- What is social work
by definition?
- According
to the National Association of Social Workers or NASW, social work is the
HELPING PROFESSION.
- It
involves trained professionals that devote themselves to helping
vulnerable people and communities and work through the challenges they
face in their daily lives.
- To
cite real-life examples, there are social workers in DSWD, who attend
court hearings, perform interviews, and home visits to clientele. But
they’re not exclusive to DWSD. They’re almost everywhere, wherever
marginalized or vulnerable populations are.
- This
is because social workers practice in a wide variety of settings, united
in their commitment to advocating for or improving the lives of
individuals, families, groups, and societies.
- Child
Welfare: They provide counseling to those experiencing abuse or neglect,
while also assisting with adoption processes and support foster care)
- Disaster
Response and Relief
a)
With the Philippines being an archipelago and placed along the ring of
fire, we are one of the most seismically active areas in the world. That’s why
the social workers’ roles are crucial in a disaster-prone country like ours.
b)
After widespread damage has been caused to a community after a calamity,
social workers are deployed to the affected areas as a part of the disaster
response team.They are the ones who provide psychosocial support and the
immediate needs of the affected families.
SO WHAT IS A SOCIAL
WORKER'S AIM?
●
They aim to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs
of all people with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people
who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.
- Thesis Statement:
Literature in Social Work introduces both intrinsic and extrinsic
contributions that enhance both the social workers' and client's quality
of life.
So why discuss the intrinsic and extrinsic contributions
of literature and social work? How is it related?
●
This is because social work involves both the social worker and the
client, in such a way that though their relationship is strictly professional
in a sense (like as a client and worker), it is more intimate than most
professional relationships because they are directly involved with the
challenges that their clients face.
●
Whether it might be giving them a temporary place to stay away from a
harmful environment, or to something more specific and tedious such as creating
a new Facebook account to avoid their assailant, they are with their client at
every step of the way.
○
In other words, intrinsic to the social work profession because it
contributes to the social worker themselves, and extrinsic to the social work
profession because all of the knowledge they get from literature can be applied
professionally and effectively to any kind of client they may have.
- So what are the
roles of literature in its contributions towards social work?
A.
Literature as a Fountain of Knowledge and a Looking Glass
a.
When we think about a social worker, what books do you think are put up
on their bookshelves? It could be books about social work, suck as Modern
Social Work Theory by Malcolm Payne, or Trauma Stewardship by Connie Burk…
b.
But this professional, licensed social worker by the name of Michael
Laird does not only read these types of books to strengthen his craft and
profession. In fact, he has read over 60 novels
before he finished graduate school, because he found that “literary fiction
has informed my social work practice in ways both personally and professionally
rewarding.”
c. Why does he claim it to be so?
i.
There are plenty of fictional, or non-fictional novels that are written
by authors who do not share the same experiences as these social workers,
which, in the case of Malcolm Payne, they do not share his experience as a
middle-class American with European ancestry. They could be living in
completely different backgrounds, or perhaps in a completely different time or
era. Novels can challenge them to become more attuned to cultural, social, and
psychological differences.
d. So how did he use literature as a tool to overcome that cultural, social
and psychological gap?
i.
First, let us take a look at this example: The Box Man, or Hako Otoko by Kobo Abe.
ii.
One of the box men, as in, not the
narrator in the story, revealed that he experienced shame as a child because he
spoke the wrong lines during a performance at his primary school. He was teased
by his classmates, but because of this, he read books and magazines with fine
print in dark places. I guess we could say that this was his trauma response to
that event because he just wanted to run away from seeing and being seen by
others.
iii.
So was he trying to masquerade?
iv.
Did he eventually feel so ashamed of
his failure that he no longer wanted to identify with others, nor let others
identify with him?
v.
Could this have been the first
behavior that eventually culminated in his decision to become a box man?
So what do the social workers do? They
investigate and scrutinize the experience of the characters in order to
understand why they feel that way. While some novels may portray social
injustices vividly, some authors prefer to use vague, cryptic allegories to
narrate their experiences.
As a social worker, according to Mr.
Michael Laird, the box is a metaphor for escaping shame and the sense that
one is different and unaccepted by peers, family members, and the community.
Who, in our society today might generally feel different and unaccepted by
others.
●
So when a box man walks into his
office and he or she is seeking help, perhaps they would say that they would no
longer want to live inside the box and are ready to remove it, and it is their
job to help them in doing so.
●
It is their professional obligation to
use their knowledge to understand what the box signifies and apply the tools at
their disposal (that includes literature) in a culturally competent way to
assist their clients.
●
Unsa ang theory nga gamiton? Unsa nga
therapy ang ihatag after sa assessment?
- Conclude:
I think we can say without any doubt that literature is the most used—if
not the only—medium used to document the stories of real-life survivors.
Sometimes simply written or documented, sometimes adapted into a book or
movie, or even through word of mouth, which is also, unmistakably, a part
of literature- the stories of these survivors are being immortalized
through literature.
- So let’s move on to
the extrinsic, or in other words, the direct application of literature in
the social work profession.
- So
I interviewed my friend, Kery, who is from Michigan. They work as a domestic violence/sexual
abuse advocate and they are trained in trauma care. They work in a
shelter to care for victims.
- Through
the answers they gave me in this interview, we are able to learn that
literature is being used not only as a way for the social worker to work
better with their clients, but also as a viable tool to help them deal
with their situation.
i.)
Roles:
(1)
Literature as a training material
(a)
According to them, they use a lot
of training materials based on real stories from survivors.
(b)
This means that they use TV series that adapt those stories. For a
while, they all watched this Netflix series called, “Maid”.
(c)
This is based on a real-life story of Stephanie Land, a single mom
walking the tightrope of poverty and homelessness for years chasing the
American dream. Then, she wrote the memoir “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a
Mother’s Will to Survive.”
(2)
Literature as a tool to soothe clients
(a)
In shelter life, there’s quite a bit of downtime that leads to clients
needing something to distract themselves to practice self care and soothing
techniques to combat trauma.
(b)
Very frequently you’ll find that clients will say “I’ve caught up on
more reading here than I ever have in my life.”
(c)
So it’s very useful as a tool to comfort them through trying times.
(3)
Literature as a tool for empowerment
(a)
My friend says that, “I personally use stories of sexual assault in
literature to work with clients in empowerment.”
(b)
A really common tattoo that their clients get are Medusas, as in from
Greek Mythology, which is representative of a woman in literature who pushed
back and fought against the intent of the world to view her as an inhuman
female object to be sexualized.
(4)
Literature as a tool to help clients understand their own experiences
better
(a)
It can help clients realize that their spouse
was sexually abusing them, and it’s not just a “responsibility as a woman or a wife”
(b)
One of their most well worn books is the handmaid’s tale, I talk with
clients about that one a lot, they really like it because it points out how the
control of a woman’s reproduction is morally abhorrent, and a lot of marital
abuse includes marital rape, which is the act of pressuring or forcing sex on a
partner as a form of abuse because they have no recourse or escape
Conclusion:
●
TAKING ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
○
During the Enlightenment era, literary works of this nature began to be
prevalent, but it was Voltaire’s “Candide” that sparked the idea of a
democratic society. This satiric novella critiqued the prevailing societal
norms and institutions, including religion, government, and the aristocracy He
criticized the Roman Catholic Church at a time when the institution killed
people for less. The book’s biting critique of injustices and irrationality of
the time sparked debate and contributed to the eventual overthrowing of
monarchies.
●
BECOMING A CATALYST FOR ABOLITIONISM
○
From there, the desire to turn the tide would also cross the mind of
Harriet Beecher Stowe. She is the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.And literature
truly shined during this time because it played major contributions to
abolishing racial oppression. Her book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” played a
fundamental role in the fight against slavery in the US. It portrays the brutal
realities of slavery, and readers were confronted with the inhumanity of the
institution, leading many to join the abolitionist cause.
●
LITERATURE AND FEMINISM
○
But throughout all of history, racial divides are not the only thing
people advocated against; Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own addressed the
systemic obstacles facing female writers and the broader issues of women’s
autonomy and independence. “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir is included,
which has critically examined the social constructs that perpetuate gender
inequalities. And her book is even used by modern philosophers like Judith
Butler in gender studies. These books, among many others, laid the foundation
for the feminist movement of the 20th century. This is what really helped to
push for equal rights and reproductive autonomy.
●
Throughout history, literature has played a critical role in forming
communities and social change. It is an effective catalyst for change because
of its capacity to question social conventions, spur activity, and foster
empathy. By looking at famous works, we can see how literature has sparked
social awareness, confronted injustice, and promoted empathy among many
populations.
Written by Terese Dahl Largo
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