Practicing Social Work with Communities and Organizations

Practicing Social Work with Communities and Organizations
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Practicing Social Work with Communities and Organizations
Question 1
Networking is a crucial activity performed by social workers, and it entails building and maintaining contacts that will aid in building professional relationships. However, networking is vital in the macro-level social work practices as it ensures that the marginalized and those who have less access to specific opportunities can access and gain the assistance they require. The central importance of networking in the macro-level practice of social work is that it aids in ensuring that there are effective policy changes that will improve the community in terms of providing a better quality of life (CHEBERDA, 2018). Networking also can aid in gaining insights concerning the best practices that can benefit the social workers in the macro-level practices. Secondly, networking can assist in building vital relationships, such as the business partners, potential employers, and potential clients that can result in macro-level practices such as communities. Lastly, networking aid in fostering connections that will aid in turning helpful information into a collective intelligence where other people can benefit from the community.
Question 2
A social worker performs several vital roles in society. First, they offer therapy-related services as they have special training on developing strategies that can aid in changing behaviors within the community (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2014). However, their training allows them to develop therapy practices for healthcare disciplines and non-healthcare, such as family and couple therapy. Secondly, social workers can advocate for creating crucial awareness needs of their clients and connecting them to solution initiatives. Thus, the solutions that are offered will improve the client’s needs and the quality of life in terms of better practices. The final role of the social worker is interaction with the social workers, community organizations, and policymakers with the intent of improving services, social conditions, and policies of communities in need.
There are several ways in which the social worker practices sensitivity to human diversity when dealing with conflicts in the network. These include getting to know their service users, being self-aware, being flexible, and reflecting on the power of language. However, there are ten standards of cultural competence that are also used in guiding social workers in their macro-level practices.
The first standard is on ethics and values. The social workers must be culturally competent and based on their self-awareness, committed to embracing the culture, and culturally humble. The second vital standard is self-awareness, where the social worker needs to ensure that they are aware of their own and others’ cultural identities. Thirdly, cross-cultural knowledge is required for the social worker to have special knowledge of race and ethnicity (Evans, 2016). Cross-cultural skills are also vital in ensuring that the social worker acts in a non-discriminatory manner. The fifth standard revol...