Contexts That Shape Practice
Respond to contexts that shape practice.
“Social workers are informed, resourceful, and proactive in responding to evolving organizational, community, and societal contexts at all levels of practice. Social workers recognize that the context of practice is dynamic, and use knowledge and skill to respond proactively.” – CSWE (2008)
Practice Behaviors
a. Provide leadership in promoting sustainable changes in service delivery and practice to improve the quality of social services.
Learning evidenced by:
- Administering pre/post assessments and a course evaluation to participants of the anger management class at the Tennessee Department of Corrections and reviewing results with field instructor to make corrections to the class in order to better provide the participants with the best possible care.
- Participating actively in a group cohort project to promote sustainable changes in service delivery and practice. This took the form of our financial literacy project for a low-income Hispanic population as seen in the project proposal. All cohort members took a leadership role on some aspect of the project, as seen in Group Meeting Minutes I and Group Meeting Minutes II.
- Spearheading changes in service delivery and practice to improve the quality of social services for veterans of the armed services. Much of this leadership was in the area of policy practice. I also had the opportunity to develop an entire curriculum for a class on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Students of the class will learn theoretical and practical approaches to clinical practice with military families, an overview of common social issues in the military system, and demands on the family dynamic upon return and PTSD diagnosis.
b. Adapt best practices to improve practice outcomes.
Learning evidenced by:
- Recording progress notes of interactions with clients, evaluating progress to adapt practices to improve practice outcomes. For examples, see progress notes 1, 2, and 3.
- Reviewing current literature on opioid addiction and relapse prevention treatment to develop an opioid addiction test and relapse prevention assessment/evaluation in order to adapt best practices on group treatment to gain the most benefit.
- Examining the literature on various facets of social work practice, such as best practices on giving clients homework, or even best practices in providing supervision.