Reflecting on the Social Work Cultural immersion, share how the experiential exercises and discussions shaped your identity and values as a social worker. Then crystallize these changes into a Mission Statement of two to three sentences for your future career as a social worker. Citations used no more than 5 years old. Please use permalink for all citations used.
How social workers use Rational Problem Solving and Social Thinking to support communities in making progress on these problems. The former is very much like assessment and treatment planning at the level of individuals, couples and families. The latter is rooted in a more constructivist approach that supports the emergence of implicit local knowing, deconstructing oppressive systems of thought and control, and group imagination.
Like the right and left hemisphere of our brains, we need both approaches to different degrees when faced with different kinds of problems. And like the ways we already use our brains, RPS and social thinking are natural to us. What the macro social worker does is build a bridge between the problems that people assume are just part of living in today’s society, or a result of their own shortcomings and the possibilities that come from being intentional about analyzing and solving those problems.
Integrate cultural, ecological and social justice perspectives into assessment and engagement at all ecological levels.
Assess group, family, community and organizational needs, strengths, and processes to develop effective intervention plans.
Empower groups, families, communities and organizations through the application of Motivational Interviewing, group facilitation, and family work theories and skills.
Analyze personal reactions to group, family, community and organizational challenges to develop ethical and effective responses.