Critical Social Work

Words: 674
Pages: 3
Open Document
In this paper, analyzing my artwork and readings, I will explain what critical social work means to me and the possibilities of integrating my approach in the social work practice.
It represents the story of a woman. A woman who has a fear of disclosing herself while entering the office of a social worker to seek help A woman who gathered her courage to walk into a social worker’ office. Visibly she seems distress walking in the office without shoes but no once can see her invisible scars. With the support of a social worker she seems to be walking out of the social worker’s office with confidence. My artwork represents that social workers can bring change, starting at a micro level, by being non-judgmental and supportive to their clients. …show more content…
The social workers can make a difference from the moment a client enters their office and that means being non-judgmental and critically self reflect while challenging the ideologies, beliefs and values.
Power is central to social work practice and as a social worker we strategize if we are going to exercise the power over clients or make a decision to stop the distribution of power. Social workers sit in a position of power and judgment to decide if the client fits into mandate or deserves the required services. According to Moffat (1999), “the worker makes the judgment in order to determine who is worthy of being designated as a beneficiary of charitable or public assistance…such judgment is that undeserving poor are morally suspect (p. 231). Homeless people are blamed by staff and organizations for their circumstances and get labeled as mentally ill. Thus, the …show more content…
When I examine the behavior of social workers when dealing with clients, I realize out how these marginalized clients are seen as a problem, “the mission statement of the agency does not identify a commitment to provide service to poor populations or all those citizens who are in need… are committed to promote: client independence” (Moffat, 1999, p.23). A worker has to follow rules and regulations of the organization and clients become problem because they create conflict to the rules, workers have to follow. Within organizations, social work policy and practice is dominated by managers who shape the daily experience of social work. According to Moffat (1999), “the particular matrix of power/knowledge-these strategies of power relations that exist in social assistance office is likely to presence effect of heightening dependency and increasing marginalization (p. 243). The organizations control what social workers do and it is expected that social workers exercise control over resources and in turn users. According to Patron (1999), “If discipline is modeled on gaze and based
Show More

Related Documents: Critical Social Work

Critical Consciousness In Social Work

The definition of social work has undergone many changes throughout history; upon creation it started off with an era of moral reform, following that an era of social reform and then an era of applied social science, which is still present today (Hick, 2010). The following paper will use the works of Steven Hicks “History of Social Work”, A. Rossiters “Innocence lost and suspicion found: Do we educate for or against social work?”, S. Raheims, D.C. Whites and C. Denboroughs “An invitation to narrative…

Words 629 - Pages 3

Critical Reflection In Social Work

According to Saleebey (2012), critical reflection is core to social work practice as it can lead to ethical and accountable practice. Furthermore, critical reflection in social work can challenge assumptions, beliefs, values, theories, and underlying knowledge either from our own individual upbringing or stemmed from societal attitudes and perceptions (Agglias et al., 2010). Drawing from this, Gibbons and Gray (2004), further discusses that critical reflection involves creative, lateral and analytical…

Words 81 - Pages 1

Critical Issues In Social Work

Currently, I believe the critical issues in social work are mental health, environmental justice economic inequality, and social inequality. In the current political environment, I believe these issues will grow to even greater heights than today. These issues are far from individual and if examined closely, are in fact, intertwined. Mental health disorders, and seeking care for mental health is highly stigmatized in the United States. Mental health care can also be cost-prohibitive to some individuals…

Words 248 - Pages 1

Modern Critical Social Work Theory

out of Modern critical social work theory (Healy, 2014). This paper will firstly provide a description, then an outline of Modern critical social work theory’s history. Additionally, it will consider a case study through an Anti-oppressive approach discussing the issues, interventions, how change is expected to ocurr, strengths and weaknesses. Modern critical social work is the application of social work from a critical theory perspective. It seeks to address the impact of broad social structures…

Words 2119 - Pages 9

Essay on A Critical Evaluation of the Engagement and Psychosocial Asessment of a Client Living with Psychosis in the Health and Social Care Practitioners Work Setting.

INTRODUCTION This assignment is a critical evaluation of the engagement and psychosocial assessment of a client living with psychosis in the community. It provides a critical and analytical account which encapsulates assessments, psycho education, problem solving, implementation and evaluation of strategies used. I will also use Gibbs (1988) model of reflection to reflect on my assessment process and how learning can be taken forward in terms of my own…

Words 3280 - Pages 14

Task Centred and Crisis Intervention Essay for Social Work

As a result of applying appropriate theory the organisation and structure of social work practice may be enhanced (Howe 1999:104). Social workers use theory to inform practice and provide a sense of direction and guidance in their professional engagement with service users "An alternative way of using theories to help in reflection is by using them critically against one another. Differences between theories can help in reflection in practice by enabling alternative and opposing theories to criticize…

Words 3872 - Pages 16

Bias In Social Work

Robbins, Chatterjee, and Canda (1999) make a compelling argument for the inclusion of critical thought in the social work profession. It is their view that social work necessitates an analytical reflection of the philosophical underpinnings that informs theories that social work consists of. The reason for this being, that without said consideration, our biases would go unnoticed; biases that affect the social workers’ practice, their conduct when working with clients. In other words, having an ideological…

Words 702 - Pages 3

Example Research: Critical Discourse Analysis Essay

18 Critical Discourse Analysis TEUN A. VAN DIJK 0 Introduction: What Is Critical Discourse Analysis? Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social and political context. With such dissident research, critical discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality…

Words 9518 - Pages 39

Unit 5 Health And Social Care Essay

to reflect and critically analyse an incident from a social care setting whilst reflecting upon professional judgements and decision making within legal and policy framework. The critical incident will highlight a contribution to assessments and management of risk with the appropriate responses to safeguarding. Being able to analyse the incident, will allow me to draw upon a conclusion relating to the learning outcomes. Introduction Critical incidents are defined as not being dramatic events but…

Words 1106 - Pages 5

Personal Narrative: My Field Agency Evaluation

as a professionally trained social worker. As a trained social work I am demonstrating the ability to independently apply my skills in simple situation, moderate competency, demonstrating ongoing progress, adequate performance, needs more practice, takes initiative for learning when it comes to my internship. I need more practice conducting myself accordingly in areas such as, applying social work ethical principles to guide professional practice, applying my critical thinking and professional judgment…

Words 259 - Pages 2