Engage in Policy Practice
As a competent social worker, I will understand how policy works at a local, state, and federal level. Even if I do not come into contact with policy work on a daily basis, I will continue to educate myself on what policies affect my clients. As a practitioner, I understand that my clients can both benefit and suffer from certain policies. My commitment is to advocate for policy change daily by informing clients of their rights, and educating others on changes that need to take place for diverse groups to have access to the same rights as every other American.
Evidence of Practice
While attending Southern Adventist University and studying for my MSW, I engaged in a variety of activities that helped me to develop and master this competency:
5.1 – Advocate with and inform stakeholders to impact policy change
Field Evidence: I created a “Call to Action” page plan to post on the Mpowered website, where women can go to educate themselves about applicable policies, and how to advocate for themselves and their families. This landing page will Mpowered to continue to grow towards it’s goals as being a for-profit that provides macro-level intervention services for women on their motherhood journey. At this time, the page will include the Change.org petition campaign, educational resources, and information on how to get involved. At this moment, the page has not been posted publicly as Mpowered is going through big changes as the business grows. This page will be posted publicly come the new year. Once public, this page will continue to be updated and expanded by Catie Whiting and future volunteers. The theoretical framework that influenced my understanding of this competency was Motivational Theory. While creating and gathering ideas for this page, it was important to understand what would drive people who visited to act and get involved. This theory discusses the importance of meeting a person’s basic needs, before expecting change in larger areas of their life. Through educating women on rights that would improve their access to basic needs such as abortion rights, paid maternity leave, and etc…; this then influences their ability to take better care of their mental and physical health. You can view this page by visiting this link here
5.2 – Develop and implement a policy and/or advocacy plan
Course Evidence: During my Advanced Administrative Practice class, my assigned group collaboratively developed (cognitive level: evaluation) organizational policies as a part of our New Organization Proposal for Unity Healing. The policies created are as follows: A Sexual offender policy, Grievance policy, Conflict of interest Policy, and Whistleblower Protection Policy. These policies were developed to protect our organization from legal risk and provide guidance for employees. Furthermore, these policies are important as the safety of our staff, volunteers, clients, and community is our first priority. They were carefully designed through thorough research into what other organizations had done effectively. Unity Healing’s policies can be viewed here.
Additional Evidence: As a part of my internship, I created a Consent Form (affective level: organization) for a virtual teen anxiety support group. This form included the following sections: Understanding Support Group, Rules and Expectations, Getting Set Up/Logistics, The Role of the Group Facilitator(s), Confidentiality Statement, Group Members Confidentiality Agreement, Emergency Resources, Virtual Attendance Rules, Participant and Parent/Guardian Signature. Within these sections I gave information to prepare participants on what to expect from this group. In addition, I also created rules and guidelines for participants to adhere to during group sessions. Some of these rules included, but are not limited to: Respecting differences in beliefs/cultures and opinions, participating in group activities, and not targeting other members. You can view this Teen Support Group Consent Form here.