University Assignment: Adopting Reflective Practice in Community Work

This report critically analyzes three articles focused on reflective practice within community services. The first article, by Hansen (2006), deconstructs dualisms in mental health, emphasizing the rebellious nature of humanism and its implications for counselors. The second article, by Richardson and Reynolds (2012), discusses social justice in community work, highlighting the importance of ethical practice and addressing burnout. The third article, by Thompson and Pascal (2012), explores the development of critically reflective practice, emphasizing the integration of theory and action. The report reflects on the main points of each article, and discusses their implications for the author's own professional development, emphasizing the importance of self-awareness, ethical practice, and the integration of theory and action in community service work.

Running head: ADOPTING REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Adopting Reflective Practice
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Hansen, J. T. (2006). Humanism as ideological rebellion: Deconstructing the dualisms of
contemporary mental health culture. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and
Development, 45(1), 3-16.
The given article talks about the different dualisms that have developed in the field of
mental health treatment and counseling.In the earlier century, there were different definitions of
this aspect. This is because there was this common belief that psychologists are always trying to
maintain a proper distance between themselves and their clients. They are allowing their clients
to use the given space and also communicate as per their own will. However the client was given
the full freedom to speak as per their own will and they were not under the influence of any other
persons and most preferable their doctors or the psychologists (Hansen, 2006). However, now it
has been seen that this theory has changed. As far as the question of neutrality versus bias is
concerned, it is being said that humanism has seen self as a single and independently existing
entity that has no dependence on anyone. In other words, it emphasized the empathetic efforts or
attempts being made by the counselor as totally non-influencing on the patient or the client. In
post-Enlightenment philosophy changed the aside by providing some counter-arguments like
two-person psychology.
There has been a shift from the one to –a two-person –psychology which says that even if
the counseling expert is not trying to influence the patient or the client, his or her mere presence
in the room will have some kinds of impacts or manipulations on the client (Hansen, 2006). Self
singularity was a concept that has been developed and also followed since the start of the early
20 the century that is in the post-enlightenment era (Lee & Huang, 2019). However, in most
enlightenment era, it is counter-argued that self is not singular rather it is multiple and is also

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conflicted. This newfound theory has also been successful in giving rise to many blind spots in
the field of practice because counselors now know that there must be considering their
psychology as well during the time of the counseling process.
I have been able to learn a lot from this given article. I want to work as a psychologist
shortly, I have gained this knowledge that my presence inside a closed room will naturally have a
direct impact on the psyche of my client. This will also be of great help shortly because I will be
able to know that the counseling sessions must be carried on over multiple times. After all, one
single session is not sufficient. Therefore I will always suggest more number of sessions before I
can reach the actual conclusion in the analysis and also would make sure that I am considering
my psychology as well. This will help me to understand about the blind spots that might arise
and then be able to get the treatment done correctly (Miclette Lamarche & DeWolf, 2019). This
will be done by making sure that the client is being given all the comforts and also some alone
free time where there will be no one including the counselor in the room so that the patient can
think on his own and can also confidently cooperate in the process.
Richardson, C., & Reynolds, V. (2012). " Here we Are, Amazingly Alive": Holding
Ourselves Together with an Ethic of Social Justice in Community Work.
This article deals with the view of social workers and the way they deal with social
justice and community welfare. Community welfare work is one of the visit important works that
people are undertaking nowadays. Authors in this article have tried their level best to talks about
the different conceptions that an ideal community work must know in today’s world so that they
can carry on with this work in a proper manner. As per the opinion of Richardson and
Reynolds (2012), burnouts are one of the most important obstructions that the social workers
might face and also have to overcome. Emotional burnout happens when the social workers often
feel that they are suffering from the recollection of their past happenings and how they will be

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able to overcome the same. On the other hand, they must know how to get more connected to
their work and also to the people who suffer from different social injustice or other such
problems (McCollum et al., 2016). On the other hand, they must also try to ensure that they are
fully and rationally connected to their work so that they can hold on to the hope and can embrace
the different new challenges that are emerging in the field of their work as well.
Richardson and Reynolds (2012) think that the work will only go on properly if the
workers get the motivation and can stay alive within the work. However, for social workers, it is
very tough. They often have to work with people who are living almost on the margins of death
because they have been suffering a lot from the injustice and other such social evils.
I have got this valuable lesson that I must never try to focus on the privatization of
personal pain. To become an ideal social worker or community worker, I have to think about all.
In other words, I will always try to take motivation from these people and ensure that none of my
actions are causing any harm to them. Social justice is a broad topic and calls for the creation of
a proper space where people who have been tortured will be able to narrate their own stories and
also will be able to raise their voices so that they can get the right kind of representation in
society. Cross-Barnet et al (2018) have stated in a similar context that social welfare can happen
when the unheard or the oppressed people can raise their voice and also use the correct words to
make talk about their pain and suffering. Therefore a community worker has to teach these
people the right ways in which they can speak out about their pain.
This article has been much helpful in teaching about the basic things that must be
followed by a community worker. Different techniques like that of storytelling so that the
affected people can freely speak about their issues and can also talk about their demands. I will

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never try to impose my own opinions on these people rather help them to understand their own
needs and demands and speak for themselves. Social workers must make the socially oppressed
people free from the clutches of injustice rather than trying to forcibly fit into the age-old social
norms.
Thompson, N., & Pascal, J. (2012). Developing critically reflective practice. Reflective
practice, 13(2)
Authors in this article are trying to talk about the importance of reflection and also how
this can be used in different professional contexts and fields. Blending theory and practice is one
of the most important aspects of reflective practices. This will make all the professionals focus
on their own experiences and their journeys so that they can similarly help their clients. There is
often a difference between knowing and doing. However, all the professionals like nurses,
doctors, and managers have to use the important lessons from their experiences and think
different ways on how to solve the issues of their clients or their patients (Hendricks, 2017).
However, just recollecting or reflecting on past experiences will not be helpful unless and until
they are also being able to take up some of the other kinds of actions. Actions will have to be
taken so that people who are suffering from some social or political evils can be solved.
Active learning is also one of the most essential knowledge that must be used so that the
professionals can incorporate the same in their day to day objectives and solve the issue of their
clients (Thompson and Pascal, 2012). Learners are often seen as empty vessels. However, they
must not be viewed as empty vessels who are of no use and just waiting to be filled up by the
knowledge of trainers.

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I have got valuable learning from them that to be able to use refection properly, I will have to
bridge the gap between thinking or knowing and doing. Actions have to be blended with theory
or knowledge. Unless and until one takes the right and the needed measures they will not b able
to understand the actual underlying problem or the correct way in which the same has to be
solved. Challenging dogma or the age-old societal norms is one of the most beneficial
knowledge that I have gained from this article. These will always help me to use my learning and
my opinion in my future endeavors rather than abiding by the accepted social norms. I will also
encourage all the people in my team and my workplace to be able to speak up for their rights
rather than depending much on the societal rules.

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References
Chen, X., Daus, E. S., & Jüngel, A. (2018). Global existence analysis of cross-diffusion
population systems for multiple species. Archive for Rational Mechanics and
Analysis, 227(2), 715-747.
Cross-Barnet, C., Ruiz, S., Skillman, M., Dhopeshwarkar, R., Singer, R., Carpenter, R., ... &
Colligan, E. (2018). Higher quality at lower cost: Community health worker interventions
in the health care innovation awards. Journal of Health Disparities Research and
Practice, 11(2), 10.
Hansen, J. T. (2006). Humanism as ideological rebellion: Deconstructing the dualisms of
contemporary mental health culture. The Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education
and Development, 45(1), 3-16.
Hendricks, C. C. (2017). Improving schools through action research: A reflective practice
approach. Pearson. One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458.
Johnston, C. (2017). Reflective practice. Teaching Business & Economics, 21(1), 19-21.
Lee, Y., & Huang, B. Y. (2019). Active Interference Cancellation for Full-Duplex Multiuser
Networks With or Without Existence of Self-Interference. IEEE Access, 7, 15056-15068.
McCollum, R., Gomez, W., Theobald, S., & Taegtmeyer, M. (2016). How equitable are
community health worker programmes and which programme features influence equity
of community health worker services? A systematic review. BMC Public Health, 16(1),
419.

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Miclette Lamarche, R., & DeWolf, C. (2019). Strong headgroup interactions drive highly
directional growth and unusual phase co-existence in self-assembled phenolic films. ACS
applied materials & interfaces, 11(48), 45354-45363.
Richardson, C., & Reynolds, V. (2012). " Here we Are, Amazingly Alive": Holding Ourselves
Together with an Ethic of Social Justice in Community Work.
Sellars, M. (2017). Reflective practice for teachers. Sage.
Thompson, N., & Pascal, J. (2012). Developing critically reflective practice. Reflective
practice, 13(2),DOI: 10.1080/14623943.2012.657795