Social Work Mission: Personal Goals, Essay Example

Strengths

I have always enjoyed meeting people. Over time I realized that meeting people was not only an enjoyable activity but it also helped me learn about life by being exposed to different perspectives. Meeting people also taught me a lot about human behavior and psychology and helped me being able to put myself in others’ shoes. But one of the most important things I have learnt is that trust is one of the most important things in any relationship and once you have broken someone’s trust, you can never rebuild it at the original level. This is why once I build a relationship, whether personal or professional, my major priority is to develop trust and protect it at all cost. When you have someone’s trust, you can motivate them and inspire them in positive ways.

I also believe my ability to understand people and put myself in their shoes will be an asset to my social work practice. I can put myself in others’ shoes because I have met lot of people with diverse backgrounds and life experiences in life and in addition, I have also been through difficult phases personally. Thus, I am able to understand others’ problems and challenges at personal level. When we can convince people we understand their point of view, they are more willing to trust us and share their opinions with us. It also makes our job easier because we create optimistic feelings in them and can motivate them to do their best. When people are optimistic, they are more willing to fight their problems and turn around their lives. Thus, my ability win others’ trust and encourage them to fight back will be a huge asset to my career. In addition, I will also been able to inspire them through my own personal stories.

Triggers and Tender Issues

I grew up in an abusive household and have vivid memories of my dad being abusive towards my mom. My mom worked hard to support most of the household expenses yet my dad ruled over household affairs. He never appreciated the hard work my mom did in raising the children as well as managing a full-time job. My dad’s attitudes towards my mom have made me distrustful towards men to some extent.

But I am also fortunate to have learnt a lot about life through friends and other people I have met and I have a significant number of guy friends. I understand that personal life experiences have a huge impact on your personalities and opinions but I also realize that one cannot form generalized opinions on the basis of a single individual. My dad failed to honor his responsibilities as a husband and father but that doesn’t mean every man is like him. I know many guy friends who are married and are extremely devoted husbands and fathers.

I also consider myself fairly open-minded because I realize that people have different experiences and circumstances, thus, I do not judge others but rather try to see things from their point of view. This may be why I am sometimes disappointed when certain religious organizations adopt positions that I view as biased and judgmental. This has created a negative image of certain religious organizations in my mindbut I also remind myself of the good works done by the same religious organizations. As a result, I have learnt to focus more on the positive aspects of people and organizations because focusing on negatives aspects only lead to negative feelings which distract us from more important thing.

Social Work Code of Ethics

I understand the importance of professional code of ethics in maintaining consistent performance standards but one may disagree with some of the positions in the code of ethics if he/she perceives them to be outdated or not reflecting the realities of modern times. As I study the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics, I find myself in agreement with the entire Code of Ethics except some clauses concerning clients’ privacy.

I agree that clients have a right to privacy and the information should not be disclosed without their consent or information but I believe there are some circumstances where client’s permission is not the right thing to do because it will slow down the progress towards client’s recovery. In my opinion, sometimes one has to get help of individuals related to the client for the benefit of the client though client may not desire or authorize so. Unless one can disclose confidential information to the caretakers or guardians, it may be difficult to obtain their help or obtain help to a desirable extent.

From my personal experiences, I have learnt that people fail to make progress because they are hesitant to admit there is a problem. At the same time, they are unwilling to accept the help of those who can truly help them because they do not want to embarrass themselves or consider seeking help a sign of weakness. If a social worker can enlist others to help the client, he/she should do so because it will also encourage clients to be more open about their problems with their loved ones.

Stereotypes

Our stereotypes are the result of our life experiences as well as cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Naturally, I also held certain stereotypes one of which was considering men as unworthy of trust. I also believed that gays are sinful people who intentionally rebel against the god. Similarly, I viewed whites as someone who considered other races inferior while blamed blacks for being lazy and still holding onto victim mentality. I also believed that women have to adopt masculine traits if they want to succeed in their chosen professional careers because leaders have to appear as dominant and authoritarian.

As I met people from diverse social, economic, cultural, and racial backgrounds, I realized that our worldviews are often too simplistic and there are a number of factors at play which determine the reality we see. I have also learnt that we are prone to measure others through our own experiences and cultural values. This approach ignores the fact that people are different and go through different life experiences. I also realized that blame games are rarely based on reality and more due to our desires to attribute our problems and issues to external forces and relieve ourselves of any guilt.

In my opinion, the best cure against stereotypes is knowledge and an open mind. As we learn more about ourselves and others, we become better at recognizing our personal biases and keep them in control. We should always remember that every side has two pictures. In addition, we cannot solve problems unless we try to understand their root causes and tackle them. This is why social workers should keep their biases in check because clients do not want us to judge them but understand them and offer them practical solutions.