Diversity plays a major role in how social workers interact with their clients and colleagues. This may involve the type of clients that social worker may receive, such as clients who may not be able to speak English and are not able to receive specific resources simply because they do not have English as a second language for them to rely on. Diversity isn’t just limited to interacting with people of different cultures, races, nationalities, or sexual orientation, but it also involves clients who have mental illnesses and may also have disabilities. I have been able to sit in and engage with substance abuse groups and those that are in acute care. Diversity helps the social work to learn how to adapt and work with a variety of different groups and populations. Finally, part of diversity involves understanding the differences in the struggles of clients’ backgrounds.
2A- Develop and implement strategies that strive to eradicate discrimination in any form
Field Evidence: At my field placement, my task supervisor and field instructor discuss ways to give presentations within the community of Chattanooga about better ways of engaging with the aging and disabilities population. This is important in terms of helping to decrease discriminatory attitudes towards people within this population. This presentation will also be used as a program to help educate volunteers around the Chattanooga area who are getting their first hand exposure to the developmental disabilities population. This presentation will also serve as a personal resource that I can use to help educate others about the most common types of developmental disabilities.
Developmental Disabilities Presentation.pptx
Skills: The specific skills that were demonstrated in this competency were professional communication and collaboration.
Knowledge: I gained the knowledge to complete this competency from my Advanced Administration I class where I practiced project collaboration with my colleagues for the end of the semester presentation.
Affective Process: The affective process for this competency involves noticing the specific attitudes surrounding people with disabilities while also valuing the well-being of the participants enough to advocate on their behalf.
Theoretical foundation: The theory being applied in this competency is the Dilution effect theory. The idea behind this theory is that stereotyping leads people to show bias and inaccurate judgement towards other people. Therefore, proper information and education about marginalized populations can help reduce bias. This applies to my field placement which involves the disabled population and the surrounding stereotypes that they are often encountered with.
2B- Implement evidence-based and culturally-informed strategies with diverse populations
Course Evidence: Last semester in my Advanced Social Policy class, my group and I created a program to address the needs of children in Hamilton County and the rest of the state of Tennessee that are being physically and sexually abused. My group and I completed research and developed strategies based on the research that we found to address the issue. We comprised a paper explaining all of the research that we found and some of the methods that we found to be evidence-based and culturally-informed which involved using the most effective advocacy strategies. Some of these strategies included using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and creating a campaign around the issue.
Advanced Social Policy Presentation
Skills: The skills that were implemented in this competency were mainly research and advocacy.
Values: The skills that were implemented in this competency are social justice and dignity and worth of the person. As social workers, it is important that all human beings are worthy of being treated with dignity and respect. This also means that no child is worth being abused physically or sexually.
Cognitive Process: For this competency, we evaluated and analyzed the current policies surrounding reporting physical and sexual abuse towards children. Also, we applied the advocacy skills and strategies that we learned from the readings for the class.