Values and Practice
Every individual has a role to play in society, as society cannot progress without individuals’ contributions. Understanding individual’s values can help in bringing transparency on the way we act. Values and practices are essential in enabling us to steer our lives through uncertainties, as well as the changing atmosphere that surround our lives. Maintaining our personal values is an unending exercise, as life-changing experiences can shift our values. Personal values act as personal code of ethics, which direct individual’s actions.
- How I Discovered my Personal Values
Treating other people as equal, regardless of their sexual orientation can help in maintaining strong relationships. Some years back, I discovered that one of my friends is a gay, and this made me to end my relationship with him. I had a notion that gay people should be condemned and isolated from the society to avoid spreading such behavior to the youth. Later on, I realized that gay people as normal individuals, and should be treated equally. After reevaluating my decision, I approached him and apologized to him. Since then, I have seen some changes in him because I have connected him with a group that treats him as any other person.
I came to appreciate honesty when I rescued my classmate in fourth grade. My classmate had been accused of stealing a tablet from my class teacher’s office. I happened to recognize three boys who were seated around the entrance of my class teacher’s office, but I did not bother to check what they were up to. When I was called to the office, the three boys were already there, and pointing their fingers to my classmate, who was found inside the office, waiting for the teacher. The case ended when I informed our teacher that I had seen the three boys leaving the office hurriedly.
Competence is a critical value to me because it has helped me to maintain good relationship with my employers, in all organizations that I have worked as an intern. Competence allowed me to understand information that could be shared with outsiders, as well as confidential information concerning the organization. Additionally, competence enabled me to make careful judgment concerning what I aspire do in the future, after wide consultation from friends and family.
- How Equality, Honesty, and Competency Relate To My Attitude
My understanding of equality is that every individual should be afforded an equal opportunity in every situation because we all have equal chances of succeeding in life if we apply the appropriate strategies. I have learned to treat all individuals equally because what differentiate individuals is socially constructed. I have been in the same school with students from different cultures and nationalities, but I did not recognize any difference because we studied the same course and paid the same fees.
Honesty is the most essential personal values, which has helped me to secure internships in various organizations. I was able to relate to other employees due to my honesty. No individual is immune to errors, but when I hide my feelings after doing something bad to my friends, I am not honest. As a social work professional, I am necessitated to work independently without a supervisor, but when I leave my work station before time, I am not honest.
Being competent has helped me in making life decisions, which include working as a volunteer in community work. I have gained respect from my community because I have demonstrated that I can organize other people to undertake certain social work without coercing them. As a social work professional, I have a responsibility of guiding my practice based on the scholarly inquiry, as well as utilize evidence to direct best practices.
- Social Work Code of Ethics
Being a social work professional involves establishing core values that guide on the profession. The six core values that guide social work profession, as outlined in the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics include:
- Service: Service involves offering assistance, resources, and confidence, to people who are struggling with life issues. Being in service is beneficial to individuals who aspire to attain maximum, but have no one to turn to for assistance. Social work professionals aim at making people to serve others, regardless of their social status, color, or origin.
- Social justice: Social justice is the capacity to uphold equal rights, equal opportunity, and extending social benefits to all individuals in the society. People will trust any organization that offer equal opportunity to women, as well as disabled and underprivileged in society.
- Dignity and worth of the person: Every individual is valuable in society and should be treated with respect that he/she deserves. The responsibilities of social work professionals are made easier when such persons treat all individuals with respect, regardless of their age, gender, or social class, or color.
- Importance of human relationships: Social work professionals should value connections that they have established between them and their clients.
- Integrity: Integrity involves maintaining trustworthiness from client and the entire community. Personally, I prefer friends who value integrity because they will respect my confidentiality. A social worker can work as a mentor because he/she is perceived as a person of integrity by the community.
- Competence: Experienced social work professionals are able to carry out their practices within the scope of evidence-based skills because they believe in their competence.
- Applying Perceptions of Social Statuses into Personal Life Experiences
Every individual holds a position or status in a given social system, thus, we have role expectations concerning how occupants of certain positions behave. Acting through roles and status can affect sense of belonging within the society, as individuals may form false impressions to hide from others what they are experiencing. For instance, when I am assigned a responsibility in an effluent region, I may opt to change my dressing style to fit the new environment and hide my real social status.
Economic mobility has stalled in many communities, as individuals born from poor families have higher chances of remaining poor. My experience in social work has turned me into humanitarian personnel, where I sometimes offer my services for free in order to make a change in the community. Social workers usually seek to facilitate the capacity of individuals to address their own issues (Berg-Weger 268). When I visits areas that are perceived to be of low social class people, I always ensure that I have talked to one or two young people concerning how I can assist them to find donors who can pay for their education.
Education contributes largely in influencing values, as educated individuals tend to act openly, and are able to adapt to new experiences quite easily. In my personal experience, I have been able to interact with several individuals of high social status due to my level education. I usually consult widely from different professionals concerning social work activities, such as how to approach adolescents who are engaged in substance abuse, and how to improve economic status of less-privileged in our community. As social workers, we are sometimes assigned duties to work with individuals, who have not undergone any training due to their social status, but they have the trust of the community. At such situation, one is compelled to work with them, and even learn some tactics from them.
Work Cited
Berg-Weger, Marla. Social work and social welfare: an invitation. Routledge, 2016.