Reflection

The core objective of the social work practice is improving human well-being with a focus on the needs and empowerment of the oppressed, vulnerable, and impoverished. The profession focuses on an individual's well-being and that of the society they reside. Consequently, social workers are attentive to clients' environment, which may contribute to their issues. Social workers must also promote justice and social change that addresses their client's needs. Clients collectively refer to groups, families, organizations, communities, and individuals in this case. Because they work in diverse communities, social workers must also be culturally sensitive and enact justice in their operations. The engagement with my colleagues in the community of practice highlighted these and many other social worker roles. The main themes that emerged from the interaction were effective communication, advocacy, supervision, and collaboration and teamwork. The most meaningful learning moment for me was effective communication. Therefore, an analysis of the elements of effective communication and its implication for my practice shows that it encompasses numerous social work roles, including advocacy and collaboration and teamwork.

Effective Communication

Engaging with the community of practice taught me the critical role of effective communication in social work practice. Without it, social workers cannot provide reliable and relevant information, accurately interpret sophisticated situations, find out their clients' and colleagues' emotions and thoughts, and mediate and intervene sensitively, appropriately, and authoritatively. Effective communication also allows the social worker to interpret a client's non-verbal cues and understand their perspective, resulting in empathy (Yeshiva University, 2020). It also depends on the social worker's emotional intelligence, enabling them to manage emotion better, communicate, collaborate, and establish strong interpersonal relationships. Besides enabling one to identify one's behaviors, it enables the social worker to comprehend the reactions of colleagues and clients and formulate an appropriate response (Yeshiva University, 2020). It also helps prevent burnout in social workers (Moore, 2021). When they are aware of their emotions, they are less likely to allow themselves to wallow in their chronic stress (Yeshiva University, 2020). My colleagues also highlighted self-actualization as a vital part of emotional intelligence which enables the social worker to want to be the best version of themselves. Emotional intelligence and non-verbal cues are thus a significant part of communication in social work practice.

The discussion board also emphasized unbiased communication in ethical social work practice. Unbiased language enables social workers to enact justice by avoiding group and gender stereotypes such as age, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status (Chafota, 2020). The posts also recognize the existence of unconscious bias, an inescapable phenomenon for everyone, including social workers. Although social workers are taught to accept and respect various cultures, their unconscious bias could cloud their judgment and impact their decision-making and the client's experience. Unconscious bias can also impede effective communication, making it a barrier for people to access social services and information flow (Chafota, 2020). Due to the unconscious bias's operation below the awareness level, it is difficult to comprehend them effectively. Therefore, social workers must find ways to eliminate or mitigate the effects of these biases in their practice.

Therapeutic communication, positive behavior support, and trauma-informed care are vital in ethical, social work practice. From the community of practice, I learned of the trauma that older people deal with. Although it is often assumed that the events related to their trauma do not significantly impact them as they occurred in the past, my colleagues begged to differ. The discussion pointed out that their past trauma is compounded by the trauma they go through when they lose relatives and other loved ones. Thus, social workers must recognize the early adversity in their clients' lives, identify the manifesting symptoms as maladaptive coping, and comprehend how clients' core beliefs affect their functioning throughout their lives (Sharma & Gupta, 2022). Trauma-informed care makes clients feel safe and empowered and improves collaboration, eradicating the unhealthy interpersonal systems of the client's relationships (Levenson, 2017). In contrast, therapeutic relationships structure communication during social work interactions. Therapeutic communication helps identify the client's feelings, determine the appropriate therapeutic measure or intervention, and increase the client's adherence to the prescribed treatment techniques (Sharma & Gupta, 2022). Lastly, positive behavior support addresses various issues, including aggression, social withdrawal, and tantrums (Raising Children, 2022). It enables the implementation of evidence-based behavioral practices and encourages prosocial skills. The discussion board interactions were thus enlightening on the importance of these three social work skills that result in effective communication with the clients and staff, and ethical social work practice as the patients receive quality care.

Implication on Social Work Practice, Identity, and Client Experience

Learning about effective communication in social work practice has several implications for my social work practice and identity and will enable the improvement of client experiences. Consequently, I must improve my emotional intelligence to be able to control emotions and help people from all walks of life. Through emotional intelligence, I can identify when I am stressed, find the source of the stress, and identify my role in enabling the continuation of the stress and any other negative emotions (Yeshiva University, 2020). This career line also involves working with the distressed; hence emotional intelligence will enable me not to be affected by other people’s distress in an unhealthy manner (Yeshiva University, 2020). Emotional intelligence will also enable me to connect with others emotionally, resulting in empathy. This way, I can set aside my perspectives and notions on a subject and view a situation from a colleague’s and client’s perspectives. In this way, I will strengthen my interpersonal relationships, create a collaborative environment, and benefit from teamwork (Yeshiva University, 2020). The discussion board enabled me to comprehend that one can become more emotionally competent and enabled me to comprehend the importance of developing emotional competence. Comprehending what aggravates people and creating positive and healthy relationships with colleagues and clients is thus at the core of my ethical social work practice. By connecting with the clients and my colleagues emotionally by being emotionally competent, I also improve their experiences as they feel understood and heard.

To improve my communication skills, I will also exercise justice by being unbiased. Despite the pervasive nature of unconscious bias, I believe that learning to manage them is an important step in the right direction. First, I recognize that I have unconscious biases; hence I can be accountable and responsible for making a difference in its existence (Chafota, 2020). Self-reflection enables me to identify my core values and principles, which may develop these biases. This personal awareness is vital because it enables the acceptance of problematic behaviors and perceptions and enables me to do the right thing when confronted by my unconscious biases (Chafota, 2020). Additionally, I will be culturally sensitive and competent when dealing with clients from various ethnic backgrounds. By comprehending their cultural norms, I can eradicate the stereotypes attached to their culture in my subconscious and gain more confidence when dealing with clients from diverse backgrounds (Chafota, 2020). Cultural competence also leads to empathy, helps identify communication and engagement barriers, and offers better information on the cultural constructs of blame, shame, and fear. Embracing inclusivity through unbiased communication is thus vital in improving client experiences of human service organizations.

The community of practice also highlighted the need for implementing trauma-informed care practices in one’s practice; hence I intend to do so. I am now more aware of the plight of older clients and the neglect they face when dealing with human service organizations. In my practice, I will be on the lookout for pervasive trauma symptoms, including; hyperarousal to environmental stimuli, avoiding trauma-related cues, and intrusive thoughts of the event (Levenson, 2017). By recognizing these symptoms and reacting appropriately, I will develop a therapeutic relationship with clients, creating a safe environment that fosters trust, collaboration, empowerment, and autonomy. Trauma-informed care has informed me on the prevalence of trauma and highlighted the need for strategies such as positive behavior support that focus on improving the client’s strengths and building healthy skills instead of their problems (Raising Children, 2022). Trauma-informed care will enable me to deliver care while recognizing the emotional vulnerability of traumatized patients and avoiding the dynamics of abusive interactions in the therapeutic relationship (Levenson, 2017). This way, I can deal with clients more sensitively and uniquely by recognizing their trauma and adjusting the caring techniques to suit them, improving their experiences with human service organizations.

The interaction with the community of practice through the discussion board has enlightened me on the importance of effective communication in social work. Consequently, I will integrate it and its principles into my practice to improve the clients' experience. The discussion board interactions enlightened me on various core practices of social workers, including advocacy, supervision, and collaboration and teamwork. Despite these various lessons, effective communication still fostered and encompassed them all; hence it is my focus in this reflection. The various facets of effective communication that constituted my learning moment include emotional intelligence, elimination of bias, therapeutic communication, positive behavior support, and trauma-informed care. All these aspects were subjects of discussion on the discussion board that piqued my interest, necessitating further research during the reflection. Afterward, I identified the various ways and implications this learning moment had on my practice. Emotional intelligence, elimination of bias, and trauma-informed care in combination would improve the quality of care I provide, improve my interpersonal relationships with colleagues and clients, and enable me to take care of myself while doing so. Therefore, the engagement has been fruitful and informative to my practice. 

References

Chafota, E. (2020). Unconscious bias: How might it affect social work. https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/2104016/unconcious-bias.pdf

Levenson, J. (2017). Trauma-informed social work practice. Social Work, 62(2), 105–113. Doi: 10.1093/sw/swx001

Moore, R. (2021). Council post: Combat burnout with emotional intelligence. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2021/11/05/combat-burnout-with-emotional-intelligence/?sh=397348c34156

Raising children. (2022). Positive behaviour support (PBS). https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/therapies-guide/pbs

Sharma, N., & Gupta, V. (2022). Therapeutic communication. StatPearls Publishing.

Yeshiva University. (2020). What does emotional intelligence mean in social work? https://online.yu.edu/wurzweiler/blog/what-does-emotional-intelligence-mean-social-work