My professional knowledge at this stage of my career consists of:

Most of my professional knowledge has been developed on the job. I started my career in social services by jumping into one of the most chaotic sectors: Children’s Division. While it was physically and emotionally draining, I am glad I started there because it is really where I began to develop my knowledge and my personal framework. This was mostly because I saw a lot of things that I thought should be done differently (such as, essentially rewriting the entire framework for child welfare services). It lit a passion in me and motivated me to go back to school to get my MSW. Transitioning to shelter work has given me some of the best education I could have asked for because my whole day is centered around client care and their basic needs. Shelter work is chaotic and exhausting and dirty, but it is extremely fulfilling and there is nothing else like it. My MSW courses and my practicum have allowed me to put vocabulary and real terms to things I did not realize I already knew and have taught me ways to bring positive change to my shelter. 

My practicum especially has assisted me in building my confidence as a future social worker because I have been given the freedom to be almost completely self-directed. I have been able to design and run groups on whatever topics I either think would be the most useful for my clients or things the clients request. I have also been able to grow my skills in training others because I have been helping to train PRIDE Haven’s advocate staff. I hope to translate all of the skills I have gained while working with the population at PRIDE Haven to my new job with Comprehensive’s ACT TAY Team. 

Beliefs, values and principles underpinning my practice include:

While I try my best to incorporate all of the main values and principles of social work, there are three that resonate very deeply with me. The first being the idea of meeting clients where they are, which speaks to the dignity and worth of the person. Clients come to us from all kinds of places and with all kinds of abilities. We cannot expect to be successful with our clients if we are not taking into account their unique abilities, environments, and needs. When I create a goal plan with my clients, each one is completely customized for each of them. What will work for one will not work for others. Also, not everyone’s goals will be the same. Some might need to prioritize housing while others have to worry about upcoming court dates.

Another belief of mine is that my job is to help people who ask for it and/or need it, but I am there to provide the services they request. My goal is to have my clients feel self-determined and build a sense of empowerment. I want them to end services with me feeling more confident in their ability to solve problems or find help when they need it. This is a huge part of my case management style at my job because we are a shelter, so clients are receiving support almost 24/7. If our clients do not leave feeling empowered, they are not as successful when they leave shelter because they are used to depending on staff. It is also a crucial part of domestic violence-centered work because all of our clients have had their power stripped away from them and are trying to regain it. 

Lastly, I think that my personal beliefs (i.e. political, religious, etc) should not impact my relationship with my clients, whether we agree or not. As a social worker, I have to be able to work with anyone and be able to provide equal service to everyone who needs it. I cannot allow my personal feelings to affect the quality of the services I provide for each client. Social work is supposed to be based on social justice and equality, so I try to keep this at the forefront of my mind when interacting with clients.

My professional practice skills developed thus far include:

I think it can be really difficult to think of the skills we have when asked, but I think it is key in order to be able to continue to nurture the things we excel at and also work to develop the skills we lack. One of the best things about social work is that it develops all kinds of skills. The biggest one I have developed is my ability to communicate, both verbally and written. I have spent hours upon hours at both of my jobs and my internship documenting services provided and interactions with my clients. I have been told by multiple supervisors that, “if it was not documented, it did not happen”. I am able to relay messages and document in a way that is both clear, concise, and complete with relevant detail. 

Another skill I have developed is what I call “flexible time management”. Social work is often chaotic, and a schedule is not always realistic. I have learned the hard way that a schedule is a great starting point, but you have to be flexible in order to serve clients to the best of your ability. I have learned to balance helping clients learn to keep to a schedule and make it to appointments on time while also recognizing that life happens and we are not always going to be perfectly on time. Alongside flexible time management, the skills of adaptability and resourcefulness are essential, especially in a shelter setting. Crisis is abundant and comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes this means a kiddo falls down and hurts themselves and sometimes it means breaking up a fist fight between clients in the parking lot. You have to be able to recognize the issue at hand and problem solve quickly with the resources that are available to you.

There are a couple of skills I still want to work harder on because I think they are really important. One being not taking work home with me, both physically or emotionally. This was a huge issue for me when I started with the Children's Division; I struggled to turn my phone off after hours because I felt personally responsible for the kids on my caseload. It got to the point that I was having stress-induced nightmares of being at work. I want to learn how to not put so much pressure on myself and be able to avoid burnout. The other skill I want to work is being able to advocate against upper management concerning client needs or things I feel are unethical. I was raised to always defer to authority figures, so it has been a challenge for me to recognize myself as an adult and speak up for myself when I think something should be done differently.

The key theories and research that underpins my framework are:

I think theories and research play more of a subconscious role in my framework because I struggle with actively remembering and implementing them, but when I reflect on my work, I realize I have actually been using them. Strengths-based is my primary framework, mostly because it is the one all the agencies I have worked at use, but also because I think it is empowering for clients to consider their strengths instead of shortcomings. I think evidence-based practice is very important because well-meaning social workers may try new practices with the intent of helping clients, but may actually be causing more harm or just be wasting the client’s time.

In conclusion, I will utilize the Generalist Intervention Model/Planned Change Model in my concentration practicum through: 

For some reason, it is hard for me to conceptualize the use of the Generalist Intervention Model into anything other than exactly what we used it for in class. I am also not sure yet what exactly I will be doing at Journey to New Life. I think in the bigger picture, I would use the GIM in a case management setting.