Social Work Practice with Diverse Cultures

Running head: SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH DIVERSE CULTURES
SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH DIVERSE CULTURES
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1SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH DIVERSE CULTURES
Refection or composition of self-reflective writing can become extremely helpful in any
aspect or field of study. Due to the capability of reflection writing, it is increasingly being used
to any form of study or learning (Van Manen, 2016). Social workers use it as a tool that lets us
explore our qualities, capabilities, and potentials which is in many ways form a central part of
social work education and practices. It is specifically crucial for social workers while they get
into working in new settings. Reflection helps us understand ourselves with the opportunity for
exploring our thought process. The opportunity lets us review our perspective of situations and
decision making. Social workers do not have any concrete boundaries apart from the ethics when
it comes to social practices which makes it essential for social workers to be aware of their own
strengths, weakness, and limitation (Redmond, 2017). A reflection is a form of critical reflective
practice that helps in reflecting on past experiences and understanding the behavior patterns.
There have been decidedly fewer researches that actually focused on the way reflection can help.
However, several social workers use this method too and explore the possibilities and limits in
every aspect such as approach, results and other areas. In this essay, I will discuss one of my
lived experience, personal beliefs, values, and their connections to my growing professional
identity as a social worker. The refection will help me develop a critical self-awareness. The
essay will also aim to identify visible and invisible forms of oppression and privilege that shapes
our values. Also, the essay will be inclusive of approaches to issues of racial and ethnic
oppression, social and economic disadvantage, gender and disability.
Cultural competency: Social work is a form of career that involves working with a
diverse population. It is one of the main characteristic of this particular field and therefore it is
essential to have a broader spectrum of cultural diversity (Mareno & Hart, 2014). Cultural
competence can be defined as the process through which people and groups effectively respond

2SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH DIVERSE CULTURES
to the people belonging to another cultural background with respect and affirmation. People
across the world belong to a different culture, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions and
speaking different languages (Isaacson, 2014). It is vital to ensure people despite their cultural
background to be treated equally with the protection and preservation of dignity. It is an essential
element for the social workers while delivering service to be aware and make it a priority. When
a social worker respects, honor, and values diversity in theory and practice, cultural competency
occur in social work (Bailey, 2015). As a social worker, I would require the same to have within
me in order to deliver my best services. To be sensitive to their values which are indeed different
than mine is the kind of behavior that is required in my field. There are incidents that I have
come across in my past which have let me understand the importance of cultural competency.
Reflecting on my experience: My hometown is in a nation that has diverse ethnic groups
and communities. There are several diverse ethnic groups. As a part of the nation and being
brought up in the country that is multicultural by characteristic, I have had the scope of
broadening my thinking about people from different culture and get the idea of understanding
their perspective. I have grown up with people from different cultural background however there
were no profound discrimination. Although it could be due to being limited to a small society.
While I was working with a healthcare institute in one of the cities in my nation I was able to
witness situations that showed concepts we only learn theoretically. As I was the part of those
situations, it added valuable experiences to my career. While I was working in the healthcare
institution as an assistant teacher, several parents of the children I taught would visit doctors.
Although the doctors were there to help the financially weak parents often, their behavior would
differ. I would often get to listen to the problem faced by the parents when they visited the
doctors in my class. It was a bothersome practice that was going on in the healthcare institution. I

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began noting down the issues that were faced by the parents when I discovered that it was only a
section that mainly met the problems. It was not surprising that the obstacles they faced were in
reality discrimination. It was primarily the aboriginal female mothers who would face such
discrimination. On various grounds, discrimination was made, and treatment to the poor
children’s parents was provided on the basis of their race, gender, ethnicity, cultural background
and the region they belonged. The entire experience was common and only very few people were
concerned about it. When the matter would go to the higher administrative department, the most
common answer would be related to their social position and cultural background. The surprising
part was the way we can see the powerful people, powerful in the aspect of wealth and position,
can act in an arbitrary way to ensure their positions.
The experience of a few months has thought me several concepts of society with
examples. Therefore, reflecting on this particular experience, I can explain the concepts it
becomes easy to explain the concepts that are perceived in society.
Privilege: the term privilege can be explained as an exclusive right or advantage that is
granted to only a specific person or group (Letwin, 2013). The unique advantage lets the person
or group enjoy that may not be available to other section of the society. In this particular context,
the granting of a privilege can be noted to the doctors. The doctors who are in a dominant
position and the people visiting the doctors are the people are oppressed section. It was not hard
to find the cause of mistreatment. The term ‘privilege’ is well associated with oppression (Cho,
Crenshaw & McCall, 2013). Not necessarily the oppression has to be with consciousness and
willfully. The oppression of the weaker section can be overt, convert, deliberate as well as
unconscious. There are different forms of privilege in the society experienced by various groups,