Introduction
In order to develop professionally, it is important to pay much attention to self-reflection as well as to the analysis of efforts and achieved goals while working with different categories of the population. Human service professionals need to be aware of the role of their own visions, perspectives, and attitudes in influencing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the provided assistance. In this context, the reflection exercise is one of the important steps to not only personal but also professional maturity. The aim of this reflective paper is to present the SWOT analysis related to the experience and capacities in working with vulnerable people that is based on the course readings and to formulate the steps that are effective in addressing the weak points in working with different categories of the population.
The SWOT Analysis
The improvement of the personal approach to working with clients is possible only when the critical analysis of the professional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) is conducted. Referring to the materials from the course readings, I can concentrate on identifying my strong qualities in working with vulnerable clients, my weaknesses in this sphere, opportunities for professional growth, and threats for further development.
Strengths
In spite of the fact that the development of professional competence is a challenging task, I can identify some of my strengths developed at this stage. First of all, I should state that personality theories are helpful to discuss the behaviors of people from a distant view (Anderson, Carter, & Lowe, 1999, p. 210). As a result, I can focus on the origins and backgrounds of the people’s actions and words to understand how I can help them. I also use this approach during the self-reflection in order to become aware of the grounds for my actions. In addition, I can avoid making biased conclusions about people’s behaviors and attitudes while reviewing the personality theories constantly (Anderson et al., 1999; Rogers, 1995, p. 111). Thus, the book written by Rogers provided me with hints not only on the work with clients to make them open and trust but also on self-reflection to understand whether I can be an effective practitioner while working with vulnerable populations (Rogers, 1995, p. 111). I have found that I can be objective, non-biased, and concentrated on people’s problems while applying personality theories to practice.
I have also learned how to accept the diversity of populations and the people’s rights for their certain emotions and feelings in order to provide the most effective counseling. The acceptance of diversity can be a real challenge for a person even if he or she does not admit this fact. I have admitted that I could be biased in relation to victims of different personal and social situations, to representatives of different cultures, and to representatives of the female and male gender in different cases. This step was important to cope with my prejudice, to accept the persons’ identity, and to become non-biased and fully open to the work with vulnerable populations in order to assist them instead of judging them. Accepting this disappointing possibility, I have developed one more strength because of following a new behavioral strategy based on the work by Cox and Ephross (1998) as well as the book by Moody and Sasser (2011). Thus, I admitted the fact that representatives of ethnic minorities can experience more stress while working with a human service professional who has a different ethnicity and that in this case, supportiveness should be based on sensitivity and developed interethnic relations (Cox & Ephross, 1998, p. 74). Furthermore, I have understood that I need to create comfortable conditions for people of different ages and pay attention to vulnerable children and aged persons (Moody & Sasser, 2011, p. 11). Therefore, my professional strengths are in (1) applying theory to practice; (2) in trying to be objective and non-biased; (3) and in accepting diversity in its different forms.
Weaknesses
My weaknesses in interacting with potential clients are associated with my underdeveloped skills in working with children and aged people. In spite of understanding how to organize the work with mentally disabled people, I hesitate while interacting with such vulnerable categories of the population as children and elderly people (Deegan, 1992, p. 4). Focusing on the work by Garbarino, I know that children, especially poor children, need special treatment, and the task of the human service worker is to understand how a child perceives his or her life situation (Garbarino, 1996, p. 28). At the current stage of my professional development, I feel that I have a doubt regarding the level of responsibility associated with working with children. Similar doubts are associated with my work with elderly persons. I have studied the resources about aging and long-term care, and I see the work with elderly persons as well as with caregivers as a challenging task (Miller, Allen, & Mor, 2008, p. 2; Moody & Sasser, 2011; Poole & Kumar, 2012, p. 96). From this point, my weaknesses are in (1) the lack of experience in working with children and (2) the lack of knowledge associated with the provision of assistance to elderly people and their caregivers.
Opportunities
Reflecting on my successes in interacting with different categories of clients, I can state that I have the potential to learn all the principles of person-centered assistance and care and apply them effectively to practice. I can also hope for improving my approach to treating persons of different ages and gender (Cox & Ephross, 1998). I am focused on details while choosing a strategy in working with persons, and I can expect further progress in my use of the individual approach. I can also demonstrate the progress in working with groups while focusing on the principles of empathy and sensitivity.
Threats
At each stage of my professional development and in each specific case, I should understand what obstacles I can face while interacting with people belonging to different social, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. Referring to Garbarino (1996), Katz (1996), and Koren (2010), I understand that vulnerable populations need real help and guidance when they suffer from poverty, lack of care, or lack of social and governmental support. Therefore, I should be responsible for providing effective counseling and determining plans of action to assist and support these people. However, the problem is in the fact that vulnerable people can be aggressive, resistant, reject the help, and demonstrate ignorance. In this case, working with vulnerable clients, I can face such threats as:
- aggression,
- stress,
- resistance,
- the lack of cooperation and understanding.
Actions to Address Potential Blind Spots in the Professional Activities
Focusing on the self-analysis and reflection, I can state that the potential blind spots in my vision of professional activities are the work with populations that are diverse in terms of age and the work with vulnerable populations which are diverse in terms of their reactions to the counseling and guidance. Thus, in spite of the fact that I try to be non-biased while working with different clients, I am potentially prejudiced against children, elderly people, and vulnerable representatives of different cultures who can be discussed as ‘difficult’ clients. In order to address this type of ‘prejudice’, I need to take certain steps: (1) to pay more attention to studying the materials on the work with children and adolescents; (2) to examine the strategies of working the elderly people; (3) to focus on studying the types of stress experienced by caregivers; (4) to focus on perceiving all clients as requiring sympathy, support, and assistance; (5) to develop strategies of interacting or working with groups of populations which I can perceive as ‘difficult’; (6) to concentrate on the non-biased perceptions of clients in spite of potential difficulties in working with them; and (7) to work at increasing the level of professional confidence and responsibility while improving the professional competence.
Conclusion
Reflection exercises are important to develop the plan of actions for a human service professional in order to improve the approach to working with different categories of clients. The conclusions made after the reflection and the steps taken to overcome the identified problems are important to make the social work more beneficial and to achieve higher results. This self-reflection is important to help me concentrate on weaknesses and further develop my strengths.
References
Anderson, R., Carter, I., & Lowe, G. (1999). Human behavior in the social environment: A social systems approach. New York, NY: Aldine De Gruyter.
Cox, C., & Ephross, P. (1998). Ethnicity and social work practice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Deegan, P. (1992). The independent living movement and people with psychiatric disabilities: Taking back control over our own lives. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 15(3), 3-19.
Garbarino, J. (1996). Children and poverty in America. National Forum, 76(3), 28-34.
Katz, M. (1996). In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Koren, M. J. (2010). Person-centered care for nursing home residents: The culture-change movement. Health Affairs, 29(2), 312-317.
Miller, E. A., Allen, S., & Mor, V. (2008). Navigating the labyrinth of long-term care: Shoring up informal caregiving in a home- and community-based world. Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 21(1), 1-16.
Moody, H., & Sasser, J. (2011). Aging: Concepts and controversies. New York, NY: SAGE Publications.
Poole, D., & Kumar, D. (2012). The limits of sustainability and opportunities in the social economy. Social Work, 57(1), 95-99.
Rogers, C. R. (1995). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.