From the start I knew this role-play video would enable me to use my natural abilities to empathize with other people and my desire to help people in easing their pain. My experience was both terrifying and wonderful. It was wonderful in the sense that I got a chance to practice what I believed in and truly cared about. The experience was also terrifying in the sense that I was discovering what my decision to enter into social work would entail. However, this role play video enabled me to increase my knowledge in the field of social work exponentially. I also realized that I have had misconceptions about social work. I have always thought that when people talk about social work, they talk about those who show up to take babies away from families that are not fit to take care of them. The truth is I had no idea how broad social work is. Depending on one’s particular area of focus, one can make an impact in the lives of people in various professional settings. For instance, one can work in a mental health agency or with patients with illnesses such as cancer. This implies that one can work in different work environments, but the desire to help other people always remains the same even in different settings. The skills that are needed also do not change. I realized that the bottom line is that the rules are not set for what one can do in social work. The possibilities are endless and only limited by one’s skill sets and personal interests.
That being said, I gained a lot of insights from the experience. I learned that social work requires that one has a demanding and diverse range of emotional, cognitive, and professional skills. While I have always believed that I already possess these skills, the experience made me realize that it is critical to hone these skills throughout the career of a social worker. As such, it is important that a social worker becomes a life-long learner, and that it is an ethical requirement of a professional social worker. From this experience I noted some of the skills and qualities that are required for one to be an effective social worker.
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The first crucial skill that a social worker should possess is active listening. This is because much of the role of a social worker is to listen to clients effectively. This implies that a social worker should reflect back to a client says and be engaged in every conversation with a client so that they are sure that the social worker understands them (Elliott, 2014). I realized that when a social worker has good listening skills, they can establish respect and trust early on. This also helps client to feel comfortable in confiding in a social worker. Further, active listening helps in building a therapeutic alliance and clients feel that they are understood and seen. Feeling affirmed and visible is a critical element of any therapeutic alliance in social work.
Another insight I gained from this experience is that emotional intelligence is important in social work. Emotional intelligence implies that a social worker has high levels of self-awareness, sensitivity to others, and empathy (Karpetis, 2017). I learned that for a social worker to be effective in what they do, they must balance what they know and what they intuit. Critical thinking is another essential skill in social work that I learned that is critical if a social worker is to effectively handle clients. This is because people are complex and everyone is different. Also, people usually look for help in many facets of their lives. Being a critical thinker allows a social worker to help clients effectively. Lastly, clients come with different problems seeking help which requires a social worker to have empathy. Empathy is critical because understanding people emotionally, intellectually, and culturally is vital in social work (Lynch, Newlands, & Forrester, 2018).
With no empathy or understanding, it becomes impossible for a social worker to help clients. Empathy enables social workers to imagine themselves in their clients’ situations and to feel some of what their clients may be experiencing. I learned that empathy like any other skill can be perfected and understood with experience. Although I believe that I am already empathetic, empathy still requires practice like any other skill. The insights I gained from the experience will enable me to objectively examine different factors when dealing with clients while considering the importance of each factor on my course of action (Rice, 2014). Also, I will simultaneously maintain non-biased attitude and professional detachment in my approach to practice.
However, planning and executing the role play was not without challenges. For instance, adding details in the role play presented a challenge because setting up the role play requires sufficient details for it to resemble a real-life situation. To overcome this challenge, it was important to ensure that everyone was clear about the problem that we were trying to solve, and that they knew what was to be achieved by the end of the session. Another challenge in the role play that needed to be overcome was nervousness because it entailed acting. Therefore, it was important to allow the actors to prepare. In order to feel more comfortable, it was important to coach each other during the demonstration of the role play. Regarding the specific engagement skills, I used active listening and empathy. I used these specific engagement skills because they let the client understand that the social worker wished to understand them in way that is holistic (MaraisI & Merwe, 2016).
References
Elliott, N. (2014). Social Work Skills and Knowledge: A Practice Handbook. Journal of Social Work Practice , 129-133.
Karpetis, G. (2017). Social Work Skills: A Narrative Review of the Literature. The British Journal of Social Work , 596-615.
Lynch, A., Newlands, F., & Forrester, D. (2018). What does empathy sound like in social work communication? A mixed‐methods study of empathy in child protection social work practice. International Journal of Social Work , 45-57.
MaraisI, C., & Merwe, M. v. (2016). Relationship building during the initial phase of social work intervention with child clients in a rural area. Social Work , 352-498.
Rice, K. (2014). Engaging Families, Building Relationships: Strategies for Working Across Systems from a Social Exchange Perspective. Advances in Social Work , 102-114.
