Courses
Child Welfare
Social work intervention in child welfare should be implemented in a way that is meaningful to the community, promotes positive change, and enhances capacity and self-sufficiency. When practice is conflictual with social work values, there is a risk of creating more harm to the community. The issues regarding indigenous child welfare have since become a political conversation, because of the discrimination attributed to systemic oppression and marginalization of indigenous communities. There is an over-representation of Indigenous children and youth within the child welfare and criminal justice systems, and there is an increasing high rate of suicides in both the adult and youth populations (Blackstock, 2016). Social work intervention should start on a strength-based approach, and must be applied when collaborating with First Nations families and communities.
Blackstock, C. (2016). The long history of discrimination against First Nation children.
Bala, N. Kim Zapf, M R. Williams, J. Vogl, R and Hornick, J P. (2004) Canadian child welfare law: Children, Families and the State. (2nd Eds.). Toronto, ON: Thompson Educational Publishing. p. 1-25.
Kufeldt, K., & McKenzie, B. (2012). Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy & Practice (2nd ed.). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Diversity, Oppression & Social Justice
The lessons learnt in this class involved critically analysing diversity, social justice and oppression. The most important part of the learning came from the the other students. The 'facilitator' challenged us to think outside the box and 'muddy the waters', as he called it. Social work practice with marginalized individuals, groups and communities should be ethical, and anti-oppressive, while focusing on self-determination, equality and non-discrimination. While I was examining diversity and its role in social work, I also recognised the potential of Othering and Otherness. There are instances when diversity initiatives and identifying individuals as 'vulnerable' do not promote inclusion; instead this promotes othering and social exclusion.
When/if leadership lacks diversity (whether gender, culture or even personality types) this can reinforce a status quo that isn’t necessarily compatible with the expectations and needs of subsequent generations. Leadership shapes culture and representation is very important to members of any minority group as they need to know they have a safe community within which to share their experiences and concerns.
Advanced Clinical Interviewing
In Advanced Clinical Interviewing, some of the learning included purposeful and meaningful interactions between clients and therapists. This involved choosing appropriate languaging chosen carefully based on its therapeutic value. Depending on the types of questions I have asked the clients, this allowed me to gather information about them, their presenting problem and find out about their desired outcomes.
Although I value all the ways of interviewing and questioning, I liked the Miracle question the most because it highlighted what the client desired the most. This question comes after Hypnotic change language, and seeks to give the client a role in their story and how they want it to be told. I also found it very useful to seek feedback from clients as therapy progressed. This is something I had never felt comfortable doing with clients because I was uncomfortable with criticism, however it proved to be an important way of Evaluating the therapy and clients' sense of the value of the therapy, against their expectations. This has also given us (the client and I) a chance to modify things based on the therapy piece. As a therapist I also used languaging such as ‘working together’ so that I and the client are both implicated in the process.
Overall I think my process recordings have gradually shown my progress as an advanced interviewer
Polkinghorne, D. E. (2005). Language and meaning: Data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 137-145.
Read Sutherland, O., Turner, J., & Dienhart, A. (2013). Responsive persistence part I: Therapist influence in postmodern practice. Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy, 39, 470-487.
Evidence & Clinical Practice
Research is indeed part of daily practice and it can influence change on a micro, messo and macro levels, depending on the social work environment. As a practitioner, I am always concerned with whether the research is reliable, and whether its contribution to social work will really inform my practice?
Engel and Kurt, (2009) suggest, “The nature of our social world is the starting point of our profession because much of what we do is in response to social, political and economic conditions” (p. 9), therefore research plays a very important role in informing social work practice. Bryman, (2012) states that the theories used by practitioners to “understand the social world have an influence on what is researched and how the findings of research are interpreted” (p. 5). This indicates that research and social work practice draw from each other and influence changes in society. Social research focuses on investigating the cause of a particular social problem with the aim of finding solutions and better outcomes.
Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford. University Press.
Engel, R., & Schutt, R. (2009). The practice of research in social work (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage.
Comparative Approaches to Change
In this course one of the essential components of the learning was to complete an Assessment and Case Formulation from a clinical vignette provided. The assessment involved gathering and assessing information about the client’s situation, using appropriate social work knowledge and theory, focusing on their strengths to develop a plan and inform the therapist on the type of intervention which may be appropriate for the client. Macneil et al, (2012) suggests, that when a case formulation is completed well, it “provides an opportunity for a shared understanding of a person’ difficulties, and can offer a way of answering the classic questions of ‘why this person?’, ‘why this problem?’, and ‘why now?’, in ways that diagnosis alone does not” (p. 3). As a clinician in training, being able to formulate questions is an integral part of practice. These questions allow us to learn more about the clients; the problem and how we can better support them.
Barkley, J. (2009) Biopsychosocial assessment: why the biopsycho and rarely the social? Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 18(4), 344-347.
Practicum Experience
When I started my practicum in September of 2017, I honestly had no skills to be a clinical practitioner. In the United Kingdom (UK) where I trained, Social Work practice doesn’t normally include therapy work. Regardless, I embraced the work and the knowledge and I have learned so much in this short space of time.
My approach to social work is now different because I have an understanding of therapy work. Working with the indigenous people of Canada, and hearing their stories of colonization, the 60s Scoop, residential schools, generation and intergenerational trauma has deepened my passion for this profession. I strongly believe that this area of work with marginalised populations needs a lot of empathy, sympathy and sensitivity to it. As my confidence in therapy work grows, my approach to the social work practice feels enhanced. I have started using language and questions that evoke meaningful responses from clients.
The MSW program has prepared me to practice therapy on a multi level system with individuals, groups, families and communities. My approach to social work practice is no longer based on advocacy and case management only but now offers psychotherapy and psychological assessments. I have a better understanding of therapy work and this program has enabled me to critically assess clients, their cultural and socio-economic problems in order to create a holistic treatment plan. The knowledge and skill I have acquired during the past months has enabled me to try and effect change at a micro, mezzo and macro levels; which is something my BSc degree didn’t really equip me with.