Researching a Career
Assignment 3 - Researching a Career After graduating from university I am hoping to pursue a career within the social work field. My initial plan is to undertake my current degree, then a post graduate in order to become a qualified social worker. I intend to spend the early years of my chosen career as a statutory social worker, working within the children's services, after some time spent gaining knowledge and experience and further training I hope to specialise in drugs counselling and rehabilitation and to pursue a career in these services especially with young people. At this stage I am however unsure as to whether this will be statutory, private or volunteer sector. As a new graduate entering the field of social work, I can expect to work with individuals, families, carers, groups, communities, the legal system and other professionals to assess needs and circumstances of those in question and to make recommendations for theses needs to be met. This type of work would therefore require communication, literacy and knowledge of travel and costs in order to meet the needs of the individual or family concerned. The work of a social worker is ongoing with the client, whether this be short term or on a longer basis. Therefore such a career will require ongoing planning, reviewing and evaluating of the needs of those in question, in this case specifically young people. The
Communication in Social Work
"Communication is to relationships what breathing is to life". Discuss in relation to the social work task within the current social - political climate. Discussing such a statement in relation to the social work task needs a deeper understanding of the actual saying before dwelling deeper into the concept. I will attempt to talk about the statement in the light of social work task, and will aim to maintain the discussion with the social-political climate. I will then conclude by analysing how the statement may be true or false, and will attempt to explain if the statement is relevant with accordance to the current social political climate in the social work task. We must firstly define what is being mentioned in the statement. 'Communication: the giving or exchange of information through a variety of media' (Dictionary of Social work 2002). Human beings communicate all the time in all different ways, which include verbal and non-verbal forms. These communications are both intentional and also done subconsciously. In fact, Waltzawick et al - cited by Koprowska (2005: 6) claim that 'one cannot not communicate'. Our interactions with others inevitably entail communication, a large proportion of which are done non-verbally, through body language, posture, facial expressions etc, as well as language, tone and pitch of voice and so on. Our reactions and behaviour also give out
A Beautiful Mind takes place over the course of forty seven years in John Nash's life.
A Beautiful Mind Lindsy Hitesman November 13, 2003 Psych 3702H A Beautiful Mind takes place over the course of forty seven years in John Nash's life. It is based on a true story. The film begins with John Nash as he is entering into graduate school at Princeton in the late 1940's and lasts through the reception of his Nobel Prize in 1994. During his schooling he lives on campus alone, but a few years after he graduates, he meets Alicia Larde. Eventually he marries her, and they move in to together and have a son. Throughout the span of the film he develops schizophrenia and his condition progresses, until he is diagnosed, after which treatment is implemented. He seems to suffer from schizophrenia paranoid type, because of the prominence of his delusions, as well as his numerous interpersonal problems. The first symptom that John Nash displays which can be used to classify him clinically as schizophrenic is disturbance of language. When he is working on a difficult mathematics problem, or walking from one place to another, he mutters unintelligible things to himself. Often when coming out of one of his hallucinations he is under a lot of stress and begins talking nonsense, such as when he was giving his infant son a bath. When his wife returned to find the baby nearly drowning, John Nash insists, even though he is alone in the room, that his old college roommate,
An examination of the importance of going onto higher education and the impact that has on employability?
Project Title: An examination of the importance of going onto higher education and the impact that has on employability? Research Question: To what extent does attending university have an effect on the graduate's employability? I am going to explore to what extent does attending university (higher education) have an impact on the graduate's employability. There are three sub research questions I will be focusing on. Firstly, I will be analysing the benefits and problems there are of going onto university in the hope of increasing employability. In order, to do this I will be identifying the relevant corpus of academic and policy related literature and documentation concerning university and employability. The reason for this is that it is vital to realise that it's still important to assess existing knowledge that's associated with education and compare it with my research. Secondly, I will be focusing on to what extent has investing in a degree and other financial costs such as accommodation for example with going onto university has achieved the desired outcome for degree graduates. To find out this information, I will be looking at degree graduates, and how they believe their employability has affected their employability. Finally, I will be looking at how 18 years not going onto HE, to what extent has that helped their desired outcome. I am now going to briefly
Discuss the relationship between accountability, risk management and user-centered care.
Karen Scorer R2492501 K302 TMA 02 May 2003 Discuss the relationship between accountability, risk management and user-centered care. For the purpose of this TMA, I intend to look at how the use of risk management may assist and hinder practitioners accountability within the community mental health team I work in, to explore how risk management assists and hinders the relationship between social workers, employers and service users. Within the CMHT risk management is based upon guidance in Clinical Governance which states "Anticipate and prevent potential problems to learn from critical incidents and complaints and to provide systems to help clinical staff to reflect and develop their practice." (RCN, 1998 Book 1, Chapter 9, p.3). Risk assessments within the team are seen as positive tools that enable good communication between the social worker and patient. The assessment provides a basis from which a plan can be formulated to protect the patient from risk but also to extend the barriers of risk in a planned way, enabling the patient to explore and develop new coping strategies empowering them to cope with their mental illness. In these situations there is a balance to be drawn between patient's safety and autonomy. There is however another side to the risk management processes in that practitioner's feel "You've
Theoretical perspectives on disability
Theoretical perspectives on disability INTRODUCTION The social perception of disabled people as tragic has been challenged for over forty years both in New Zealand and Internationally. The closure of institutions in the 1970's and 80's and the move to community living certainly helped in terms of disabled people at last being able to organise themselves and fight for their rights. This coincided with a rejection of the idea that impairment and disability are the same and a new conception of disablement by groups such as the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), as being the result of social disadvantages, oppression and exclusions that people with impairments are subjected to in all areas of their lives. Such oppression was viewed by disabled people as being similar to those of gender, race, class and sexuality (Swain et al, 2004). Three models have informed and continue to inform, to varying degrees the way disabled people are treated in western society in general. Models of disability Drake (1999) and Swain et al (2004) believe there is a difference between impairment and disability. Impairment is understood as the lacking of part or all of a limb, organ, or mechanism of the body, sensory or intellectual functioning; while disability is viewed as "the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organisation which
Evaluate the idea that sociological research has had no important effect on social policy.
Evaluate the idea that sociological research has had no important effect on social policy When considering if sociological research has had an important effect on social policy, the theoretical functions of sociology have to be established. Functions of sociology are thought to be that it allows us to understand the world around us and provides us with knowledge and insight. It also allows people to reflect upon their own experiences of life and 'liberates' them. How far this knowledge and insight that sociological research gives us has an important effect on social policy is debatable, since 'important' is a subjective term in itself. Certain groups of disabled people, ethnic minorities and the feminist and gay movement have all benefited greatly from sociological research. It has allowed them to challenge images of themselves (stereotyped in the media) and to initiate policies sympathetic to them and led to an increase of self-knowledge. Research has shown the extent of discrimination and enabled them to show these findings to the government and to demand action. Some of this action has resulted in 'Anti-discrimination laws' -enabling groups become aware of their own-shared identity and take pride in them. The Crown Prosecution Service implemented one example of a new social policy to crack down on homophobic crime, on 28th November 2002. It urged Crown Prosecutors to use
Explore empirical evidence on children's views on family life in contemporary Britain.
Explore empirical evidence on children's views on family life in contemporary Britain It is not easy to define the family since it is rapidly changing and these changes will shape any views children may have, therefore a child's' perception of the family in the present time is likely to be very different from their own parents and grandparents. Since the family makes up the majority of a child's social network it has been found increasingly important to gain an insight into how children feel towards family life as individuals in their own right. In the past, studies have often concentrated on the parents' discipline and how the family operates as a whole, however recent studies have been conducted to focus on children's perspectives. Studies such as Mayall (2002) Negotiating Childhoods as part of the ESRC 5 - 16 programme and Morrow (1998) Children's Perspectives on Families from the Joseph Rowntree Foundations have allowed children's voices to be heard. It has been identified that older children value quality of relationships in the family; younger children believe a family includes the presence of children and marriages. Most children are aware of the wide range in 'family practice and structure'. 'Love, care and mutual respect and support [are] key characteristics of family' (Morrow 1998). It has been found that Children have an 'accepting and inclusive view of what
Should community and youth workers teach 'emotional intelligence'
Should community and youth workers teach 'emotional intelligence'? 'It is with the heart that one sees rightly: what is essential is invisible to the eye.' Antoine de Saint-Expupéry. The Little Prince. Emotional intelligence has its roots deeply embedded in the idea of 'social intelligence' which was first identified by E.L. Thorndike in 1920. For many years psychologists had been discovering different intelligences and grouping them in turn into three main groups: * Abstract intelligence. The ability to understand and manipulate with verbal and mathematical symbols. * Concrete intelligence. The ability to understand and manipulate with concrete objects. * Social intelligence. The ability to understand and relate to people. (Ruisel, 1992.) Thorndike (1920) defined social intelligence as the 'ability to understand and mange men and women, boys and girls - to act wisely in human relation' (Thorndike, 1920) He, and later Gardner, suggested that within social intelligence there were two intelligences that comprise social intelligence, intra- and interpersonal intelligences. Both stated that interpersonal skills were the ability to understand other people. What motivates how they react with each other and how to understand other people. An intrapersonal skill according to Thorndike is the ability to look at your self inwards. He believed that this was the
The British Model of Disability Policy: Is it Working?
Liz Bacon The British Model of Disability Policy: Is it Working? Over the past ten years in the United Kingdom, disability issues have come to the forefront of policy-making and subsequently discussion, as the country grapples with a marked shift from a social welfare model to a civil rights approach. Yet criticism abounds as to the effectiveness of this new direction. Why? As this analysis shows, while this sweeping measure imposes new obligations to prevent unjustifiable discrimination of the disabled, many of Great Britain's disabled remain disenfranchised. In essence, the so-called "civil rights model" sends a conflicting message regarding removal of barriers. Indeed, so far, the civil rights model has not overhauled Britain's disability policy, but rather has added new policy instruments to the existing social welfare model. While ostensibly serving the same ends, the mix of these policies paralyzes opportunity for many of Britain's disabled. By examining specifically the performance of the new standards to employment incentives and practices for greater disabled participation, it becomes clear that the civil rights model, placed atop Britain's social welfare structure for disability policy creates polarization of opposing starting points for real reform and therefore, produces mixed results, at best. The United Kingdom (UK) in 1995 embarked upon a significant break
