Theoretical Outlook at Trinity Social Services and the NASW Code of Ethics - Paper Example

Dear Hiring Manager:

Please accept this letter as it explains my theoretical orientation and how it can be aligned with the one practiced in your agency. I understand that Trinity Social Services utilizes psychological discourses to understand and manage human problems.

I believe in sociological discourses that describe the social origins and costs of human behavior. The discourses provide commentaries, standpoints, and understanding of social life and experience. They assert that humans are extremely social beings, and draw attention to the social practices and social constructions that sustain the problems.

Sociological discourses can be aligned with psychological constructions for the benefit of Trinity Social Services. Combining sociological discourses with CBT and neuroscience could help in understanding the social organization of gender roles and family life of your clients. Again, it would prevent your professionals from blaming people and families for the problems they face.

I hope that you will give me the opportunity to become a member of your agency. Thank you for your time as well as consideration.

Sincerely

(Insert Name)Espoused Theory & Theory in Use in Actual Settings

Introduction

Social workers support social change, and social justify with and on behalf of their clients. Here, the term client refers to families, groups, individuals, communities, and organizations. The ultimate mission of the social work professionals is enhancing the well-being of humans and facilitating them to meet their basic needs, with specific attention to the wants and empowerment of the vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty (Assembly, 2008). It is important to note that social work is an applied social science discipline. Therefore, the formal professional underpinning of social work relies on established ideas, particularly from the behavioral and social sciences (Healy, 2014). The current analysis will explain how the potential conflict of theoretical outlooks could be navigated for the benefit of Trinity Social Services.

Theoretical Outlook at Trinity Social Services

Trinity Social Services is an agency that delivers professional services on the basis of communication to allow troubled children to express themselves and be heard by professional counselors (Home | Trinity Social Services, 2017). Hence, the agency ensures that the youth get the help they need to get them through the challenges they face. Trinity Social Services utilize a tailored, person-centered approach to various facets of developing the individual needs of children. The professionals use several skills including cognitive behavioral therapy and neuroscience to identify the root cause of the conduct of clients and guide them through the relevant steps to ascertain the behavior and correct it.

Neuroscience and cognitive behavioral therapy are psychological discourses with a scientific approach to the understanding and management of human problems. Trinity Social Services utilize the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and neuroscience, which are dominant treatment approaches in the fields of health and welfare, especially those that entail the management of emotional and behavioral problems (Healy, 2014). Neuroscience focuses on understanding the brain and the nervous system. The neuroscience discourse heavily relies on neuroplasticity, which refers to the idea that the brain changes physically in response to social conditions (Matto & Strolin-Goltzman, 2010). Research on neuroscience has shown that it allows for more objective and insightful measures concerning the nature of harm, risk as well as the evaluation of service outcomes.

My Theoretical Outlook

I believe in sociological discourses. Sociological discourses describe the social backgrounds and consequences of human behavior. The discourses provide a range of commentaries, standpoints, and explanations of social life and experience (Healy, 2014). In turn, social work professionals use such ideas to explain the occurrences they come across in practice and guide their responses to them. The sociological intervention asserts that humans are extremely social beings, and considers the social practices and constructions that sustain the problems. Additionally, the discourse highlights how socioeconomic status shapes the life chances and experience of an individual (Brain, 2011). Indeed, socioeconomic research has revealed that the most disadvantaged individuals experience relatively higher rates of mental and chronic physical problems compare to the more advantaged citizens. Therefore, sociological discourses evaluate the effect of socioeconomic status on life prospects to challenge the concepts of individual choice and responsibilities (Cree, 2010). Besides, sociological discourses consider the social construction of social reality, thereby questioning the idea of objective reality on which CBT and neuroscience depend. It also encourages us to question the individualistic orientation of the psychological perspectives.

Mitigating Conflicts between the Theoretical Outlooks

Although the use of a sociological discourse is useful in the contemporary social work practice, there are several issues and limitations of the discourse. For instance, significant tensions exist between the fundamental purpose and focus of sociology. Indeed, the purpose and focus of sociology are to systematically build knowledge regarding the society as well as the primary action orientation of social work (Healy, 2014). Social workers are required to act as if though they have answers to the questions asked by sociologists. The various scales of the problems that social workers deal with exacerbate the tensions further. Indeed, many sociological discourses seek to analyze the entire social systems including child welfare systems systematically (Gray & Webb, 2012). However, social work intervention is mostly on small-scale, with an emphasis on families and individuals.

Unquestionably, psychological and sociological discourses conflict on many levels. It, therefore, means that there would be theoretical differences between my viewpoint and that of the Trinity Social Services. However, I believe that the theoretical differences could be navigated if both constructions are combined. First, the use of a sociological approach helps in understanding the social organization of gender roles and family life. Undeniably, social workers who fail to understand the social context of clients are likely to pathologize blame people and families for the problems they face (Healy, 2014). This could perpetuate oppression and discrimination that define the lives of the users of social work services. However, the use of a sociological discourse alone may lead social workers to overlook the possible contribution of biology to the challenges faced by clients as well as the usefulness of a biomedical response to their conditions. In this way, Trinity Social Services could offer responses that draw on the resources of the two competing discourses.

The NASW Code of Ethics

The NASW Code of Ethics guides NASW as well as individuals, organizations, agencies, and bodies such as agency boards of directors, courts of law, government agencies and other agencies that use it as a frame of reference or adopt it. It is essential to note that violation of the Code does not automatically result in legal and judicial proceedings. However, alleged violations of the Code are subjected to a peer review process (Assembly, 2008). The ethical principles that guide the core values of service in social justice, social work, and dignity include service, social justice, integrity, competence, and importance of human relationships. Additionally, the ethical standards that are pertinent to the professional activities of social workers include ethical responsibilities to clients, practice settings, colleagues, ethical responsibilities as professionals, responsibility to the social work profession, and to the broader society.

First, the moral responsibilities of social workers to clients include self-determination, the commitment to clients, informed consent, social diversity, cultural competence conflicts of interest, confidentiality and privacy, and access to records. Secondly, the ethical responsibilities of social workers to colleagues entail confidentiality, respect, disputes involving colleagues, interdisciplinary collaboration, consultation, referral for services, sexual relationships, impairment of colleagues, and sexual harassment (Assembly, 2008). Thirdly, ethical responsibility of social work specialists in practice settings includes supervision and consultations, performance evaluation, education and training, billing, client records, and client transfer. Besides, ethical responsibilities of social workers as professionals entail competence, private conduct, discrimination, dishonesty, impairment, fraud, and deception.

Furthermore, social workers have a moral responsibility to the broader society. Here, they are required to promote the welfare of the society by promoting the development of people, communities, and the environments (Assembly, 2008). Secondly, they should facilitate informed public participation in shaping social policies as well as institutions. Additionally, social workers are expected to provide relevant professional services in public emergencies. Again, social work specialists should engage in social and political action to ensure that all people access resources, services, opportunities, and employment to meet their human requirements and develop fully. Therefore, social workers must advocate for changes in legislation and policy to improve social conditions. Also, they should act to increase choice and opportunity for everyone including the disadvantaged, exploited, oppressed, and the vulnerable. Additionally, they should encourage respect for culture as well as social diversity.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the current analysis sought to explain how the potential conflict of theoretical outlooks could be navigated for the benefit of Trinity Social Services. Trinity Social Services is an agency that delivers professional services on the basis of communication and release to allow troubled children to express themselves and be heard by professional counselors. The professionals of the agency use several skills including cognitive behavioral therapy and neuroscience to identify the root cause of the conduct of clients and guide them through the relevant steps to ascertain the behavior and correct it. On the other hand, I believe in sociological discourses that explain the social origins and consequences of human behavior. Since my theoretical outlook conflicts with that of the agency, I would navigate the impact of the conflict by combining the two constructions. Indeed, both approaches can offer useful ways of understanding and responding to the concerns of clients. The current analysis has also highlighted the key aspects of the NASW Code of Ethics.

References

Assembly, N. D. (2008). Code of ethics of the national association of social workers.Brain, W. (2011). Brain Waves Module 1: Neuroscience, society and policy.Cree, V. E. (2010). Sociology for social workers and probation officers. Routledge.Gray, M., & Webb, S. (Eds.). (2012). Social work theories and methods. Sage.Healy, K. (2014). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

Home | Trinity Social Services. (2017). Trinity Social Services. Retrieved 27 October 2017, from http://trinitysocialservices.com/Matto, H. C., & Strolin-Goltzman, J. (2010). Integrating social neuroscience and social work: Innovations for advancing practice-based research. Social work, 55(2), 147-156.