefully observe what the family environment the parents are providing for the child, what developmental needs of the child are not met and what are the existing problems and difficulties in restore the functioning. In the part of family and parents, it is necessary to assess the family history and functioning, basic care, safety, emotional warmth, housing, employment, income, familys social integration, etc. In the section of childrens developmental needs, there are several dimensions to be considered as followed: Health It includes a childs physical and mental well-being as well as his/her medical care, nutritious diet and sport exercise. Education It covers all areas of cognitive development of a child from his/her birth. It involves ones access to school education, books, and other school facilities, interactions with other fellow children, attendance of school activities, and development of skills and interests. Emotional and Behavioral Development It concerns how a child can react to people by feelings and actions, which includes attachment, temperament, adaption, self-control and so on. Identity It means the childs understanding of him/herself has an independent and valued person, relating to self-efficacy, self-image, self-esteem, sense of belonging to the family and the society. Family and Social Relationship It refers to a good relationship with parents, siblings, caregivers, peers and other important people in the childs life. Social Presentation It means how a child presents him/herself in various social situations and how the presentation fits his/her age, gender, culture and religion. Self-care Skills It concerns a childs independence by observing his/her practical, emotional and communication competencies in living and solving problems by him/herself. It should be pointed out that non-verbal cues are very important and useful in assessing the children. The assessment process can be therapeutic itself, so every action we take should be very careful, otherwise the interview can bring further harm to the child. After collecting the information, together with comprehensive analysis and planning, I can move on to the intervention stage. The first step is to prevent the maltreatment, and ensure safety and cares for the child. Coping resources like relatives, schools and communities can be searched and used into the practice. Besides, refugee service is another choice. At the same time, proactive work of target services should be provided to the family and the children. For example, if the violence is because of the parents mental health or drug and alcohol abuse, actions like medical and rehab treatment can be adopted to this salient problem. The second level of intervention is to recover the vulnerable children who have suffered from abuse and neglect. The intervention should fit the characteristic of the age and gender of the child and his/her particular situation and needs. Many approaches from expressive art therapy, play therapy and body-mind theory can be applied to help the child identify and change destructive belief patterns, identify and express emotional residue, exercise personal control, make plans for future and break down the sense of isolation. However, if the trauma is too severe for me to handle, I will refer the child for further clinical treatment. Then comes the third level of the intervention. It aims to ensure the long-term well-being of the child and the family. More target services are followed up to provide a good family environment for the kid. Many integrated therapeutic intervention models can be adopted for the whole family. For example, parent-child interaction therapy suggests that modifying family interactions can diminish the childs behavior problems and improve positive parenting skills, and it effectively reduce likelihood of future abusive actions. Above is my plan of practice with children living in family violence. I found that the whole process seemed not that difficult although many practical problems might appear during each stage. I am very energetic but hot-headed. Sometimes when I encounter a hard nut to crack, I will be worried and anxious all the time doing nothing, and thinking about how to avoid it. As a future social worker, I will cultivate my patience, psychological quality in crisis and difficulty, and try to obtain more professional skills to handle problems properly.

My Father in heaven is Reading out loud Essay

Faith gives us the strength to pursue what we have in our lives. What we perceive in our lives should give us the drive to carry on things which will have an effect in our lifetime in the long run. Essence of love and its intensity would transpire a huge sense of longing at times most especially if we loose a person so dear to us, then the saying which goes like we will just contemplate the importance of a person when he’s gone would truly give weight on this. The poem â€Å"My Father in heaven is Reading out loud† connotes the central theme of death. The realization of a person who is far away circling in the poem, however, being gone does not mean that the love’s gone as well. In view of the poem, it has been epitomize how love can move things and awaken a person to do things efficiently. Though the sad part of the thing called death is at hand, the positive side which would be the element of hope which enable a person to pursue things given the inspiration of his loved one. The character in the poem is simply a loving father who’s gone but his love remains. There is also the child who misses things around as his father’s already gone. A strong character is present in this poem which gives a manly vibe through out the entire deliverance of the poem. The word Father per se exemplifies a huge sincerity of weight to a strong personality. This figurative word that has been used in the entire poem leave a remarkable air of an almighty figure, one which possess strength of power and a role model to everyone. Moreover, this also connote a certain level of consistency of decision – and in this case, a decision to stay around regardless of what faith could give us, â€Å"My Father in Heaven is Reading out loud to himself Psalms or news† (stanza 1, line 1-2, p. 257). The father still makes his role seemingly possible even if he’s away from home and can never have a grip on him in this lifetime. Perhaps, the character has a deep sense of protection power and his views on things contribute a lot to the people sop dear to him. Upon visualizing the varieties of the poem â€Å"My Father in Heaven is Reading out loud†, the setting of a peaceful place is present. A sacred place like that of heaven would be a possible setting for this poem. Heaven which is a good place to oversee things down the earth and monitor what is happening to his loved one, if he is doing the right things in life. Perhaps, this peaceful environment is beneficial in making available the air of tranquillity and peaceful arena. Scrutinizing some main points of the poem will give us a huge sense of understanding towards life and what it entails to realize a lost loved one, or for that matter, a father. â€Å"Now he ponders what he’s read, No. he is listening for the sound of children in the yard. Was that laughing or crying? So much depends upon the answer, for either he will go on reading, or he’ll run to save a child’s day from grief. As it is in heaven, so it was on earth† (stanza 1, line 2-8, p. 257), this goes to say that the father might have some news at hand as he manage to protect his child albeit the fact that he’s gone and so much away. His spirit is still present as he monitors what is happening with his child and maybe he felt the longingness of his child now that he’s gone. Furthermore, he still feels the caress of his child as he plays around. As the father, he enjoys the scenery of his child innocently roaming around tackling his own life. Perhaps, he’s still bothered during those times which he knows that his child misses him and that at the back of what seems to be laughter lays a tears which is continuously flowing. He might have the feeling of longing and parallel to this, there might be some sorrows within as the child looks for a father at a moment. The father was a bit afraid as well because he may no longer give the protection which his child needed since he’s too far to reach and the only thing which he can do is to make his spirit always available showered with love. By means of his affection, heaven could possibly put on earth. Looking at his child feels like heaven to him and all he wants is to make his child happy even if it takes him to just stare at his child and be that far from him. In view of the child’s perspective, his father does a lot of remarkable things for him that he should be proud of for the rest of his life, â€Å"Because my father walked the earth with a grave, determined rhythm, my shoulders ached from his gaze, because my father’s shoulders ached from pulling of oars, my life now moves with a powerful back-and-forth rhythm† (stanza 2, line 1-5, p. 257). At some point the child’s not as good before neglecting the things which his father did to him and now he regrets the past circumstances in his life and wondering if he could turn back those times that he can be at his best – a good son to his good father who truly loves him, â€Å"A remarkable disappointment to him, I am like anyone who arrives late in the millennium and is unable to stay to the end of days† (stanza 3, line 1-4, p. 257). In consonance to this, the child has become confused at some point towards what life is giving him, the challenges that he has as he starts questioning, is it too late for him to change for the reason that he can no longer grab his father. Now that everything is too late for him and his dad, he wants to go back and show how he loves his father and that he can be a better person most especially to his father, â€Å"the world’s beginnings are obscure to me, its outcomes inaccessible, I don’t understand the source of starlight or starlight’s destination† (stanza 3, line 4-7, p. 257). A two way of presentation has been present in this poem, the father figure and a child who looks at things differently based on his father’s showered love. Clearly, the spirit of hope resembles at the end of the poem as the child aspire to get better grasping what his father has taught him. Life mat give us a certain role in this world and albeit with that role lays a challenge which we can surely surpass at a given time. Reference: My Father, in Heaven, Is Reading out loud, Making Literature Matter: An Anthology for Readers and Writers, Fourth Edition page 257

Preventing The Homeless Population From Getting Housed Essay

While homelessness is viewed as people that are drug addicts or bums, there are other barriers that prevent the homeless population from getting housed. Many have no resources to allow them to obtain or maintain housing, let alone their basic needs. Being homeless takes a significant toll on people’s lives overall as well as their ability to feel safe and secure. However, the focus of this paper is to temporary assist those in needs, while residing in the streets. Their current place of home. Hygiene services should be integrated in developing future programs. More agencies should focus on providing toiletry supplies to those that cannot afford them. The disproportionate contribute of toiletries, food and survival clothing from varying sources was not enough to fulfill the goal set. However, a great number of homeless people benefit from some assistance of basic survival needs. Strategies will be implemented to continue to seek contributions to provide an intervention for those sleeping outdoors and disconnected from social service assistance. As poor nutritional status or infection predispose homeless people to health concerns, the need of survival kits can be a means of prolonging such illness. Donations will provide an awareness of the homeless need in the community. With hopes that the items provided will provide a good sense of self worth, build relationship, trust, giving others an opportunity to have a better life. It can build better communities. With hope thatShow MoreRelatedHomelessness : Homeless Population, Origins And Consequences Of Homelessness1373 Words   |  6 Pagesrisk factors for the homeless population, origins and consequences of homelessness, prevention and treatment strategies, and other considerations will be presented. 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