Personal Values Versus Social Work Values
The goal of this assignment is to reflect on personal values you have that conflict with professional
social work values. This conflict is expected for most, if not all, social workers. The key is to be aware
of the value conflict and develop insight into how you will maintain ethical standards in clinical social
work. It is also important to mention that your personal values are valid and you can practice effective,
ethical, and competent social work even when your personal values conflict with social work values. It
only becomes problematic if social workers project their personal values onto patients/clients. With that
said, in this assignment, you will pick a social work topic (that conflicts with your personal values) and
articulate your personal values related to the topic, discuss social work values related to the topic, and
explore how you plan to bracket your personal values when practicing clinical social work. For example,
you may identify as pro-life and a patient/client comes to you for counseling and she is considering an
abortion. For point 1, you will articulate your personal values related to being pro-life. For point 2, you
will discuss social work values related to abortion, unplanned pregnancy, choosing to parent or not
parent, or other related topics. For point 3, you will explore how you plan to provide ethical social work
practice by not projecting your personal values onto patients/clients.
To assist you with this assignment, please read Chapter 3 from the Dolgoff and colleagues (2012)
textbook. Also, you can pick any social work topic/value you want, but if you need assistance in
identifying a topic/value, please see the below attachment (in Canvas). The attachment highlights many
social work policies/values, such as topics related to homelessness, immigration, LGBTQ, racism, and
criminal justice reform.
The paper is to be 2 to 3 pages long (double-spaced), not including a title page and reference page (you
will need to cite the social work topic, policy, ethical standard, etc.). Please address the three points
below and have three headings: Personal Value, Social Work Value, and Ethical Social Work
Practice.
1) Personal Value: please articulate your personal values related to the topic.
2) Social Work Value: please discuss social work values related to the topic and cite relevant policies,
ethical standards, etc.
3) Ethical Social Work Practice: please explore how you plan to provide ethical social work practice
by not projecting your personal values onto patients/clients.
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