Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
Social workers understand that assessment is ongoing throughout work with clients. Social workers understand and apply theories of human behavior, person in environment, interprofessional frameworks, and integrate cultural variables when assessing clients and constituencies. Social workers understand the value of supporting clients to identify barriers and strengths in achieving their goals to create a mutually agreed upon plan that adequately supports clients. Social workers value and understand the importance of interprofessional collaboration in the assessment process. Social workers are introspective and understand how their experiences, worldview, power and privilege can impact the assessment process and decision making. Accordingly, social workers are careful to keep personal biases from impacting the assessment process, and their decision making.
Demonstrated Skills & Professional Evidence
Assessing Clients
This assignment allowed me the opportunity to assess a client. This assignment gives insight into my clinical documentation skills, in addition to my ability to evaluate bio-psycho-social-spiritual influences affecting client presentation and circumstances.
Person in Environment and Culture in Assessment
This assignment focused on interviewing someone with a culture that is much different from our own. I chose to interview my grandma. This assignment demonstrates assessment skills, having gathered information and utilizing the person-in-environment framework to assess how my grandmas upbringing and life experiences have contributed to her culture and identity development in adulthood.
Person in Environment and Culture in Assessment
This assignment focused on interviewing someone with a culture that is much different from our own. I chose to interview my grandma. This assignment demonstrates assessment skills, having gathered information and utilizing the person-in-environment framework to assess how my grandmas upbringing and life experiences have contributed to her culture and identity development in adulthood.
Person in Environment and Culture in Assessment
This assignment focused on interviewing someone with a culture that is much different from our own. I chose to interview my grandma. This assignment demonstrates assessment skills, having gathered information and utilizing the person-in-environment framework to assess how my grandmas upbringing and life experiences have contributed to her culture and identity development in adulthood.
Organizational Assessment
This assignment focused on gathering information about an organization and conducting an interview with managerial staff to conduct an assessment of a youth homeless shelter, The Bridge. This organizational assessment evaluates strengths and weaknesses of the organization through the lens of various theoretical frameworks. This assessment also provides information about how The Bridge utilizes information they gather to best support the needs of unhoused youth.
Impact Analysis & Key Insights
Reflection on Practice: I have had a decent amount of experience in my classes with being able to engage in assessment and find myself naturally engaging in assessment and analysis of situations with information I gather when working with clients, in order to understand the interplay of life circumstances, human behavior, culture, systemic impacts through the lense of person in environment and ecological systems theory frameworks.
Future Implications: While I do feel confident in my assessment skills, this is not a skill I have been able to engage with as much as others throughout my internship. I look forward to enhancing my assessment skills as I engage in assessments with clients.