Competency 2: Engage in Diversity and Difference in Practice
Diversity affects the life story of clients at micro,mezzo, and macro levels. As a Social Worker, gaining experience in how the intesectionality of age, gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. may effect a person’s life, allows for the professional to be more empathetic and gain a more holistic picture of how to best serve clients. Examining diversity can give insight into oppression, poverty, and similar social problems in our society.
Practice Behaviors:
- Apply and communicate understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experience in practice at the micro,macro,and mezzo levels.
- Present themselves as learners and engage clients and constituencies as experts of the own experiences.
- Apply self awareness and self regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients and constituencies.
Evidence
Field
In my field experience, I was able to see daily how different ages, cognitive abilities, and physical disabilities affect the lives and experiences of clients. I was able to advocate on behalf of a paralyzed resident who was unable to push his call light button so he resorted to whistling loudly for assistance. I spoke with facility staff who were then able to address the issue and figure out an alternate call light button device.
Academic
While taking the course Human Behavior and Social Environment, I wrote a Biopsychosocial Assessment Paper. In this paper I thoroughly interviewed a class mate about her life. This paper was based off of an interview that came from a person in environment approach and included many diversifying factors. These factors effected my peers life in a variety of ways. Below is a link to that paper.