Social Work Values

Objective:  Define social work and introduction to social work values.

Social work is a dynamic and demanding profession that requires a variety of skills and qualities. Whether these skills are innate or acquired, success in the field requires social workers to continually develop them throughout their career. While this list is not exhaustive, the following skills are vital for all social workers.

Social workers rely on their values and skills to help individuals address issues.  One of the core values of social work is the importance of human relationships.  To start building a strong relationship a social worker will begin applying the skills we learned about in this module.  One of the most significant one being empathy.

Empathy is the ability to identify with and understand another person’s experience and point of view. NASW defines it as “the act of perceiving, understanding, experiencing and responding to the emotional state and ideas of another person.”¹

“Stepping into someone else’s shoes” and recognizing that experiences, perceptions and worldviews are unique to each individual enables social workers to better understand and build stronger relationships with clients. It is a vital skill that helps social workers to determine a client’s needs based on his or her unique experiences in order to efficiently provide services.

¹Barker, R. L. (2003). The Social Work Dictionary. 5th ed. Washington, DC: NASW Press.

The difficult thing about empathy, as you saw in the video On Empathy  is that sometimes we might not agree with our client or in an attempt to be positive, we want to cheer them on and say something completely opposite so they feel better, what I like to call “the cheerleader response”.  See examples below:

Client (when discussing her daughter) :   “I am a terrible parent, she just doesn’t listen to me and I have to yell at her to get her attention”

In this situation we might be tempted to say “Of course you are a good parent…don’t be so hard on yourself”...however that is not true empathy.  Empathy would be  something like “What I hear you say is that parenting is hard” or “That sounds like a struggle, it must be very hard for you”.

Adolescent Client (when discussing his dad):  “My dad hates me, he is the worst dad ever!”

In this situation we might be tempted to say “No he doesn’t! He loves you so much, he buys you food and clothes…” or “You are mad, but you know that’s not true.”  An empathic response would be something such as, “I am sorry to hear that, what does it meant to you that he hates you?” or “Help me understand why he hates you, that must be lonely and hard for you…”

Submission and Grading

1. In your own words, define Social Work and state how it is different from other professions you have encountered or your own (if Social Work is not your major). See section Social Work and Other Helping Professions to help with this question.

2. Reflect on empathy, how can you practice using it to strengthen the core value of  importance of human relationships.  Think of your everyday interactions at work or in your community.  Even if you do not work in social work, you can use empathy with any type of customer, consumer or individual in your community.  In a full paragraph, describe

1. How you will implement empathy and do you think it will benefit those relationships?

2. Do you foresee any difficulties as you practice implementing empathy?

Discussion:   Why is stereotyping various groups of people intellectually dishonest and harmful to everyone?  Refer to Nathan Palmer’s post and answer question #1 at the bottom of the post under “DIG DEEPER”.  Consider/include information from the textbook chapter reading/lecture, Nathan Palmer’s post and the information you heard from the speakers in the 4 module videos as well. 

Discussion Board Goal:

–to give examples about the experiences of Black Americans

Discussion purpose:

–to express your thoughts and feelings about what you’re “witnessing”

–to participate in “collective witnessing” where we share our thoughts and feelings but also as a group recognize the power dynamics present and start to see the historical trajectory of the treatment of the “other”

–to participate in community building (which aids in retention, engagement/interest)

Step-by-step prompt directions– PLEASE read all of the directions before completing the assignment.

1. read the pieces on Black Americans
2. Choose 3 things in the texts/videos that resonate with you. (It may not be apparent but there is also a video at the bottom of “Black joy” if you’re interested). You do not need to speak about each of the materials but choose 3 things from what you read/watched. By resonate I mean what surprises you, what stands out to you, what affects you in some way, what did you learn that you didn’t know before, and/or what did you already know that was enhanced by something you read here. Be very specific about the 3 things and share the quotations that resonates with you and tells us why each of them resonates. Please post this by Tuesday, February 20th at 1159pm.
3. Group B (Hist 107) respond to 2 different people’s posts. Respond to as whether you agree or disagree with something resonating with someone else (i.e. “this resonates with me too because” or “this doesn’t resonate with me because”) or you can talk about how a quotation that someone pointed out resonates with you in a different way. Group B’s responses are due Wednesday, February 21st.

Submission

–Initial posts to the discussion board are due by Tuesday, February 20th at 11:59pm on Canvas here.

–Group B posts 2 responses to posts (about Black Americans) are due Wednesday, February 21st, at 11:59pm.

Grading Expectations

Please see rubric for complete/incomplete grading instructions. A complete submission will:

-follow all directions

-choose specific quotations and cite them (i.e. Takaki, 2012, p.____) with p. ___ being page number so for example (Takaki, 2012, p. 14). If it doesn’t have a page number just put author and year.

-explain how each quotation resonates/why you are drawn to it

-for Group B include 2 posts to two different people responding to what resonates with the post

Resources

BA definitions

BA slavery

BA institutional racism

BA Black joy

1- One of the characteristics of Arabic poetry in the Islamic era is that it fought tribal fanaticism? What is meant by this?

2- In your opinion, do you think that the Qur’an has had an impact on Arabic literature? And how?

3- What was Islam’s position on poetry? Was it supportive or opposed to it?

Did Islam fight poetry?

4- Who is the wife of Hassan bin Thabit, the poet of the Prophet (PBUH)?

5-Is Egypt the only country in the world that has pyramids? If the answer is no, what is the largest country in terms of the number of pyramids?

6-Were the pyramids burial places for all Egyptians or only for kings? And why?

7-Why did the Pharaohs bury their kings in the pyramids?

8-Is it true what some historians claim that the pyramids were built before the time of the Pharaohs?

9- Did the Pharaohs use papyrus to write? How did the Pharaohs benefit from this innovation?

10- What is the truth about the crack in the Pyramid of Menkaure? Note the image below. Please research and answer?

Goal

Now that you have given some thought to your future career and major, the next step is to write a summary of your future goals and an educational plan to accomplish your goals.

Having a clear path to reach your goals can help keep you motivated, save time by taking the right courses, and give you a visual step by step roadmap toward your future success.

You will doing a Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) and Goal Statement. 

Instructions

STEP ONE

Write a Goal Statement

This should include your future goals and your plan to achieve them. You may include background or personal information regarding your motivation for choosing your major, career and goal as well as information that was helpful in the development of your plans. 

Sample Student Goal Statements

STEP TWO
Complete your Educational Plan and/or Meet with a Counselor to do your Plan

If you have already met with a counselor, you don’t have to meet with one again. But, make sure you upload your Educational Plan here. In addition to the courses you are currently taking, you will want to list all future semesters until you meet your goal to either transfer or graduate. Here are two types you can download to fill out. You do not have to be a Cuyamaca College student to fill out an Educational Plan. High School students, university students, and/or Grossmont students can all do a CEP that lists the classes they plan on taking each semester until they graduate (degree or certificate) or transfer.

Student Sample Educational Plan
Child Dev Major

Actions

Education Plan Templates (use one of these):

One Semester Education PlanLinks to an external site.

Six Semester Education Plan Links to an external site.

Blank Generic CEP (Word Doc)

Actions

This is the form we use at Cuyamaca. If you are at another college, please use their form. You can also create your own form. What I am looking for is a semester by semester breakdown with classes you plan to take. Classes can include work experience, internships or part time jobs. This is your educational plan so you put what you plan to do. There is not a wrong way in filling this out, using another college form, or creating your own form.

Reminder: If you are at another college, school or university, use your counseling office at your location and what works best for you in your educational and career planning. You don’t have to make an appointment if you already have an Educational Plan or if you can fill it out on your own!