Topic: Your Role as Social Worker within the Organizational Context: Self-Reflection/Preparing for Practice.
Social workers working within human service organizations are often challenged to apply their skills to many
different worker-client environments/settings.
Choose a specific agency/organization among public (governmental), non-profit (voluntary) or private (for-profit) types of organizational settings.
Reflective paper: Provide a brief overview of the chosen organization/agency and its service offering.
Using the agency’s mission and/or vision statements and other pertinent material, describe (include who the client is and how services are delivered) and then critically assess the merits and drawbacks of your potential professional work in that setting. Is this agency a fit for you? Why or why not?
Do the values fit within your own personal value system? What are some of the challenges here? How might different ways of knowing influence services provided by this organization and what might your role be in promoting and advocating for change for gaps in services?
For example, are indigenous ways of knowing considered? Supports and resources for newcomers? Francophones?
This paper should be referenced with attention to organizational structure and functioning and other relevant aspects of organizational life with particular emphasis on your potential opportunities to exercise informal leadership as a new social worker. This paper should be no longer than 4-6 pages in length excluding references; double spaced.
Include at least three references from scholarly texts (e.g., journals, texts, community-based policy documents), in addition to the course required readings to support your discussion of a chosen agency/organization.
