A summary of feedback received during my learning journey

 I have undertaken numerous assessment pieces, written, verbal, media presentations, client worker counselling scenarios, and group assessments during this program, from these I have received numerous critiques regarding my capabilities. It is evident from these that there are many areas in which I need to progress, I have received positive feedback relating to my written expression, although grammar, lack of structure and inflated wordage is often noted as a weakness that I need to address. Particularly as client reports etc need to be precise and concise. Also lacks in analysis and/or evidence to demonstrate and justify my arguments are also noted as an area where I need to improve. This was also relevant in the community practice SOWK13011 assessment 2 Comparative analysis, where the assessor stated that ‘what is missing however is an in-depth analysis’, (JB 2011). To assist in addressing this flaw as part of my personal development plan I have decided to engage in essay/ report writing workshops organised by Central Queensland University’s Communications Learning Centre.

 I also intend to research human development theories, gain a more thorough insight into systems theories, Australian legislation, and Australian Association of Social Workers ethical guidance and practice standards, which will assist in my comprehension of child and family practice, community development and support my developing professional practice framework and aid in supporting analysis and evidence components in assessment.

From assessment into my ‘skills’ in family/ group work counselling, I received very thorough critique of my ability, there were many flaws in my practice, my introduction was almost ‘parrot fashion’, I rambled off a statement without giving the clients an opportunity to react/ answer, and also should of discussed with the clients what they were hoping to achieve from the session, the introduction came across as though I was quoting from a book instead of having a conversation to introduce myself and set boundaries about my role and client/worker relationship. For the actual content of the ‘session I failed to acknowledge areas, which should of been  a ‘red flag’ for a social worker or as stated by the assessor (de Warren, 2010), ‘It is these little glimpses of people grappling with change that the social worker in family practice needs to have blood hound qualities for’. Another major oversight that I made during this session was to repeatedly ask the client if she wanted me to contact housing on her behalf. At the time I thought by asking her I was promoting change in her life and demonstrating that I could advocate for her in dealing with a bureaucratic organisation. Upon reflection I can see that not only was I displaying confusion about my role but that this could be construed as being oppressive towards the client, disempowering her and taking away her autonomy. In relation to this a huge ‘light bulb’ moment occurred during my  experience in the Fieldwork 1 practice setting I witnessed workers who did work like this, not intentionally oppressive but undertook the clients administrative roles, i.e. contacting their GP if the client was unwell to make an appointment, phoning Centrelink to enquire about their benefits. From this perspective I was able to see that the worker assumed that the clients would not contact these agencies, this made the workers role invaluable to them, and there seemed to be a ‘roller coaster effect’ of the client worker relationship. Some crisis would happen in the clients’ life they would visit the worker who would take on the ‘fixer role’, solving the clients problem, the client would be stable for a few weeks then something else would happen and they would return to the worker because they had not developed either coping or problem solving skills of their own. This in turn put extra pressure upon the worker and resulted in the neglect of her own self care. From being able to reflect upon feedback from an assignment I completed twelve months ago, and relate it to a practical experience I can visualise how easy it is as a social worker to assume you are doing the best for your client but in reality you are disempowering them. So from this I can see that when working at a practical level I need to ‘step out’ of the ‘helping role’ to ensure that my actions/statements really do assist the client to reach their own potential through promoting change and not being the change.  At a practical level to improve my basic skills I need to practice the micro skills on a daily basis through utilising elements of active listening, paraphrasing, and open ended questioning, this I intend to do in my current work environment.

Group presentations have always been an area that I have found difficult to engage in, because of a lack of confidence in my ability when speaking to an audience. Each residential has allowed me to gain a little more confidence, although at the time it hasn’t felt like it. During the fieldwork placement, I was involved in a number of workshops, helping to develop the activities and assisting the facilitator. From this I was able to take away the belief that I had something useful to offer and that people actually wanted to hear what I had to say. Although at the time group presentations were ‘huge stress inducing events’ the experience of being able to ‘practice’ in a safe environment was and is invaluable to my development. From a critique of a group presentation that was assessed in 2010, I am able to see that what we as a group perceived to be an expression of multiculturalism could be perceived as tokenistic and insensitive, instead of demonstrating cultural competence. Our intention was to highlight and acknowledge different cultures through the use of their individual flags, what we failed to do was discuss the reasoning behind this, and to a person who had no knowledge of the assessment criteria this could have been perceived as tokenistic. The learning that I have taken away from this is before participating in any community, group, or individual social work context ‘start were the person is’ it is a phrase coined by many, but relates to so much. In this instance if we had thought through how an individual would/could feel watching this presentation we may have had a better understanding of how our actions could be interpreted. In community development it is vital that the worker starts were the community is, discovers what they abilities they have, what they need and what the members want. When working with a client/ family the worker needs to begin her/his focus on where they are mentally, physically, socially and environmentally at the same time being respectful to their culture and traditions.

At this term residential we had a question and answer forum with a professional panel. This term the panel came from a varied background of community development. At the time I had very limited knowledge about community development and from this forum I took away the understanding that community development was to support communities in their development through focusing on their strengths and weakness, empowering the community to utilise their strengths to bring about change that is sustainable and driven by the community. Supporting them, to support themselves.

After completing the first practicum I received feedback from both my internal and external supervisor. The external supervisor noted that throughout the placement I had demonstrated, resiliency, adaptability, initiative and core social work skills, she was unable to identify any significant weaknesses, however she stated that the placement had ‘grown’ me in areas that I may be more ‘vulnerable in’. The internal supervisor comments noted from discussing  my performance with her team that;

 ‘Feedback from staff included that Lindsey was engaging, didn’t hesitate to help staff or assist with networking activities and she spent some time with’ a social work from another agency ‘again the feedback was that Lindsey was great, didn’t hesitate to ask questions as needed and had a sound understanding of the work that was occurring with’ this social worker. (SJ 2011)

I believe that statement assists in demonstrating that I have a sound ability to engage and build appropriate relationships.

 

Reflection upon learning from SOWK13011

Throughout this course there has been much information and knowledge that I have gained that will impact upon my professional practice framework. I was very much confused prior to the course about the differing terminology i.e. ‘community work, community development, community organisation, community action, community practice and community change’ (Tesoriero 2010). A descriptive that assisted in my understanding of this was Cavaye’s   (n.d.) definition ‘community development means that a community itself engages in a process aimed at improving the social, economic and environmental situation of the community’. The community is the focus of community development, through undertaking action collaboratively; the community becomes more viable, not just economically but as a strong functioning community (Cavaye’s   (n.d.).  A feature that stood out to me was the impact of community development in Indigenous communities, as discussed by Tesoriero (2010), for it to be successful it needs to be undertaken in collaboration with Indigenous customs, traditions and with respect. Any activity done without incorporating Indigenous cultural customs adds to the oppression of Indigenous peoples and reinforces formation and discourses of domination (Tesoriero, 2010, p.217).  As stated by Tesoriero (2010, p. 216) Indigenous people have a critical need for community development in one meaning of the expression, however they have been victims of community development in another sense. This reinforces to me just how vital it is to engage in the community when working with Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities, to seek their opinions regarding what they want, what they need and what strengths they have. This knowledge relates to my ongoing learning and development of cultural competence and in attaining a more practical understanding of theoretical approaches such as anti-oppressive theory, and the strengths theory. Before undertaking this course my perspective of community development was mostly one of huge bureaucratic organisations, manipulating communities for economic  gain for example by building large shopping centres in community areas where there would be public outcry because of the increased traffic, lowering of house prices, and the detrimental effect on small local shop keepers. From the moment the course began I could see that this was a very narrow minded perspective with community development being exactly what it says development for the community.

 

 

References

Cavaye, J (n.d.), Understanding Community Development, Viewed 19 September 2011, http://www.communitydevelopment.com.au/Documents/Understanding%20Community%20Development.pdf

Tesoriero, F 2010, Community development, community-based alternatives in an age of globalisation, Pearson Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW.