Department of Social Work Essay Example for Free

Department of Social Work Essay The objective of this paper is to show or define theories in the field of social work specifically in handling and working with emotionally disturbed youth and which theory or theories will best help guide this practice. This paper will also talk about areas I feel most confident and strongest in as well as the areas I feel least confident in. It will also show the reasons and factors that contribute to both my strengths and weaknesses. Social Work Defined â€Å"Social Work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to this goal ( as cited, Department of Social Work). † Because of the their objective is to help people and communities, the practice is made up of principles, applications of values. â€Å"Social Work is concerned and involved with the interactions between people and the institutions of society that affect the ability of people to accomplish life tasks, realize aspirations and values, and alleviate distress ( Baer and Frederico; Department of Social Work). † According to Baer and Frederico, the purposes of social work may be broken down into 3: enhance the problem-solving; promote effective humane operations; and link people with a system that give them services, resources and opportunities (Department of Social Work). Trauma Informed Care Trauma informed care pertains to organization or programs that services individuals who have survived a traumatic experience. These individuals or survivors are those who have been physically and/or sexually abuse and other experiences that leads to trauma. Often times, these experiences may direct an individual to mental health and some other type of disorder. Organizations that help people with this condition, alters and adjusts in order to keep an understanding on how trauma affects the individual seeking for help (SAMHSA National Mental Health Information Center). Theories in Social Work â€Å"Theories have been developed since it became clear that there were similar patterns or repeating cycles of behaviour both in an individuals life and in the lives of lots of different people (Towland, 2010). † There are a lot of theories or ideas on how to go about social work and how to do the practice for both professionals and students taking up this course. According to Towland in his essay on â€Å"Social Work Theory and Practice Making the Links† a theory is seen to help describe what is happening, explain why it is happening and predict what will happen next. Towland has also mentioned in his essay that he urges to consider the following theories: 1. ) Recognise that no single theory can explain everything; 2. ) Recognise that some theoretical approaches just dont work with some people; 3. ) Take a critical approach to theory; 4. ) Always apply the value base to theory; 5. ) Never be intimidated by theory. In relation to the second and third theories that Towland has enumerated, people are made and created differently. What might have worked with one client may not work on the other. As a social worker who works with emotionally disturbed youth, taking note on why a certain approach is not working with a particular patient is important as well as thinking and finding other ways and means to help and understand the individual. Theories in general help practitioners get a grasp and a clear picture of what is happening and why it is happening. It enables practitioners and workers validate their actions and treatment, give a more accurate bearing on how to deal and work with these individuals and are able to give a precise rationalization on the consequences of a particular treatment or action done. †The aim is that this will lead to social work becoming more widely accountable and ultimately more respected (Towland, 2010). † Working with rural mental health programs â€Å"Establishing ongoing trauma-informed services is one of the most difficult challenges facing rural mental health programs. Schools, community groups, and natural helpers try to meet needs but often go unsupported (Children’s Voice, 2007). † Working with the youth in rural places is much more of a challenge because these people mostly live in small towns and places that medical financial help are in dire or is not greatly extended to the families, helping and treating the youth who are emotionally disturb becomes a bit more difficult and gives more work to the practitioners. They work harder and in longer hours with lesser pays and days off. Working with the developmentally disabled is a challenging task for me and this may not be my strongest area and point because of my lack of patience and experience on this particular field. But although this maybe the case, being able help children and being able to understand the reasons of their trauma and finding ways to help them grow out of their trauma is gratify in to me because I know I am able to give aide to these people. Explaining to the family and being able to give them light and understanding of their child’s or children’s situation and what might be the good and bad consequences of the treatment fulfills me as a social worker. My professional philosophy is shaped by not just what was passed on to me by my parents and mentors, but is and was shaped by my experiences and what I have seen in life. My personal beliefs and concepts in life that may contribute to my profession are: being a role model to not just my family but with the people I work with as well, the value I have for myself, thus, valuing my profession and what it stand for, its aims and objectives, and most importantly is my ability to reach out and help others. By doing this, I am not just able to share myself to others but be able to contribute to society as well. References Department of Social Work. (2008). â€Å"Definition of Social Work. † Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://www. wright. edu/cola/Dept/social_work/sw_definition. htm SAMHSA National Mental Health Information Center. (n. d). â€Å"What is Trauma-Informed Care? † Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://mentalhealth. samhsa. gov/nctic/trauma. asp#care Ohio Department of Mental Health. (n. d. ). â€Å"Trauma Informed Care† Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://mentalhealth. ohio. gov/what-we-do/provide/trauma-informed-care/index. shtml Towland, C. (2010). â€Å"Social Work Theory and Practice Making the Links. † Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from http://ezinearticles. com/? Social-Work-Theory-and-PracticeMaking-the-Linksid=1956566 Childrens Voice. (2007). â€Å"Nctsn Center Supports Rural Trauma-informed Care. † Volume: 16. Issue: 5. Child Welfare League of America, Inc. Retrieved on May 30, 2010 from www. questia. com

Communication Accomodation Theory Essay -- Communication

The Communication Accommodation Theory states when people interact they alter their speech to fit in or accommodate for other. CAT describes the psychological, social, and linguistic behaviors that people exhibit when communicating with each other (Coupland, Coupland, Giles, Henwood, 1988). Each individual has his or her own personality and motivation when involved in a conversation, this attribute are reflected in how the individual speaks, listens and then responds to the other person involved in the conversation. According to this theory, communication between two people can at any time be adjusted by either party in response to actual, perceived, or stereotyped expectations of the other person (Coupland, et al., 1988). This means that either party can change their communication style based on what they feel or pick up on during the conversation. The CAT theory can help understand how humans interact with one another while communicating. CAT is based on the premise that speakers and listeners unconsciously and mutually modify their linguistic (e.g., language choice, vocabulary) and/or paralinguistic (e.g., dialect, tone of voice, speech rate) behaviors to become more similar to (convergence) or different from (divergence) their interactional partners (Giles, Mulac, Bradac, & Johnson, 1987). Convergence strategies signal interactants' positive attitudes toward each other, such as increasing attractiveness and approval or showing solidarity, whereas divergence strategies accentuate differences between interactants (Giles et al., 1987). CAT is based on the idea that people with unknowingly modify their language to become more similar or from the person they are communicating with. Convergence usually occurs when the sp... ....), Language and social psychology. (pp.45-65) Hordila - Vatamanescu, E., & Pana, A. (2010). The Application of the Communication Accommodation Theory to Virtual Communities: A Preliminary Research on the Online Identities. International Journal Of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 5(4), 279-290. Jones, E., Gallois, C., Callan, V., & Barker, M. (1999). Strategies of accommodation: development of a coding system for conversational interaction. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 18(2), 123-152. Krippendorff, Klaus (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Myers, P., Giles, H., Reid, S. A., & Nabi, R. L. (2008). Law Enforcement Encounters: The Effects of Officer Accommodativeness and Crime Severity on Interpersonal Attributions are mediated by Intergroup Sensitivity. Communication Studies, 59(4), 291-305.

Native American DBQ

In an attempt to overcome conflicts with the possession of Native American and, the United States set in place policies that were Often inconsiderate to the Natives, but that they believed to be better economically, politically, and morally. These policies varied from government provided food for the Natives, to the distribution of the new land, and the treatment of Native for their various practices. All of these things greatly affected the course of Native American people and their cultures to this day. As Americans took over more land in the west, they began to kill the buffalo that lived there for supplies in massive amounts.Document C, Figure 16. 2, wows a mound of buffalo skeleton bones that would be shipped to the East for various fertilization purposes and represents the â€Å"extent of the devastation† to the buffalo population. Document C also shows the numerous ways that Native Americans used the buffalo in their everyday life. Various purposes that the buffalo serv ed were food from meat and fat, tools and weapons from the bones, clothing from the hide of the buffalo, and many others uses on the long list. No part of the buffalo was wasted by the Natives.When Americans came to their land and slaughtered the population, the Natives were left without any supplies for living. The Natives were forced to live off of food that was provided for them by the government, even though it was the same white settlers who took away their food supply in the first place (Document C). Economically, this helped the United States. They had more land to sell and make money from, and they benefited off of the buffaloes. This was not equally beneficial to the Natives however. They were not even considered by the government that continued to invade their homes and lives.The government may have thought they were helping the Natives by providing them with the small food rations that they did, but the government as actually the root of the Natives food dilemma. There wa s discussion amongst the nation's leaders over what should be done with the newly ceded land. Secretary of the Interior Carl Scours argued that the tribes are â€Å"in the way Of the development Of the country as an obstacle. † To overcome that, his suggestion was to give the Natives portions of the land as reservations, but that sections within that land be used by the government (Document B).In 1 887, Congress passed the Dates Severalty Act that allowed the President to resurvey Native American land reservations if e see fit that the land could be advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes (Document E). Then in 1889, Theodore Roosevelt stated that it was obvious for them to â€Å"break up the Indian reservations, disregard the tribal governments, allot the land in severalty, and treat Indians as we do other citizens,† and that they are respecting Natives more than the Natives have respected them (Document F).It is made clear though that the Natives wish to be left unbuttered, both them and the land. In a letter to Roosevelt and the â€Å"Washington Chiefs† they express their concerns with how they farm and retreat the Hopi land. The Natives had a certain cycle for farming the land that could be ruined by the settlers (Document H). The Americans did not consider this Hopi petition though. This was a political move to prove to the Natives that they were a â€Å"weaker race† and also to pass legislation that supported it.The Americans may have thought they were doing well to the Natives, as Carl Scours said himself â€Å"To civilize them†¦ And absolute necessity if we mean to save them,† but they Were only disrespecting their land and their requests. One thing that created such a strong barrier between the Natives and the Americans were cultural differences. The Dates Severalty Act allowed for the united States â€Å"to ban crucial aspects of Indian culture, including native practices related to religion, educati on, language, and even dress and hairstyles† (Document C).This shows the type of ignorance that the American people had towards the Native American cultures. They knew nothing about them, yet they banned their practices. These sometimes harsh judgments were driven from fear. Some of the Native American practices legitimately frightened the Americans, particularly, the tribal gatherings where â€Å"men, omen, and children participated in the ritual dance, moving in a circle and singing. † These rituals scared them so much, that in December 1 890, â€Å"U. S. Troops attacked and killed several hundred Indians† (Document G).The American people again may have thought they were cleansing the Natives, but were only being inconsiderate to them as people. Their actions were morally unjustifiable. This time period has a long lasting effect on the world. Entire tribes and cultures died because of the mistreatment and misjudgment of the Natives. Whether or not the American people thought they were helping in some way r another, they were only destroying lives as if they truly were just â€Å"obstacles' and the nation's course of development.

National Differences in Political Economy - 2934 Words

Chapter 02 National Differences in Political Economy True / False Questions 1. A countrys political economy and culture are independent of each other. True False 2. It is not possible to have democratic societies that emphasize a mix of collectivism and individualism. True False 3. The communists believed that socialism could be achieved by democratic means, and turned their backs on violent revolution and dictatorship. True False 4. In an individualist society, the welfare of society is best served by letting people pursue their own economic self-interest. True False 5. The central message of collectivism is that individual economic and political freedoms are the ground†¦show more content†¦There is a strong relationship between economic freedom and economic growth. True False 32. The general assertion that nations that invest more in education will have higher growth rates has been proved false. True False 33. Since the 1980s, the political economy of many nations has seen a shift away from centrally planned and mixed economies toward more free market economic models. True False 34. One of the reasons for the spread of democracy is the emergence of increasingly prosperous middle and working classes who have pushed for democratic reforms. True False 35. According to political scientist Samuel Huntingtons thesis, global terrorism is a product of the tension between civilizations and the clash of value systems and ideology. True False 36. Transformation from centrally planned command economies to market-based economies can be attributed to the fact that command and mixed economies failed to deliver the sustained economic performance achieved by countries adopting market-based systems. True False 37. Economic freedom necessarily equates with political freedom. True False 38. 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