Two pieces of evidence that demonstrate knowledge, values, skills, and/or cognitive & affective processes in Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice:

- One from your practicum experience (identify learning activity(ies) that best exemplify the competency)

- One from Human Behavior Theory or Human Behavior: Macro Perspectives (5530/5531)

A paragraph rationalization for each piece of evidence chosen. 

Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Social workers understand that every person regardless of position in society has fundamental human rights such as freedom, safety, privacy, an adequate standard of living, health care, and education. Social workers understand the global interconnections of oppression and human rights violations, and are knowledgeable about theories of human need and social justice and strategies to promote social and economic justice and human rights. Social workers understand strategies designed to eliminate oppressive structural barriers to ensure that social goods, rights, and responsibilities are distributed equitably and that civil, political, environmental, economic, social, and cultural human rights are protected.

Social workers:

• apply their understanding of social, economic, and environmental justice to advocate for human rights at the individual and system levels; and
• engage in practices that advance social, economic, and environmental justice.

Practicum Example

“Weekly, I will work with management team and PRIDE Haven staff to identify strategies, resources, and opportunities to grow youth services as evidenced by a detailed list in my personal practicum journal”

Being an advocate for others is one of my biggest motivators for being in the social work field. Standing up for others has always come pretty naturally to me, so it has been simple to work that into my work at PRIDE Haven. Every week I talk through current issues and barriers the shelter is facing with the program manager and brainstorm what can be done to cross those hurdles. I have been able to increase my knowledge of local resources and how they can help to serve my clients. Being at PRIDE Haven has also shown me how critical it is to be actively fighting for the rights of our clients, especially with them being younger and houseless. 

5530/5531 Example:

While I don’t have a copy of my paper, I do remember what “truth” I wrote about: “It is one of my ‘truths’ that, at their core, people do not truly change”. It was a fantastic opportunity to self-reflect and think about how this belief affects my ability to work with clients and advocate for them. I was able to challenge myself and get to the root of this belief and think about the other side of the argument. I considered how this might impede me from truly utilizing a strengths perspective with my clients.