Problem:
This paper invites you to reflect on how existential-humanistic ideas are shaping the way you understand yourself as a social worker. This is not a clinical case study and not a personal disclosure essay. It is a professional reflection, grounded in course readings, class discussions, and your practice context. The goal is to explore how you are positioning yourself as a social worker in a world shaped by real constraints, systems, and limits. Introduction: Choose one practice context as your reference point:
Your current field placement
A past work or volunteer experience
A realistic future role you expect to hold as a social worker
Part I: What I'm Learning to See Differently Drawing from course material (Chapters 1-6 especially), reflect on:
- Which existential ideas from the course have stayed with you so far? Need Assignment Help?
- How have these ideas changed how you see clients, suffering, or systems?
- What assumptions about helping, fixing, or responsibility have been challenged?
- Where have you noticed tension (for example, freedom vs. constraint, care vs. boundaries, or responsibility vs. blame)?
- Focus on insight, not mastery. You do not need to explain theory exhaustively, use it to illuminate your reflection.
Part II: My Emerging Practice Position Reflect on how this learning is shaping how you want to show up as a social worker:
- What kind of presence do you want to bring into your work?
- How do you understand your role differently now than before the course?
- What feels important to protect (e.g., dignity, agency, meaning)?
- What methods of working feel less aligned for you now?
- This section focuses on stance, not technique.
Part III: Limits, Systems, and Responsibility Existential practice requires honesty about limits.
Reflect on:
What cannot be fixed in your chosen practice context?
How do systems shape your role, power, and responsibilities?
In what ways can you comprehend responsibility while avoiding the internalization of blame for structural harm?
How does existential thinking help you stay ethical and grounded under constraint?
This section is especially important for work in marginalized communities. Conclusion: Briefly reflect on:
- What question are you currently living with as a developing social worker
- What feels unfinished, uncertain, or still emerging
Include this authors as in text citation
Gendlin, E. T. (1982). Focusing. United States: Random House Publishing Group. Adams, M. (2016). Existential Therapy As A Skills-Learning Process. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, 27(1), 58-69. Van Deurzen, E., & Adams, M. (2016).
Van Deurzen, E., & Adams, M. (2016). Chapter 5: From theory into practice. In Skills in existential counselling and psychotherapy SAGE Publications.