Discussion 1: Using Power in Social Work Practice
Politics represents efforts by people in governmental and nongovernmental settings to secure their policy wishes by developing and using power resources.
-Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice (8th ed.)
Social workers are in the business of empowering people. They are also often faced with power structures that are entrenched and difficult to navigate. Skillful policy practitioners recognize the many kinds of power resources that exist, thus expanding their options in specific situations. As a social worker, you will learn various strategies that can create and expand personal networks that might be useful in negotiating your policy practice within an agency. You want your power resources to be recognized as effective ways to get things done, not as coercion and force.
In this Discussion, you identify various kinds of power resources (including person-to-person, substantive, process, and procedural) that you can use to secure the adoption of a policy proposal.
Post a description of how social workers use power resources in their social work practice and advocacy. Select a type of power resource you would use in your practice and advocacy. Describe the ethical issues or concerns in using the type of power resource you selected.
Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week's resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.
Discussion 2:
Refer to the topics covered in this week's resources and incorporate them into your blog. This weeks topic is the use of self. Refer to this weeks resource below and incorporate into discussion post as a reference and in text citation. The reference is in attachments.
Use of Self Program Transcript
Interacting with diverse clientele can introduce new challenges, and in this regard, a social worker should understand his or her role and identity as well as associated strengths and weaknesses. This week, think about what your strengths and weaknesses are, especially when interacting with clients, and how seeking opportunities for personal and professional growth can contribute to your becoming a better role model, guide, coach, and advocate.
Post a blog post that includes:
• An explanation of the use of self during your field education experience that you may have encountered or that you might encounter. I work with teen male youth that are experiencing problems with their families in regards to abuse and have been placed into the foster care system.
• A description of potential boundary challenges in your field education experience. They can become closed off and may take a while to open up to me.
Ganzer, C. (2007). The use of self from a relational perspective. Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(2), 117-123.
Assignment 1: Process Recordings
A process recording is a written tool used by field education experience students, field instructors, and faculty to examine the dynamics of social work interactions in time. Process recordings can help in developing and refining interviewing and intervention skills. By conceptualizing and organizing ongoing activities with social work clients, you are able to clarify the purpose of interviews and interventions, identify personal and professional strengths and weaknesses, and improve self-awareness. The process recording is also a useful tool in exploring the interpersonal dynamics and values operating between you and the client system through an analysis of filtering the process used in recording a session.
For this Assignment, you will submit a process recording of your field education experiences specific to diversity and cultural competence.
The Assignment (3 pages):
• Provide a transcript of what happened during your field education experience, including a dialogue of interaction with a client. I was working Daveion Johnson who has Autism and ADHD. He was struggling with passing all his classes in school. He was suspended from school for fighting. He was in the foster care system and removed from his foster care and is now in a emergency shelter. He was initially closed off to me, but when he realized I wasn't going anywhere he started to open up.
• Explain your interpretation of what occurred in the dialogue, including social work practice theories, and explain how it might relate to diversity or cultural competence covered this week. Daveion is a 16 year old black male he was initially removed from his parents and grandparents for stealing and fighting. You can make up the dialogue.
• Describe your reactions and/or any issues related to your interaction with a client during your field education experience. You can make this up.
• Explain how you applied social work practice skills when performing the activities during your process recording. You can make this up.
Support your Assignment with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Assignment 2: Analysis of a Policy
As an astute social worker and professional policy advocate, once you have selected and identified a social problem, you begin the process of creating and implementing a policy that addresses that social problem. One of the first things you do in the implementation process is an analysis of the social policy you identified.
In Part 3 of your ongoing Wiki assignment, your group analyzes the selected social policy. The selected social policy is the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and youth aging out of the foster care system.
Complete Part 3 of your Wiki.
Address the following items within your group's Wiki page for Part 3:
• Evaluate the policy's strengths and weaknesses.
• What is working?
• What is not working?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.
Article: The Use of Self from a Relational Perspective by Carol Ganzer.