Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice
The continuous battle of ensuring human rights for all is a mission social workers strive for. By taking initiative and advocating for human rights social workers can promote social justice at a micro, mezzo, and macro level. Cultural competence is needed to address the concerns of diverse populations in an effective and appropriate approach. In order to lead and coordinate such mission, social workers need to strategize their approach with evidence-based practices that are up to date. I understand the importance of this competency, as I will be encountering a variety of clients who have backgrounds that differ from my own.
Practice Behaviors:
2A – Demonstrate leadership in developing and implementing evidence-based practice with relevant strategies that advance human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels
Course Evidence: As I progressed in my advanced MSW year, I along with some of my peers, worked on developing a script for the course Advanced Clinical Practice: Group Pyschotherapy. This script outlined a Pyschotherapy group that was based on adults who are challenged with anxiety and depression. I was the facilitator in the script so, I guided the group through the therapeutic process. I used some of Yalom’s therapeutic factors to support the session. These factors include instillation of hope, universality, and catharsis. In the beginning of the session, I implemented an ice breaker called “show and tell.” This allowed group members to share an item that is important to them in a way that expresses their individuality. Although this is a pychotherapy group, icebreakers such as “show and tell” support the entirety of the group by giving all members a chance to share and relate to another member. This icebreaker can be seen on pages 4-6.
Click here to view the script.
2B – Implement culturally-informed strategies with diverse populations
Field evidence: Dalton Public Schools has a monthly parenting segment on their school district’s website. February is national teen dating violence awareness month so I created a script that reflected the topic. The script would was filmed and read by the social workers as a way to connect with their families. The script was geared towards alerting parents of the common signs of teen dating violence. Due to the large Spanish speaking population, I created this script in both english and Spanish to reach all parents in the community.
Click here to view the teen dating violence script.
Skills Used: To demonstrate this competency I used leadership, interpersonal communication, organization, and social skills.
Knowledge Used: I used facilitation skills acquired from the course Advanced Clinical Practice: Group Pyschotherapy and direction from my field instructor.
Values Present: Importance of human relationships and competence.
Cognitive Process Used: Comprehension and application. This is because I distinguished and developed activities in these learning behaviors.
Affective Process Used: Valuing and organization. This is because I organized and systemized the teen dating violence script and collaborated with my peers in the group script.
Theoretical Foundation Used: The Prosocial behavior theory resonates with the competency because the intent behind the effort placed in these assignments were genuine. I did not expect anything in return from others despite the time I spent.