Essay Sample on Social Work: Advocating for Improved Lives and Well-Being

Introduction

Social work practice primary concern is to facilitate the social well-being and functioning of the person-in-environment. It focuses on how individuals relate to each other, their communities formal structures, and the societal expectations responsible for shaping these relationships. Advocacy is one of the most significant features that distinguish social work from other professions serving humanity (Lysack, 2010). By empowering people through advocacy, the lives of people are improved, and social justice promoted, which is one of the critical principles of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Advocacy can take a form of case advocacy which involves some changes whose primary goal is to meet the absolute needs of individuals that are necessary for the survival of human beings. Another form is the cause advocacy that aims in the promotion of the well-being and human dignity in the long term. Students policy influencing and advocacy require a lot of effort, knowledge, and determination. This is because to bring changes requires training and adequate education. The professional call to practice ethically is what involves social workers in advocacy, and as stated in the code of ethics, it is their obligation to advocate for better living conditions of a human being. As a student who considers social work as my profession, I have to ask myself on the things that I can do to effect change and focus on helping my clients to be able to access the existing services.

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Key Community Partners and Allies

Allies are essential in social work because they promote social change. Their advocate for dignity, equity, and equality make them a significant element in the movements for social justice. In the promotion of social justice, everybody has a role to play regardless of individual status. Social workers, as part of allies, understand that they are members of a profession that is concerned about the well-being of people. The other key community partners in social work include public agencies, government offices, and non-profit organizations that all aim at ensuring improved care and support.

Reflection on Collaborative Therapy with Multi-Stressed Families

The book on Collaborative Therapy with Multi-stressed families written by William Madsen tells of the way one can work with families in challenging circumstances. It describes the clinical practices necessary for the grounding of my work with respect while working with "difficult" families. The book gives valuable ways essential for individuals working with multi-stressed families where resources and time are scarce (Madsen, 2016). The articles emphasize the need for well-organized partnerships between cultures and genders since it addresses the issues of cultural caucusing, pain, and vulnerability. Externalization of problems is one of the sparkling moments I identified, which enabled me to understand that individuals and difficulties are two different things (Tamasese & Waldegrave, 1995). Application of this knowledge in social work facilitates the achievements of the core goals of improving communities' health and social services. Social work ethical principles give out hope of equal opportunity and justice which was my second sparkling moment. Every individual has a unique value, and this will bring equality and self-fulfillment, which in turn contributes to the welfare of the society at large.

Social workers are expected by the ethical principles always to provide the best help possible to any member of the community in need of their help without discriminating their color, race, religion, or gender. Collaborating with the clients and involving them is another sparkling moment I identified as I was reading the chapters and articles. This is because it will help in the eradication of social isolation, and every member of the society will have a sense of belonging, improving the state of life. As outlined in the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) code of ethics, social workers are expected to maintain competency and clients' best interest while serving them and never to use information obtained from the client for their gain.

I strongly agree with William Madsen in chapter four of the book where he says that the life of a human being is based on stories which are written from the life experiences. Thus, every individual has a significant role in the making of his or her life realities, and lessons are organized in such a way that they look like stories. The choice to create a positive or negative meaning of life experiences lies on the individual. Discovering the other side of positive life experiences is the only answer to get out of a hurtful story. Madsen says that some of the lessons are problematic and constrain us from seeing the positive side of life stories that is beneficial to us. According to Michael White, the experiences of a person are challenging to him because he defines his life based on what other people say about him. White explains that the principal aim of narrative therapy is to create an entirely new reality and "thicken" stories that are not in any way supportive. With new life stories, people would live better lives and have new relationships that bring hope about the future.

Externalizing problems gave me a new mentality which helps in viewing an individual, not as a problem but a person full of potentials and vast horizons. According to Flaskas (2003), individuals are "an ongoing ever-changing manifestation of potentiality." Anderson (2007) also emphasizes that individuals are naturally flexible when he says that "always engaged in conversational becoming constructed and reconstructed through continuous interactions, through relationships." Deconstructing the old stories and creating new stories that will dominate the life of an individual is the only best way to deal with a problem while assisting clients" (Anderson & Gehart, 2007). This is as recommended by (White, 1995) "identification or generation of alternate stories that enable the clients to perform new meanings, bringing them desired possibilities."

As I read the articles, I came to understand that narrative therapy development was influenced by various things. Psychologist and anthropologist Gregory Bateson argued that the reality of life is naturally subjective and that people behave the way they behave not because it is what they want but because they are coerced. Focusing on behavior patterns is what shapes the family. Ethnographer Edward Bruner also played a role in the rise of narrative therapy by describing how people use their understandability of life experiences to create stories. Steven de Shazer's says that the therapeutic models are invaded by narrative with an "attitude of modesty and irony in the face of a growing realization that master plans and techniques are no longer so effective in finding a fit for the incommensurability of the human situation."

From the reading of the articles, the idea of valuing human life is beneficial to me. Equal opportunity and justice to every individual is something I liked, and for me, a person is a person no matter how small they are. I have also learned that it is wise to first fully understand an individual, the stories around their life to be able to help them. This is because failure to know about the client before entering their lives may result in them being arrogant. Having an attitude of curiosity helps in the learning of different cultures, and as a developing professional this will help me to be able to understand the client better and view them more compassionately. Listening to the clients and showing them interests rather than applying my professional knowledge will be a way to show them that I am learning with them and that they are valuable, which will give them hope.

Another helpful idea obtained from the articles is the need to work on the environment that physically surrounds human being. This is because the setting greatly influences the physical characteristics of individuals. Advocating for improved environmental conditions is one way that helps in the improvement of the well-being of people. The articles show the connection between social and natural world problems of different cultural societies, increasing my knowledge. The social consequences of global warming continually draw attention to the significance of the natural environment to the social workers. This brings the need for social work education globally to have a comprehensive understanding of the situation.

The ideas from the articles helped me in understanding the need for collaborating with the client, which was different from my work. This is because it results in the clients opening up positive and new stories that will shape their lives better and according to David Nylund (2000) "Stories can sweep people up in their wake as they gather momentum." One of the related practices appealing is narrative therapy as White (1995) says "narrative therapy begins with an attitude of being an appreciative ally of the family who enters their system and works with, not on them." Another appealing practice is that of a therapist entering into the client's family and making sure that every present member gets involved in the process. Acknowledgment of the relevance of each person brings a sense of belonging and result in moments of joy and excitement. This attitude allows viewing the client as powerful with particular knowledge for bettering his future.

The collaborative creative actions of the narrative therapy necessitate that therapists have a specific capability to take the clients as the associates of the local experts; with their knowledge from the beginning of the counseling engagement hidden completely, but emerges with time (Wylie, 1994). The practices relate to the ideas in the sense that both of them revolve around improving the social well-being of human beings. The primary significance of the three learning moments is that they help in the understanding of the stories and environmental conditions, which is vital while advocating for better living conditions of every member of the society. The insights are valuable because they educate the social workers on the best ways of dealing with clients, and this describes the differences the ideas make to the social work practice theory. As a student developing my career in social work, I have learned that it is good to specialize in macro, mezzo or micro because the roles and responsibilities differ on each level which makes it easy in the future.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the biological relationship-centered focus is what distinguishes the social work profession. Similar to other occupations, social workers working at the macro, mezzo, and macro levels can interact with individuals, communities, groups, and families to improve their social well-being and achieve fair social justice.

References

Anderson, H., & Gehart, D. (2007). Collaborative therapy. New York: Routledge.

Lysack, M. (2010). Publications | Oikos Centre for the Environment | University of Calgary. Retrieved 27 September 2019, from https://ucalgary.ca/oikos/home/publications

Madsen, W. (2016). Collaborative therapy with multi-stressed families. Kbh.: Nota.

Tamasese, K., & Waldegrave, C. (1995). Cultural and Gender Accountability in the 'Just Therapy' Approach. Journal Of Feminist Family Therapy, 5(2), 29-45. doi: 10.1300/j086v05n02_03

White, M. (1995). Reflecting Teamwork as Definitional Ceremony. Retrieved 27 Septem...