Reflection

SOWK912 Diversity in Social Work Practice Workshop 2 (Week 4)

Acknowledgement of Country We acknowledge that Country for Aboriginal peoples is an interconnected set of ancient and sophisticated relationships.

The University of Wollongong spreads across many interrelated Aboriginal Countries that are bound by this sacred landscape, and intimate relationship with that landscape since creation.

From Sydney to the Southern Highlands, to the South Coast. From fresh water to bitter water to salt. From City to Urban to Rural.

The University Acknowledges the devastating impact of colonisation on our campuses’ footprint and commit ourselves to truth-telling, healing and education.

Acknowledgement of Country – Why?

Walking on Country… https://www.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/For-Residents/Community- Support/Aboriginal/Walking-on-Country

Why is it important for social workers to do an Acknowledgement of Country?

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Exploring culture UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES – reflections from weeks 1 - 3

• Check In Questions – What have you

learnt about yourself?

– What have you learnt about others?

– What have you learnt about social work in this context?

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Small group discussion

“WHY IS INCLUDING DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL WORK IMPORTANT?”

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International Federation of Social Work website accessed 23/03/2022 https://www.ifsw.org/what-is-social-work/global-definition-of-social-work/

WATCH PRE-RECORDED LECTURE IN CLASS

Cross Cultural capabilities

• Critical Social Work – theory • Critical Social Work -

practice processes

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Critical Social Work image Semantic Scholar

Lecture slides for in class discussion

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Required readings – Critical Social Work

Pease et al (2016) Doing Critical Social Work • Morley - Ch 2 - Critical reflection and critical social work • Noble - Ch 3 - Towards critical social work supervision • Hosken and Goldingay – Ch 4 - Making sense of different

theoretically informed approaches in doing critical social work

• Fisher-Borne (2015) From Mastery to Accountability: Cultural Humility as an Alternative to Cultural Competence. Social Work Education: The International Journal, 34:2, pg 165 - 181

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Critical Reflection and Critical Social Work Christine MORLEY (CHAPTER 2 – PEASE ET AL)

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• “Critical social work is fundamental to any claim that social work as a discipline or profession is emancipatory, concerned with social justice or committed to progressive social change or both…..Critical social work encompasses a broad area of theoretical approaches” (Morley, 2016).

• Critical reflection (Fook, 2012) – Deconstruction & Reconstruction

• What theoretical approach/s will shape and guide your thinking, being and doings in your social work practice?

Critical Social Work Christine MORLEY (p 29) (CHAPTER 2 – PEASE ET AL)

• “In some situations, however, one universal view that overlooks other potential interpretations can lock practitioners into a version of reality that disempowers them (Morley 2014). Post-structural theories can counteract the limiting aspects of a singular interpretation by emphasising multiple constructions. These include the theories that highlight the gaps and contradictions within dominant discourses that reveal opportunities for opposition and resistance (Morley 2014)”

• “In this way, post-structural theories can support the emancipatory goals of modernist critical practices. Fook (2012) notes that the survival of dominant discourses relies on everyone, even those who are most disadvantaged, to accept the discourse’s terms.”

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Critical Reflection and Critical Social Work Christine MORLEY (p 34) (CHAPTER 2 – PEASE ET AL)

• Morley warns about ‘intellectual elitism’ where social workers ‘think we know best’ and can impose our theoretical perspectives on those we work with in a way that disrespects their lived experience and disempowers them

• Critical reflection enables social workers to maintain humility in practice and to respectfully work together with individuals, groups and communities

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Critical Social Work - Process Orientations HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 56) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

1. Dialogical Praxis 2. Mutual Consciousness-raising 3. Cultural Humility 4. Culturally friendly attitude 5. Deep, respectful ethical listening

and stillness 6. Universalising, individualizing

and externalizing 7. Witnessing, validating and

resisting 8. Clear contracting

9. Critical questioning, deconstruction, reflectivity and reflexivity

10. Critical, deconstructive approach 11. Reflexivity 12. Research, policy and analysis

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Critical Social Work Practice Processes – explained HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 56) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

• Dialogical Praxis –social worker respects the expertise of those they work with (individuals, groups and communities) learning from them to develop shared understandings of perceived problems, create new knowledge and perspectives, options and opportunities. A continual critical analysis of the value of theories and practice.

• Mutual Consciousness-raising – social workers and service users teach and learn from each other and together gain new insights into oppressive social structures

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Critical Social Work Practice Processes – explained HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 57) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

• Cultural Humility – a life-long, ongoing process, preferable to the term ‘cultural competence’ (Fisher-Borne, 2015) – aims to value and embrace multiple ways of knowing from a place of self-reflection and humility. “Cultural humility takes into account the fluidity and subjectivity

• of culture and challenges both individuals and institutions to address inequalities” (Tervalon and Murray-Garcia, 1988 in Fisher-Borne, 2015)

• Culturally friendly attitude – convey genuine warmth and friendliness (Buckley, Carr and Whelan, 2011) when working with service users and colleagues in multi-disciplinary teams

• Deep, respectful ethical listening and stillness – convey respect through genuine interest in patient listening to and learning from the lived experiences and perspectives of service users (Ratcliffe 2005; Bennett, Zubrzycki & Bacon 2011)

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Cultural Competence vs Humility FISHER-BORNE (2015) From Mastery to Accountability: Cultural Humility as an Alternative to Cultural Competence. Social Work Education: The International Journal, 34:2, pg 165 - 181

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• Critiquing Cultural Competence – Focus on self awareness -

getting comfortable with ‘Them’

– Racial/Ethnic Group Identity as a Proxy for ‘Culture’

– Mastering Knowledge of the ‘Other’

– Failure to Challenge Systemic Inequalities

Critical Social Work Practice Processes - explained HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 56) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

• Universalising, individualizing and externalizing – working with service users to identify the unique context of their situation and also to identify a broader systemic context to challenge the perception of the ‘problem’ as due to the individual’s inadequacies. (Carey and Russell, 2002)

• Witnessing, validating and resisting – ethical listening, speaking and learning with service users that enables validation of broader context and factors contributing to a service user’s situation. Challenge ‘labelling’ and ‘stigmatizing’

• Clear contracting – openly discuss any limitations in what social worker can do due to agency constraints, professional guidelines, policies etc. However social worker to optimise discretionary capacity within limited context.

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Critical Social Work Practice Processes - explained HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 57) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

• Critical questioning, deconstruction, reflectivity and reflexivity – self and organisational critical reflection and deconstruction to challenge accepted norms, rules or ideologies operating in context of social work practice

• Critical, deconstructive approach – four steps: deconstruction, resistance, challenge, reconstruction. Identify dominant discourses in organisational / practice context. Identify any oppressive power associated with dominant discourse. Challenge assumptions and dialogue with service users to identify alternative constructions and ‘reconstruct’ new knowledge and alternative perspectives (Fook, 2012)

• Reflexivity – used to reflect and debrief after an event as a means of improving practice - questioning own bias as a Social Worker. Also used with service users to explore the historical, cultural and social context and functions of accepted ‘norms’.

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Critical Social Work Practice Processes - explained HOSKEN & GOLDINGAY (pg. 56) (CHAPTER 4 – PEASE ET AL)

• Research, policy analysis and advocacy – user led, participatory action research, working

collaboratively with service users as co-researchers to explore ‘lived experience’ of a social phenomenon, critical analysis of relevant policy, and collaborative advocacy to lobby for change.

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Critical Social Work Practice

Case study….

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Pasifika Social Work Yvonne CRICHTON-HILL (pg 118) in Connolly et al (2018) - Social Work Contexts and Practice, 4th Edition

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Working as allies with disabled people Read: Some people are 'disabled'. Others 'live with' or 'have a disability'. Here's the difference between identity-first and person-first language…

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-01/disability-language-identity-person-first/101597752

Watch: Dylan Alcott AO, 2022 Australian of the Year – International Day of People with Disabilities speech

Dylan Alcott AO – International Day of People with Disability (idpwd.com.au)

Read: Through practising disability pride, I've learnt there's nothing wrong with me and I don't have to accept discrimination

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-28/paralympian-elizabeth-wright-practising-disability- pride/101677986

Reflect in pairs: What are your reactions to these news articles and the video?

How can social workers work with humility as allies of disabled people? SOWK912 Workshop 2 (Week 4)21

Lets take a 15 min break…..

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Investigating multiple worldviews DIVERSE CLIENTS – Deafness as a disability or the ‘norm’?

Modern Social Work Theory (Payne, 2014, pg 397)

• “It is important for people to develop a clear personal and social identity on which we can build the acceptance of multiple worldviews”

• “Each individual’s self- identity and how it interacts with others around them needs to be explored. It is also necessary to understand how relationships and patterns of behaviour generate the capacity to understand and respond to multidimensional worldviews for both practitioners and clients. Understanding how multiple identifies intersect in individuals, families and communities is an important aspect of this.”

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Investigating worldviews DIVERSE CLIENTS

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Modern Social Work Theory (Payne, 2014, pg. 398)

Practicing critical social work • Part 1: Imagine you are the newly appointed social worker at the

Institute for Deaf People (consider whether you may be deaf yourself). How would you challenge dominant world views regarding deafness in developing rapport with Selma, validating her experiences, and supporting Selma to explore her options regarding social relationships?

• Part 2: You have recently commenced as the social worker at the Institute for Deaf People. Selma, who is now 16, has previously seen the social worker who’s position you are now in. Selma has been referred to you by her high school teacher who is concerned that Selma is not managing and is socially isolated. Using cultural humility and two other elements of critical social work process orientation (slides 10 – 16), explain how you would undertake an assessment of Selma’s situation?

• Part 3: Using the web of intersecting identities (slide 21), how could you assist Selma to develop positive identity shifts in the future?

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LGBTIQA+ allies in social work practice Jason’s story…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BWgB8Toj8&list=P LmhR4GF1BN5Sy_9lOwcyilrVbYYwVSxqF&index=3

You are a school social worker. How would you use critical social work practice processes to work with Jason when he was 14 yrs old and experiencing bullying at school?

Qlives – Young People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Df0f1Dh P1E

You are a hospital social worker. How would you use critical social work practice processes to work with a young person who identifies as queer and who is experiencing discrimination by doctors?

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https://www.twenty10.org.au/

Critical Social Work Supervision Carolyn NOBLE (pg 47) (CHAPTER 3 – PEASE ET AL)

• “It requires practitioners to reflect upon their complicity in reinforcing dominant power relations and their role in reproducing privilege and inequality (Pease 2006). In so doing, this practice uncovers subjugated knowledges, to explore what has been hidden from view by the dominant culture. In making visible other forms of knowledge, experience, cultural artefacts and traditions, a new vision of themselves can be created, including their practice and new ways of acting in the world (Noble 2011a)”

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Critical Social Work Supervision Carolyn NOBLE (pg 47) (CHAPTER 3 – PEASE ET AL)

1. Can you say what previous experiences or knowledge informed your actions?

2. What was the source of that knowledge and how is such knowledge produced and disseminated?

3. What other ways of looking at the situation can you imagine?

4. Can you articulate the particular theories that you used?

5. Can you identify the values that underpin your action?

6. Can you make explicit your feelings and the meaning of what you did? Why? To what effect?

7. Who benefitted from your actions? How?

8. Who was disadvantaged by your actions? How?

9. What were the consequences? 10. Were there alternatives? What were they? 11. Were there any constraints on your action?

(for example, time, resources, agency policy, agency culture, your own skills)

12. What, if anything, would you do differently? 13. Was there a desired outcome that was

different from the actual outcome? 14. On reflection, would you act the same way

again?

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Critical Social Work Supervision in practice

• Case scenario: You are a social work student in a busy emergency department in a large Sydney hospital. You are concerned that some of the nursing staff assessing suspected COVID-19 patients are discriminating against people from diverse cultural backgrounds and other marginalised groups. From your observations of your supervisor, who is the senior social worker in the hospital, she appears to not be challenging the inequity of care provided to COVID-19 patients. Using Noble’s reflective questions to guide you, how would you discuss your concerns in your supervision meeting?

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Exploring culture – REVISITED – Students to do at home UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES

Check In Questions

– What have you learnt about yourself? (WORLDVIEW)

– What have you learnt about others? (HUMILITY)

– What have you learnt about social work in this context? (INTERVENTIONS)

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Assessment 2

• Assessment due date: 1 April 11pm • Zoom drop in consultation with Zhuzhu, 26 March 12-1pm • There is a link in Week 5 tab for a zoom consultation • Please post questions in the discussion space prior to Tues

26th 12pm if you cannot attend. This session will be recorded.

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Closer Title