Generalist Social Work: Strengthening Communities and Enhancing Justice - Essay Sample

Introduction

A generalist social worker engages with people, families, organizations, communities, and groups as well as social policies in a wide range of setting in achieving and attaining social and economic justice (Coady & Lehmann, 2016). As such, a generalist practitioner considers systems and people's strengths in recognizing, supporting, and building upon the innate human capabilities (Coady & Lehmann, 2016). They are engaged in the community and organizational development and their evaluation in ensuring useful, effective, and ethical services. Generalist practitioners, therefore, have a central role in society and, thus, a critical career field. The following paper will address the readiness to be a professional social worker as a new generalist social worker.

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Social work entails a theoretical base that utilizes a systems framework in evaluating several possible intervention strategies (Langer & Lietz, 2014). The social work practice, therefore, has the core responsibility of guiding planned change using the problem-solving process. As such, social workers acknowledge that problems can happen at any level, and interventions should be sought at any level to address the prevailing problems. A generalist social work practitioner is engaged in a wide scope and can be involved in activities such as helping an elderly, sexually abused child, or even in agencies developing policies to meet federal regulations. Generalist social work professionals are, therefore, found in different settings like nursing homes, advocacy agencies, hospitals, and crisis centers. According to Langer and Lietz (2014), generalist social workers portray creativity and flexibility as critical qualities. The evident theme for all generalist social workers is their focus on the wellbeing of society and individual wellbeing. They utilize a set of generic assessments, planning, and intervention skill in any system (Langer & Lietz, 2014).

Ethical and Professional Behavior

As one prepares to enter the field of generalist social workers, which has a wide range of clients, a common thread of practice is the values of the profession. Generalist practitioners engage with the community and organizations to enhance the well-being of clients through systematic change (Pullen-Sansfacon, 2011). Generalist practitioners must, therefore, have a deep understanding of the inequalities in society, poverty, discrimination, oppression, and other emerging issues in society and must also understand strategies to pursue justice. With current knowledge about the professional history, roles, mission, and responsibilities of a social worker, a professional generalist social worker can advocate for clients access to services offered by the professionals. The social works profession's value is core to ensuring a competent generalist social work practitioner. The professional values are developed and made available by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. The values include social justice, service to others, human relationships, and their importance, human self-worth and dignity, competence, and integrity (Pullen-Sansfacon, 2011).

Generalist social workers must understand ethical standards in their profession as well as available relevant laws and regulations that influence and guide the practice. Ethical standards outline the expected code of conduct for professions and which they are accepted to follow and adhere to as they practice their profession (Edwards & Addae, 2015). Ethical standards are thus a reflection of the image of any profession as they paint or portray a profession to the world. Ethical standards also guide ethical decision-making frameworks and critical thinking principles in practice and professional values. Following the outlined code of conduct would ensure continuous professional development alongside a lifelong learning process to update skills and knowledge on the field.

In their role, generalist social workers interact with other professionals and are often part of an inter-professional team. As such, it is crucial to understand one's role and keep boundaries. A competent generalist social worker engages in new information to enhance their knowledge. The professional practice could be argued to be a lifelong experience and learning process, and social workers need to update their skills to remain relevant and effective in a dynamic world where roles and expectations are continually changing. Teamwork is, therefore, crucial in the social work profession, and one must understand their role in any organization or team to ensure that they work together with other departments or management level to avoid crossing boundaries of their role.

Social workers are often faced by situations that present a dilemma and should act professionally to make ethical decisions. Since the core role of generalist social workers is to ensure the well-being of the individuals and society at large, social workers ought to understand how their reactions would influence judgment and behavior. They must demonstrate demeanor in their appearance, communication, and behavior. For example, a generalist social worker who has come across a case of sexual abuse at a workplace could be approached by perpetrators of the act and bribed to keep silent or could even realize that the perpetrator is a relative. For instance, a cousin could be involved in such an act, and this presents a dilemma - whether to report or sympathize with the relative. However, reporting the case would demonstrate professionalism and ethical decisions making. Again, it installs hope and confidence in people within a community that the generalist social worker understands their role and has the best interest of the society.

Training in the generalist social work field offers skills and knowledge on the career. The learning process involves the transfer of knowledge and practical application to ensure mastery. Corrective criticism from supervision and consultation increases the knowledge base and is a prerequisite for long term career learning. Continuous learning updates skills and informs practitioners on the use of emerging technology in an ethical manner to facilitate practice outcomes.

Engage in Diversity

Diversity, for most settings, provides a pool of talent with new ideas, views, and perspectives to their work. However, diversity poses a challenge in capitalizing on a blend of genders, lifestyles, and ages in responding to opportunities or addressing issues more creatively and rapidly (Greene & Schriver, 2016).

Diversity and difference shape and characterize the human experience. Generalist social work practitioners must understand human behavior and social, an environmental theory that provides diverse components, 'establishing, supporting and enhancing the resiliency and strengths of human beings. According to Greene and Schriver (2016), well-being is enhanced or restrained by the nature of educational, political, legal, and economic systems.

Cultural diversity embraces biculturalism, human identity, and social behaviors, which are culturally defined (Greene & Schriver, 2016). There are ever-expanding measures linked to cultural diversity and client's wellbeing, which guide service provision, assessments, and intervention implementation to reflect cultural values of the clients, their norms and behaviors as well as existing indigenous solutions (Greene & Schriver, 2016). The established standards by NASW for cultural competence include ethics and values, self-awareness, cross-cultural knowledge and skills, service delivery, empowerment and advocacy, diverse workforce, professional education, and language diversity (Greene & Schriver, 2016).

With the vast knowledge of cultural competence, a social worker understands the diversity as the intersectionality of multiple factors like age, color, race, and gender. A generalist social work practitioner thus understands that people are unique and must attend to their clients in their similarities and differences. They are sensitive to their prejudgements and understand that the strengths and challenges faced by clients are unique to their situation. This demonstrates cultural competency for practitioners as they make a thoughtful examination of assumptions about people and their similarities and identification of inevitable differences. Cultural competence informs social work practitioners that individual differences are crucial leads to solutions (Pullen-Sansfacon, 2011).

Advance Human Rights

The inherent human dignity, as well as they're worth, must be valued at all costs. This is a true reflection of the non-discriminatory humankind's view (Greene & Schriver, 2016). Generalist social worker is mandated to uphold and defend the wellbeing of all people through respecting self-determination right, promoting participation right, treating a person as whole and identifying and developing strengths(Greene & Schriver, 2016). As a social work practitioner, one must treat others with consideration, listen to them, and appreciate their perspectives and also respect their uniqueness.

The prevalence of social injustice is supported by infringement on human rights, institutionalizing inequality, and holding prejudices towards some members (Greene & Schriver, 2016). A social worker should acknowledge the consequence of social injustices and take intervention measures to ensure social and economic justice is achieved. Attaining social justice, therefore, entails challenging discrimination, recognizing diversity, distributing resources equitably, opposing unjust policies and practices, and working in solidarity (McLaughlin, 2009). Oppression can lead to hatred among communities, low productivity, and the possible eruption of conflict and lagged economic development.

One can advocate for human rights, social, and economic rights, both proactively and actively. For example, one can air their views and stands in online platforms that address a certain human right abuse or actively take part in human rights education programs to people in society to inform citizens about their rights and steps in seeking justice.

For example, female sexual harassment at the workplace should not be ignored as they have the same rights as their male counterparts. The sexual perpetrator should be punished and possibly step aside for investigation. Such acts limit female workers the capability to hold top positions in organizations despite their qualifications.

Engage in Research

As a social worker working on sexual harassment in the workplace, engaging in research is essential as it enriches the theoretical base in understanding human behavior and designing intervention strategies, determining the effectiveness of intervention and practice evaluation.

Sexual harassment claims have been on the rise in recent times despite legal jurisdictions around the globe and affect both women and men (McDonald, 2012). Sexual harassment leads to adverse impacts, such as health, job, and psychological consequences (McDonald, 2012). Power has been reported as the main attributed to sexual harassment at the workplace (McLaughlin, Uggen, & Blackstone, 2012).

Research evidence concerning the cases of sexual harassment supports social workers' claims about a prevailing social problem. Our research findings guide to practice by providing measures that have been taken in other regions facing the same problem. It also offers insight into other factors that contribute to the social problem and possible problems.

Engage in Policy Practice

As a form of sexual victimization, interventions must be put in place to curb the prevalence of sexual harassment. A review of the existing policies is also needed across settings. Organizational leadership has a role in ensuring sexual harassment...