Tammie's Reflection on FSW

 

One of the personal reflections that left a lasting impression on me personally and professionally was the week in which we explored the process of re-entry for the criminal population.  Before exploring the week’s information the writer had little knowledge of the depths of complications for re-entry of the population.  The writer’s assumption was a general understanding of the difficulty.  After the break down of the process in the stages, the writer was able to view this process from a social work perspective and analyze the many different complications that can arise in any one of the stages.

A social worker working with this population should be guided by all of the core values of the code of ethics.  Although these individuals have at one point in their lives been convicted of an offense, the social worker must let all personal biases, opinions and beliefs subside and channel the professional ethics that govern the profession.  The writer has had to do a complete personal reflection and evaluation to recognize the personal biases that could hinder the development of this social worker and the client’s therapeutic alliance. 

The encompassing of the ethical principle of challenging social injustice is particularly important with this population (NASW Code of ethics, 1996).  Taking the initiative to promote social change for the unreceptive treatment toward this population is important.  Understanding the resistance among the different systems involved with the client is important.  This will allow the social worker to build the empathy and better analyze the Parole, employment, housing reunification, substance abuse and mental health treatment processes for the individual (Maschi et al., 2009).

 

The writer wanted to reflect on her initial journal entry.  The reasoning behind this focus was to show the apparent change of the understanding of forensic social work and the view of the populations forensic social workers work with.  During this initial reflection, the writer felt a since of enlightenment in knowing the broad scope of populations that the forensic social worker serves. 

The writer expressed feeling similar to a “super hero”.  In completing the comparison of awareness of the forensic social work profession the writer maintains that statement.  The difference in the first reflection and the final reflection is the amount of personal and professional inventory the writer has completed.  Previously, the writer expressed the complete disdain in working with certain populations that have committed heinous acts based on the writer’s values, such as child sex offenders.  When exploring the different aspects of criminals, the large amount of mentally ill persons imprisoned, and the obstacles they have faced in life a more empathetic approach arise.  This was met with much resistance.

    Encompassing the ethical principle of respect and the inherent dignity and worth of a person was important in this self evaluation of the writer (NASW Code of ethics, 1996).  Regardless of the offense, as a social worker the treatment of each individual should include respect, a since of caring and recognition of the diversity of individuals (NASW Code of ethics, 1996). 

 

Looking back on self-awareness, learning, and understanding of the FSW population

The process of viewing different social problems from the perspectives of other individuals was very informative and enlightening. 

Learning From Others: The writer was constantly completing a self evalution through the entire semester because of the complexity of the populations the course explored.  Many populations explored such as intimate partner violence offenders and the criminal offenders have been marginalized by society.  Completing the self evaluation made the writer realize the amount of personal judgement, bias and disdain present.  Evaluating the different views of the writers peers of such populations has been beneficial.  For an example, when exploring the criminal population, if it was not mentioned by one of the writers colleagues that the negative childhood experiences may have been a contributing factor to the recividism, the writer would’ve continued to view the population in a stereotypical manner.  The overall practice of looking below the surface and being selfless in working with the forensic populations can embody the influences of the writers colleagues on this future social worker and her understanding of foresnic social work practive.  At the conclusion of this semester the writer has learned to embody the true elements of social work and serve as a bridge for these marginalized populations and not a wall, which they have encountered in many other facet of society.