Values in Social Work: Professionalism, Ethics, and Respect - Essay Sample

Personal and Professional Values and How They Play a Role in Social Work Practice and Ethical Decision Making

The personal and professional values are considered important in daily social work practice. The professional values are considered the set of principles that are meant to guide people on how to behave or act within the professional practice. These values usually indicate how every social worker should treat his or her client. Although HCPC code of conduct gives a clear guideline or outline on how the social workers should undertake their actions in social work practice the professional values still tend to be distinct from those that are created by the policies and legislation. Some of the most crucial professional values in my social work practice include being committed to achieving social change within the society, respecting differences within groups and individuals and giving priority to the most vulnerable people within the society.

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On the other hand, personal values are the strong opinions and beliefs that a person perceives to be worthy and crucial in his or her life. The personal values are developed within a person when they start to comprehend the existing difference between right and wrong, good, and bad (Banks, 2013). In most cases, personal values usually encompass the moral, cultural, political, traditional, and religious values. These values tend to affect how a particular social worker conduct him or herself and the kind of choices and decisions he or she makes, therefore, it is the obligation of every social worker to know or identify the origin of this values and their implication within the workplace.

How the Personal and Professional Values will play a Role in Social Work Practice and Ethical Decision Making

It is important for social workers to maintain a balance between professional and personal values when conducting their duties. This two type of value usually play a key role in social work practice and ethical decision making in various ways that include; first, they both help to minimize cases of conflict in social work practice. In most cases, conflict occurs when professional and personal values are not in line with the interests or needs of the population. These two values have to be in balance to ensure that the rate of conflicts within the society are minimized. Secondly, both values enable social workers to make informed decisions that consider the interests of every individual within the society. Therefore, before the social workers make any particular decision, they will need to check whether their personal values are in line with their professional values. In case they differ, the professional value tend to dominate the personal values since the social workers will have to put their personal values aside for them to conduct themselves in a professional manner. An example whereby the professional and personal values differ is when a religious, social worker is assigned to a gay couple. The social worker's personal values may make him or her to treat the gay couple less favorably as compared to other service users. The professional values, on the other hand, will, however, tend to guide the social worker towards the right channel that respects people's diversity.

Discuss the Concepts of Competency, Integrity, Boundaries, and Social Justice

Competency

The concept of competency in social work refers to the people's capability to apply and integrate social work values, and skills in various practice situations in an intentional, professional, and purposeful way that promotes community and human well-being. The competency related ethical practice usually emphasizes that social workers should first purse the necessary knowledge certification, training, and experience before being starting to offer professional services. There are six key competencies needed in social work, however, to provide concrete evidence that fulfills than competences the social workers are required to fulfill various things that include; meeting the practice requirements, gain and apply knowledge, integrate the social work values and transfer the skills and knowledge in practice. The six core competencies include, first, incorporate, diversity, and difference in social work practice. Secondly, demonstrate professional and ethical behavior. Thirdly, engage in practicing informed research and other research informed practice. Fourths, take part in policy practice, fifth, advance the human rights, economic, social, and environmental justice. Six, interact with families, organizations, groups, communities, and organizations.

Integrity

This tends to be a strongly upheld sense of commitment to honesty, openness, inclusion, and maintaining a high standard when undertaking the leadership role. When a social worker lives with integrity, he or she tends to have a less stressful and uncomplicated life. The social workers are always required to act or behave in trustworthy ways to improve their relationship with other individuals within the society (Reamer, 2013). They should also maintain a continuous awareness of the organizational mission, professional values, and individual ethical standards. The social workers should conduct themselves honestly and responsibly while in public to motivate or encourage other workers and also support the organization goals. To maintain high-level integrity, social workers are required to enhance their work expertise by continuously enhancing their career competency.

Social Justice

Social justice involves making sure that every individual within the society gets equal opportunities, is involved in the decision-making process, and they are offered the basic needs that they need to thrive like other members of the society. The social workers usually advocate for social justice by offering social support and the needed resources to the oppressed groups or vulnerable individuals. The efforts of social change are mainly focused on education, poverty, unemployment, housing, and discrimination. The social workers usually ensure public sensitivity to social justice issues and also encourage the population to embrace gender diversity and cultural respect. There are four key principles of social justice that usually form a key part in ensuring effective health promotion. The four principles of social justice include access, equity, rights, and participation. In most cases, the principles of social justice are applied in social workers daily interactions with the poor, disabled, and the elderly. When social workers interact with this vulnerable population, they do ensure that they receive all their needs, and they are also treated like humans. Social justice usually offers the vulnerable population a strong sense of esteem that they usually carry with them throughout their lifetime, and also acts as a mean of providing them with motivation, knowledge, and ambition that offers a better future life for their families and themselves is possible.

Boundaries

Most people enter the field of social work to help other individuals to grow and enhance their life circumstances. However, even as social workers interact with these clients, they must maintain or uphold clear boundaries as a way of ensuring professional responsibility and integrity. Boundaries are perceived to be the limits that facilitate safe connection depending on the needs of the clients. There are usually five key themes in which the boundary issues may arise; this includes; in intimate relationships, during the pursuit of personal benefits, response to unanticipated behavior, and when showing altruistic gestures. Every social worker should be cautious when handling clients to ensure that the boundary between the two parties is well maintained or respects, thus eliminating any chance or possibility of conflict to occur.

Discuss any Ethical Challenges you anticipate in the Social Work Field.

National associations of social workers code of ethics tends to have the set of guiding principles that help the social workers to make decisions that are in the best interest of the clients even if they may not be in line with what we intend to do in our personal lives. Despite the existence of this code of ethics, there are ethical challenges that still exist in the social work field. These challenges tend to occur when a certain situation requires the social worker to prioritize a certain ethical principle over the other. Some of the major problems faced by the social worker include; first, involuntary commitment. Regardless of the social workers breed, at a particular point in time, they tend to come across clients who have the thought of harming themselves or other individuals (Valutis, Rubin, & Bell, 2012). Such clients usually impose a significant challenge on the social worker since he or she is faced by a very tough decision of changing the clients thought of harming himself or herself. The aim of the social worker is always to uphold the client's right or freedom to decide how they will live their lives. However, social work code usually mandates the social worker the right to limit the client's rights to choose the kind of life he or she wants to live if the client's actions pose a certain risk to themselves.

Secondly. Breach of confidentiality with minor clients. In most cases, the minor clients such as the adolescents who visit the social workers to seek help tend to beg the social worker not to share the information with anyone else, even their parents. The social workers tend to find it hard to keep the promise of maintaining confidentiality since they are required by law to report cases of minor clients to the responsible parents and also to the social services department. Breaching the child's confidentiality tends to impact or affect the level of trust between the social worker and the client. At some point, the minor client finds it hard to open up on other challenges that he or she may be facing, thus making it hard for the social worker to assist the client.

How to Handle These Challenges

Although the social worker are faced by very challenging situations during their daily operations, they are various strategies of solving the ethical challenges. These strategies include reviewing the federal and state laws, consulting the ethical chides, seeking supervision, taking some time to process what you have learnt, and consulting the national association of social workers. All these strategies tend to be effective in solving the existing ethical challenge within the social work field.

References

Banks, S. (2013). Negotiating personal engagement and professional accountability: Professional wisdom and ethics work. European Journal of Social Work, 16(5), 587-604. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2012.732931

Reamer, F. G. (2013). Distance and online social work education: Novel ethical challenges. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 33(4-5), 369-384. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2013.828669

Valutis, S., Rubin, D., & Bell, M. (2012). Professional socialization and social work values: Who are we teaching?. Social Work Education, 31(8), 1046-1057. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2011.610785