Allison May's BSW Portfolio

Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice

Social workers understand how diversity and difference characterize and shape the human experience and are critical to the formation of identity. The dimensions of diversity are understood as the intersectionality of multiple factors including but not limited to age, class, color, culture, disability and ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, marital status, political ideology, race, religion/spirituality, sex, sexual orientation, and tribal sovereign status. Social workers understand that, as a consequence of difference, a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege, power, and acclaim. Social workers also understand the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values, including social, economic, political, and cultural exclusions, may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create privilege and power. Social workers:

apply and communicate understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels;
present themselves as learners and engage clients and constituencies as experts of their own experiences;
apply self-awareness and self-regulation to manage the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse clients and constituencies.

Introduction: Competency 2 emphasizes the importance of making ourselves aware and knowledgeable regarding the diversity and injustices that take place in our community. There are many social injustices or forms of oppression our client populations may face and it is not only important for us to be aware and educate ourselves towards our client populations but others. Being aware and curious to learn and ask questions is another important aspect highlighted in competency two. Finally understanding the innerworkings and presence of intersectionality within our clients lives will assist in the best interventions or resources to assist clients. The first artifact I chose to showcase is a paper I wrote while enrolled in a course on human trafficking. Throughout this paper I incorporated research about a local Grand Rapids agency and an interview I conducted with an individual working within the organization. The second artifact I chose to showcase is a final assignment while I was enrolled in a sociology course in gender, race, class, and sexuality.

Artifact 1 for Competency 2

While enrolled in a course addressing human trafficking, I had the chance to learn about the Children's Advocacy Center. The Children's Advocacy Center is comprised of a multidisciplinary team working with children experiencing sexual abuse. Choosing to take this course was a step outside my comfort zone. Human trafficking is a topic I wanted to learn more about, however, it is not an area of social work I saw myself driving my career towards. I challenged myself to dive into the information and learn about this social issue from a woman who has personal experience to the topic. In addition to increasing my knowledge on the subject of human trafficking, I was also increasing my awareness of the services available in the Grand Rapids community for victims. Through completing this project, I was challenged to explore and learn more about to populations in which I could not see myself working with. I think one of the main takeaways from this competency is to be able to not only engage in diversity within your own field of social work but also, be open to the other social issues and diversity outside your immediate field of practice. I found it more meaningful to engage in conversation with an individual who works at this organization in addition to researching. Being open for conversing with others who are of different backgrounds, fields of practice, etc., is immensely important for fulfilling this competency.

Artifact 2 for Competency 2

While this project took a long time to complete, I found the time spent to be very meaningful and eye opening. Amongst the height of the pandemic in 2020, I was enrolled in a sociology course titled, race, gender, class, and sexuality. Our professor decided to shift the approach of our final assignment and challenged us to connect the textbook articles to articles surrounding the pandemic and the impact on vulnerable populations. As I was sitting in my room feeling helpless already, the content I was reading was increasing these feelings and opening my eyes to the disparities I could only imagine going through. I became increasingly aware of the broad range of experiences individuals were having due to the pandemic and state shutdowns. Individuals who are representative of vulnerable populations such as the LGBTQ+ community, people of different ethnicities, those who are homeless, etc., were facing many disparities, some of which I had not given a lot of thought to previously. For example, it did not occur to me previous to this assignment the stressors an individual who identifies within the LGBTQ+ community may face having to move home from college into an unsupportive home to quarantine. While I was not translating this knowledge into immediate activism at the time, this was a period early in my educational journey to reflect and learn as much as I could. The information I learned is information I continue to reflect on today and am able to implement during my work as a social work intern. The reality is we are still living amongst a pandemic. While working in a short-term crisis residential home, I am able to draw on my breadth of knowledge obtained thus far while continuing to learn through client interactions to assess the person and their unique experiences.

Conclusion: Competency 2 calls upon social workers to engage in diversity and be open to such interactions/experiences. While we cannot direct our professional careers towards every social issue in existence, we can understand the importance of being open to understanding diversity and injustices beyond the experiences of those who make up our client populations. Throughout the time completing my BSW, I have had the opportunity to learn about a broad range of social issues and have been enrolled in courses that addressed several vulnerable populations more in depth. I believe the cohort I am apart of is unique in that we had to learn to adapt to our curriculum and developing of our competencies amongst a pandemic. A time where interacting face-to-face with people was limited and our education was being delivered via zoom while we all sat in our rooms starring endlessly at a screen. While I am always eager and interested in learning more, I find myself gaining the most meaningful information when I have the opportunity to sit down and talk with someone. Moving forward into my continued education and professional development, I will hold myself accountable for challenging myself to check my biases and interact with a diverse client population.