The value of empowerment is hard to overestimate in social work practice: the theory of empowerment gained global acceptance and was proved by a wide range of evidence. The empowerment approach simultaneously focuses on individual growth – reducing internal blocks, and social change – overcoming external blocks. The practice of empowering an individual through internal processes while addressing the external obstacles should include two meaningful components: dual concern for people and environment and active personal work of clients to mitigate the oppression.
The concern for the environment involves the application of multifocal vision to explore the problem. Multifocal vision helps analyze the external blocks as historical patterns, as objects for coping strategies, as issues imposed by gender, class, or race, as results of political decisions, or as culture-based problems (Lee & Hudson, 2017). The concern for people is based on empowerment through their values, skills, and principles. This process requires analyzing individual strengths, eliminating false beliefs, developing the feeling of pride, learning the strategies of problem-posing and problem-solving, and building a sense of belonging to a collective (Lee & Hudson, 2017).
The empowerment group, such as a family, a small group of individuals, or a wider community, is usually at the center of practice. Hence, the political and personal should be united for a critical understanding of reality and thoughtful action.
The oppressed could not rely only on a social worker’s help: it is essential to be active in pursuing goals to make a difference. The role of a social worker is to assist people in the process of liberation, helping them release their potential (Lee & Hudson, 2017). Internal power blocks refer to negative judgments based on learned helplessness, absence of information or experience, logical errors, and emotional stress, which prevent individuals from applying existing possibilities to act. Clients following their social workers’ directions should learn to find and mitigate these inner obstacles and work with professionals side-by-side.
Therefore, empowerment relates to effective problem-solving and overcoming difficulties and lies at the heart of social work practice. The application of the empowerment approach requires a holistic, integrative perspective to mitigate the suffering of an individual. Clinical work and collective social action could be used to eliminate external oppression. However, empowerment is basically a reflective activity: personal achievements should become the expression of deliberate and conscious internal means’ application to address the oppressing environment.
Reference
Lee, J. A. B. & Hudson R. E. (2017). Empowerment approach to social work treatment. In Turner F. J. (Ed.), Social work treatment: interlocking theoretical approaches (6th ed., pp.142-65). Oxford University Press.