Problem: Understanding Macro Social Work
During my interview with Mrs. Lisa Powell, the conversation spoke mainly about policies, research and networking in the community. It was apparent to Mrs. Powell that not everyone understands what a macro social worker does and this frustrated her. A good understand of what you might think macro social work is, is what Mullaly states in Challenging
Oppression: a critical social work approach. He says "anti-oppressive social work practice at the structural level both confronting and changing those social institutions, policies, laws, and economic and political systems that operate in a way that benefits the dominant group at the expense of subordinate groups" (Mullaly, 2010). In Social Policy for Effective Practice, a clear definition of macro-level practice is, "involves intervening in large systems and may affect policies and practices at the agency, local, state, national, and global levels." (Chapin, Lewis, 2020). In macro social work, they are the ones advocating for these policies and laws to adapt to present day. Mrs. Powell currently is working on research about incarcerated individuals, and the effect on them when they reenter society. This research is crucial and will be able to possibly change laws in her state for people who have felony charges. This response is just one example of the significance in policy making. It proves that anti-oppressive laws are in place for the vulnerable populations and macro social workers can help change this with their social justice views.
My first understanding of macro social work was not the greatest. The idea of writing about policy all day or writing papers all the time was not in my future. Although, the more research I did, the more I understood that my profession is already part of macro social work.
Everything that a social worker does can be macro social work, it just might not seem that way. After speaking with Mrs. Powell, I learned the value of a macro social worker and how the social work profession is more than just therapy or helping a client on the individual level.
Insights from a Macro Social Worker
"Given our profession's roots and traditions, social workers are well suited for macrolevel work, like agency leadership, community assessment, program planning and administration, as well as community organizing and coalition building." (Sousa, Campbell, Cook, Slates, 2019). When I first read this article, specifically this statement, it really resonated with me as a key insight to macro social work and with my conversation with Mrs. Powell. It was when she spoke about the importance of macro social work in the different areas of the social work profession. I'm in the Child Welfare field, and I talked to Mrs. Powell about this and she explained that everything I do in my career is based off a policy that someone else created. I knew that my job required me to be educated about the child welfare policies in my state, but it never occurred to me who created them. We spoke about how sometimes; policy makers have never been on the front-line with the individuals that these affect and that were why macro social work is so greatly needed. This was a huge insight for me because I really enjoy working with individuals and it was great learning how my impact can affect a much broader community.
When you think about macro social work, you often only think about writing research and grant papers, but it's also about writing literature for future social workers to read. "As evidenced by these studies, community involvement in curricular design for macro programs greatly assists programs in tailoring curriculum to include necessary components for macro practice, a project that is particularly important to maintain the relevance of macro social work training within the continually shifting contexts of community practice" (Sousa, Campbell, Cook, Slates, 2019). This was another key insight for me and Mrs. Powell spoke about how someone learns about the social work profession I general. She described to me that someone had to find the evidence and do research for social workers to learn about various topics in school. The current research that Mrs. Powell is doing will one day be published and possibly given to social work students to learn about.
The last key insight I learned from Mrs. Powell was that social workers need to build a better community in the profession itself. I confined with Mrs. Powell that I was starting to change my mind about macro social work. I talked about my undergraduate program and that everyone made micro social work sound superior. Mrs. Powell went into further detail about the effect of not feeling apart of the social work community due to the fact of being in the macrolevel practice. Mrs. Powell is a chair member of her local National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and sometimes she has to remind people that she is still a social worker. Mrs. Powell got a Master's degree in Social Work and Policy Making and started in the macro-level practice right away. She finished her Doctoral of Social Work in May of 2020 and expressed how people finally took her seriously about being a social worker.
Ethical Decision Making in Macro Social Work
Whenever someone is in field where they work with the public, there will always be times when you think personally instead of professionally. In social work, we see that a lot in the both the micro and macro levels of practice. Reich (2017) states "when discussing possible tensions between personal and professional values, what practitioners must aim for is refraining from imposing personal values when they conflict with those of the profession" (p. 205). During our interview, Mrs. Powell talked about critical thinking as well. We talked about making sure that our personal beliefs do not interfere with our work. She said social workers should always make sure what they are doing is ethical in terms of the NASW or the Code of Ethics. If you do not like a path that a client has taken, do not put your personal beliefs in it. Social workers should stick with empirical evidence or evidenced based practice. Making sure everything is logical and evidence is supported and justifying someone's actions. In the micro-level practice, making sure you are making ethical decisions for your clients could be as small as agreeing or not agreeing with a certain choice that they made. If you are a therapist, your role is not to judge but rather to offer evidence based feedback on how things might turn out with the client goes down a certain path. In the macro-level practice, it could be making sure you are doing adequate research so that it is not at an advantage or disadvantage to one specific population.
In my experience, I have felt at times that I wish a client would not do something specific or that they would go to an inpatient treatment facility. However, I never unethically forced them to do anything or tell them that there would be consequences if they did not. I think that is the main reasoning for making sure you are following the NASW Code of Ethics and giving your clients and communities every service and research you can offer. The rest will always depend on them.
In conclusion, macro social work is often ignored by the social work profession.
However, it is the most useful for all types of social workers, given what we do. During my interview with Mrs. Powell, she explained to me that she always felt as if being a macro social worker wasn't very welcoming in the field. I have learned more about macro social work than I expected. I'm thankful for that because it makes me question my career path. Policies and research are two big components of society and I think it is only right if social workers are the ones creating it. Social workers understand certain social injustices and can navigate different communities with the rapport that we know how to build. Explain this essay. Describe Mrs. Powell's role in the essay. Need Assignment Help?