SOWK910: Reflective Practice: Family, Diversity, and Social Work

This assignment presents a student's reflections on their social work practice, focusing on three key areas: practice with family, engagement with family members, and promotion of diversity. The student recounts a personal experience of supporting a cousin through a critical illness, highlighting the importance of confidentiality, empathy, and providing psychological support. They then reflect on their efforts to bridge generational gaps within their family, describing how they facilitated communication and understanding through games and discussions, emphasizing the value of family togetherness and respect for elders. Finally, the student details their initiative in creating a community group to address issues of diversity, outlining the group's mission, activities, and the positive impact it had on fostering acceptance and equality within the community. The assignment demonstrates the application of social work principles, including critical reflection, empathy, and the promotion of social justice, illustrating the student's growth and understanding of the profession.

Reflection 1: Practice with Family
The workshop helped in me in understanding the need for confidentiality and showing a genuine
attitude for empathy and interest while talking to a family member with regards to any particular
issue. The social work case that I recently identified myself into was the case of a critical illness that
was diagnosed in my cousin. He was not feeling very well and wanted me to the first person to know
about it and help him collect the confidence to share the results of his illness with his family. Since I
knew that it was his information to share, I did not break the confidentiality agreement that I had
with him and ensured that his secret was safe with me until he was ready to break the news to his
family. I supported my cousin all through by helping him with doctor appointments, medications and
other support that he needed. Apart from this, the personal experience of social work with my own
family member helped me understand the need for valuing relationships and making a strong bond
with the family members so that they are comfortable in trusting you with the most important
information and do not feel lonely in this world.
I also extended a helping hand by showing empathy and gave him psychological support in fighting
the illness even when his family got to know about it. I was the first person that my cousin had
chosen to share the news with and I was delighted to be able to help him in fighting it. I gave him the
confidence and at times used humor to lift up his mood. I also ensured that I took him out for extra-
curricular activities or just for a dinner to a nice restaurant to help him get some positive energy. I
was always honest with my cousin about his care and gave him the harsh truth when he was
depressed about his illness and the length of time it was to take on getting better. Through my
support and assistance, I was sure that my cousin would be able to fight the problem and be a
survivor.
I used more than one quality to complete this action of social work within my family members i.e.
warmth, unconditional positive regard for the cousin and his parents, humor, caring and
connectedness and mutuality. Although the news and the extended help was tiring for me as well;
however, I have realized that social work within family members gives a motivation in itself and
helps in the completion of the tasks with ease. With social work, it is important to keep the needs of
other people ahead of us and understand their circumstances before they can be judged for anything.
The workshop also enabled me to become a stronger person as I understand the qualities that are
required for an ideal social worker and how these can be enhanced to be able to give better care and
support to the ones who need them more.

Reflection 2: Reflecting on Engagement with Family Members
Like every other family, I have a distinguished set of family members as well. Generation gap and
the difficulty in understanding the perspective of other family members is something that everyone
has experienced in the past. Over time, I have seen a growing gap between one of my uncles and my
cousins who are engaged in family get togethers which makes him sad. Over the years, I had seen the
growing tension between the old and the new generation which made me realize the need for
increased amount of communication between the family members. Through my social work skills
that I had attained from the workshops that I have attended; I was able to understand the best
practices that I can use to reduce the gap and help the family members reconnect with each other.
In an attempt to reduce the distant love and affection between family members, my uncle used to
organize get togethers. With time, the number of get togethers and the attendance kept reducing
which I did not like at all. In the last few get togethers, I made it a practice to host games that would
allow everyone to participate and know the view points of each other with more diligence. I had
become a mediator in the family gatherings wherein I ensured that the use of gadgets was reduced
and more time was given to family members and discussions that were expected to be important for
the future of the family and its continuance.
I explained the need for family togetherness and respecting our elderly members for the contributions
that they have made. In these gatherings, I made it a practice to honor the achievements of the elderly
and for the young people to highlight any achievement that they seemed fit to discuss. Apart from
this, I used many other activities that enabled everyone to support each other and share guidance on
any topic of interest for the different young cousins that I had. This made the younger generation
realize the importance of consulting with elder people in the family and how their advice can make a
large difference in their choice of career or the smallest of everyday choices that they are required to
make. Furthermore, the negative expressions of some of my cousins were discussed openly so that
they can share their opinion and participate more often than not.
Lastly, I realized that improving family and personal relations takes trial and error. The activities or
processes that did not work in the past were not repeated and increased amount of research and
thought was put into the formation of new ideas of improved communication between family
members. These practices and efforts helped me in uplifting the interactions, reducing the
negativities and helping all family members in getting closer to each other. I even organized parties,
movie times and other holidays in foreign destinations to change the environment in which we

discuss and have conversations. These practices also helped me in changing the family and its inbuilt
problems from the beginning.
Reflection 3: Reflecting on the Group of Diversity Promotion
Over time, I had identified an increased amount of problems in accepting diversity in our society.
Whether it is about religious background, caste, race or even gender; I had realized that there is a
strong need to promote Diversity and good work in our society and community as a whole. For this
purpose, I created a group in our own city. I wrote the mission, vision and objectives. After this, I got
some family members to join the cause and promoted the need for accepting diversity in our society.
In the group meetings, I made agendas of discussion and the areas in which the maximum number of
problems with diversity are identified these days. For example, the first agenda was the potential
number of discriminations that people have identified in the workplace and the best practices that can
be taken up to reduce the same. While the issues were discussed, I also made it a point to make sure
that the possible resolutions by the participants were noted down on a white board and discussed one
by one.
In the following group meetings, people discussed the outcomes of the varied strategies and their
application and we rejected the ones that did not work out. After this, new strategies were developed
to encounter the discriminations that were faced by people and their modes of application was also
enhanced. The group members were also asked to spread information about the group and get more
and more people to join the community in an attempt to understand the need for reducing
discrimination and giving every person a chance to work and have a place in the community without
the influence of their background.
I would also like to highlight that I got professionals from different backgrounds to share their
thought process on the subject and counsellors to help people reduce the psychological pressure that
they were going through due to discrimination of any kind. Furthermore, I used the help of social
activists to understand how more people can be asked to join the group and inform the structure of
the society that we live in today. There was no discrimination done within this community group and
soon I saw more and more applicants joining and willing to help others in sharing their stories and
discussing how people can be seen as equals in different parts of the society with respect and love.
Lastly, I would like to highlight that the social work workshops have made a large difference in my
life as they have helped me in recognizing the problems around me and given me the strength to

resolve them in the best possible manner. I used all my knowledge of theorists and case studies to
formulate communities that would be in the foremost interest of everyone equally. It is time for
people to realize the mistakes that we are doing and use every strategy to resolve them in the shortest
duration possible.