Self-Reflection and Awareness SOCW 6111 Discussions

Self-Reflection and Awareness SOCW 6111 Discussions

Discussion 1: Self-Reflection and Awareness

Exploring the reasons for wanting to be in social work and examining your motives for choosing a career of helping others is very important. Your background, including childhood experiences, may be instrumental in bringing you into the field of social work. Understanding the possible connection and working to resolve any underlying unresolved issues is essential to becoming an effective social worker. While working with a client, you must strive to be objective, but in the end we are all human with past hurtful experiences that can impact our ability to effectively work with clients. While complete objectivity is impossible and not expected, it is necessary to self-reflect and become aware of when a situation or a certain personality type causes you to react in an unprofessional manner. Understanding potential internal and external barriers you and your client bring to the room will assist you in balancing an appropriate empathetic response with proper objectivity.

For this Discussion, review the Geller & Greenberg (2012) article and the program case study for the Petrakis family, and view the corresponding video.

By Day 3

Post your explanation of the importance of identifying internal and external barriers of the client and social worker. Then describe the barriers experienced by Helen and the social work intern. Finally, suggest ways the intern could overcome these barriers.

Support your posts with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Discussion 2: Self-Disclosure

Knowing that clients might react negatively to your work with them may cause anxiety, frustration, and even anger. It is inevitable that you will work with a client who expresses anger or disappointment over working with you. This does happen in the social work field and is to be expected over time. Understanding how you might react to allegations of incompetence or anger over incomplete goals is essential to managing this type of exchange. While a negative interaction may be justified if either person did not fulfill responsibilities, often it is a result of the client’s personal reaction to the situation. The best response is to use these interactions to build the therapeutic bond and to assist clients in learning more about themselves. Stepping back to analyze why the client is reacting and addressing the concern will help you and the client learn from the experience.

For this Discussion, review the program case study for the Petrakis family.

By Day 4

Post a description of ways, as Helen’s social worker, you might address Helen’s anger and accusations against you. How might you feel at that moment, and how would you maintain a professional demeanor? Finally, how might you use self-disclosure as a strategy in working with Helen?

Support your posts with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

SAMPLE ANSWER

Self-Reflection and Awareness

Introduction

Self-reflection is the practice of being aware of your own thoughts, feelings and actions. It’s an important part of being a responsible person in life. Self-reflection helps you understand yourself better so that you can make good decisions based on what you know about yourself.

Figure out what you want and need

Before you can start working on your goals, it’s important to figure out what you want and need.

What do I want?

What motivates me?

How do I feel about myself right now?

What makes my life worth living?

Regulate your emotions

• Understand your emotions.

• Be able to control them.

• Express them in a healthy way that helps you and others, rather than hurting them or yourself.

Control your impulses

You may not be able to control your impulses, but you can still learn how to deal with negative emotions and stress.

• Take a few deep breaths when you feel stressed or anxious. This will help calm down your body and mind so that you can think more clearly about what needs to be done next.

• Know that there are people who care about you besides yourself; they will help if they can and support if they cannot do so directly.

Be self-reliant and accountable

• Be self-reliant and accountable.

• Don’t rely on others to do things for you, or blame them when your mistakes happen.

• Ask for help when you need it, but don’t be afraid to say no when it’s not necessary or appropriate.

Be fair-minded and reasonable

Being fair-minded and reasonable is a key to being a good friend, teammate and person overall.

You need to be able to think about things from the point of view of all involved parties. This means that you should be able to see both sides of an issue or conflict, rather than just taking one side’s perspective as gospel truth. You also need to be able to work with people who have different opinions than yours without being overbearing or attacking their character (or your own).

Being fair-minded and reasonable will also help you build stronger relationships with others—it’s much better for everyone if everyone listens respectfully instead of yelling at each other!

The Importance of Self-Reflection and Awareness

We all have a tendency to underestimate our own worth, and it can be disheartening to see how many of the people around us do the same. But if we understand ourselves better, it becomes easier for us to appreciate the value that other people bring into our lives. Self-reflection helps us understand ourselves better so that we can make better decisions in life.

Self-awareness helps us understand others as well as the world around them through their actions and words; therefore helping us make more informed decisions about our interactions with others.

It is important to understand yourself in order to grow as a person.

Self-reflection and awareness are key to personal growth. When you can understand yourself, you can be more aware of what makes you happy, sad, angry and so on. This awareness allows us to see our own weaknesses as well as strengths in order to improve ourselves.

If we don’t have a good understanding of ourselves then it’s hard for others too because they won’t know how best to help us or what direction would work best for us. If someone is struggling with depression or anxiety then it would make sense for them to seek out professional help from someone who understands these types of disorders so that they can get better quicker than if there was no one around who could give advice or support them through this difficult time in their life

Conclusion

Self-awareness is a crucial tool for growth, and many people struggle with it. It is vital that you are able to recognize your strengths and weaknesses in order to maximize your potential for success. Self-reflection helps us understand our past experiences so we can apply this knowledge when making decisions in the future. By learning more about ourselves we become more aware of the world around us and how our actions affect others around us. These skills will help us become better individuals who can make positive changes throughout life!