6002 discussion week 4
Candyy31
wk4respone6002.docxCollapse Subdiscussion Brianna Lynn
TuesdayDec 20 at 3:41pm
Description of my culture Trying to determine a description of my culture was difficult at first because I needed to figure out what characteristics of my life truly display my culture. I grew up in a lower-middle-class, protestant household in a small town in Northern Ohio. The area I grew up in was rich with farmland, and nearly everyone I knew owned a farm or was related to someone who did. My entire family comes from the southern parts of the United States, so we eat more southern-style foods; every meal comes with cornbread. In my culture, we open doors for everyone and greet everyone with a smile. We all are English speaking and grew up Southern Baptist. In my culture, religion plays a large part in our lives. As far as education, I am a first-generation college student. All of my family members before me chose blue-collar work; I was the first to choose differently.
First memory of a cultural difference Growing up in a religious family, we acted and behaved in a certain way. For me growing up, Church looked a specific way. There was a specific time for prayer, song, and the word. I first encountered a cultural difference when I attended a catholic mass during a school field trip. If you are familiar with Catholicism, you know that services are pretty different than what service looked like in my Southern Baptist church. As a young child, I found myself being hit with the reality that there are absolutely people who do things differently than you, and it is absolutely okay. Information a social worker should know about a client’s culture Social workers provide services to individuals, and in order to do that effectively, they must be mindful and aware of the client’s culture. This is essential because culture makes up so much of a person's identity. Identifying language barriers and cultural barriers is important when trying to serve clients. Religion, traditions, languages, and beliefs are all important pieces of a person's culture that a social worker should be aware of. By understanding a client’s culture, the social worker will be able to identify their client's needs without potentially offending them or making them do something against their beliefs.
Consequences of a lack of cultural awareness on the social worker’s part If a social worker fails to be culturally aware, they will miss many opportunities to reach their clients. To be culturally aware, one must be able to identify differences and similarities between cultures. (Barsky, 2018) If a social worker fails to see that a client has a different culture than them, they risk not being able to assist them; they could even offend them. I have a relevant example of the importance of this that recently happened at the agency I work for. Working with the homeless, we have many clients that come from different cultural backgrounds. Unbeknownst to one of my colleagues, one of my clients practiced the Islam faith. My colleague told this client something that had to be done on a Friday, not realizing that Friday is the day of rest for those practicing Islam. This caused tension between the client and colleague until, eventually, a mutual understanding occurred. If my colleague had been aware of my client’s culture, the conflict could have been avoided.
References
Barsky, A. (2018). Cultural competence, awareness, sensitivity, humility, and responsiveness: What’s the difference? Links to an external site. New Social Worker, 25(4), 4–5.
