Course Competencies Module 7
Mark as done
Course Competencies, Practice Behaviors & Dimensions
In this section, list the course competencies, practice behaviors and dimensions
covered in the course. Indicate the area of the course in which each is addressed.
Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
A1.2. Demonstrate professional and ethical social work conduct in all levels of
practice.
A1.4 Demonstrate the ability to apply social work ethics and values to the evaluation
of social intervention
A1.5 Engage in self-reflection and self-care practices including reflective trauma
responsive supervision to prevent and address secondary trauma in self and
organization.
Competency 2: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice
A2.1 Demonstrate culturally centered practice that recognizes the impact of diversity
factors, to include trauma experiences and responses at the micro, mezzo and macro
levels.
A2.2 Apply self- awareness to manage the influence of personal biases and values in
working with diverse individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities and
constituencies.
Competency 3: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental
Justice
A3.1
Demonstrate effective and diplomatic skills in advocacy.
A3.2 Deconstruct situations (culture, social, political, economic, etc.) where human
rights are being violated.
A3.3 Compare how social, economic, cultural, and political frameworks can oppress
and violate human rights.
A3.4
Recognize and seek to redress human rights, social, economic and
environmental injustices resulting from or perpetuating trauma.
Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed
Practice
A4.1 Appraise, evaluate, and propose various methods of program evaluation Module
5 Graded Assignment
A4.2
Collect and organize data, and apply critical thinking to interpret information
from individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and constituencies.
A4.3 Evaluate how personal values and biases impact research-informed practice
and practice-informed research
A4.4 Advocate for strategies to improve practice-informed research and research
informed practice in trauma care and for extreme events
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations and
Communities
A6.2 Implement appropriate engagement strategies to engage individuals, families,
groups, organizations, and communities within a particular theoretical model.
A6.3 Utilize self-reflective and intrapersonal skills to effectively engage diverse
individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and constituencies
A6.4 Integrating trauma-informed principles of engagement with practices at the
micro, mezzo and macro levels that are responsive to those underrepresented and
oppressed in society
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Module Two Assignment to Enhance Learning
July 14, 2022
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Module Two Assignment to Enhance Learning
Part 1: How Social Workers and their Clients can Utilize Experiential Learning
Experiential learning is one of the ways through which social workers and their clients
can nurture learning and growth. According to Ash and Clayton (2009), experiential learning
involves a reflective learning process through which individuals learn through directly
experiencing a particular phenomenon. Then, these individuals subsequently engage in a critical
reflection process to generate, deepen, and document lessons learned from the experience. The
critical reflection process allows the individuals to make meaning of situations and understand
what they did well during the experience and what could be different or done differently (Ash &
Clayton, 2009). Then, the individual uses the lessons from this experience to develop and
improve future undertakings. Therefore, experiential learning can be helpful to social workers
and clients, and they can utilize it in various ways. For example, social workers and their clients
can utilize experiential learning to challenge their beliefs and assumptions, gain greater selfawareness and growth, and access and generate new information.
One way social workers and their clients can utilize experiential learning is to challenge
their beliefs and assumptions. As mentioned, experiential learning involves experiencing a
particular phenomenon and reflecting to generate meanings from the situation (Ash & Clayton,
2009). Typically, social workers hold certain beliefs and assumptions about the populations they
work with, and inversely, their clients also hold various assumptions about social work services.
For example, in my upcoming experiential experience, which involves working with
unaccompanied alien children, one of my assumptions is that these children are motivated to
come to the US due to hardships in their home country. Also, I anticipate that these children will
have negative perceptions about social work services, especially if they have experienced
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harassment by law enforcement. These beliefs affect the social workers and their clients’
behavior, working relationships, and treatment outcomes. For example, social workers will use
these beliefs and assumptions to design their approach and treatment recommendation for clients.
Moreover, clients’ beliefs about social work services influence their behavior, such as careseeking behavior, treatment adherence, and their relationship with their therapist. Therefore,
experiential learning allows both parties to analyze and challenge these inner beliefs.
Through experiential learning, the two can engage in a reflective learning process with
the social worker directly interacting with their client and vice versa. As Ash and Clayton (2009)
recommend, the two can then reflect on and document their experiences and lessons, comparing
them to their initial assumptions. For example, the social worker can reflect on what they learned
about the clients, relating it to their initial beliefs. The same applies to the clients, whereby they
can reflect on their experiences with social work services relating them to the assumptions they
held before the experience. Consequently, this will lead to a readjustment of both parties’ beliefs
and assumptions, leading to better intervention outcomes. For example, the social worker can
drop any biases they hold about the clients and instead seek to develop a relationship based on an
accurate assessment of the client’s culture and contextual situation. The same applies to the
clients, whereby they will readjust their beliefs about social work services based on their
experiences and adopt accurate views about social work. Overall, this beliefs realignment by
both social workers and clients helps improve their relationship and, subsequently, the outcomes
of social work services.
Another way social workers can utilize experiential learning is to gain self-awareness and
growth. Notably, one of the critical prerequisites to effective social work entails proper selfawareness, whereby social workers should be aware of their capabilities, cultural beliefs, and
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biases. Additionally, social workers are urged to constantly build their competence and skillset to
ensure they deliver top-notch services to their clients. Experiential learning can be instrumental
in helping social workers achieve self-awareness and personal growth. As Cardani-Trollinger
(2019) observes, part of the reflection process in experiential learning involves assessing the
personal growth achieved. Therefore, one reflects on the strength and weaknesses they
manifested during the experience, the skills used, any assumptions they made, and their
implication. Consequently, this leads to better self-awareness by the practitioner, whereby they
get to know their strengths, weaknesses, skillset, and cultural competence. Subsequently, from
this self-awareness, the social worker identifies improvement and personal growth areas to
enhance their competence and ability to deliver effective services. For example, they can identify
some of the cultural biases they hold and work towards improving their cultural competence and
humility. This way, they can improve their competence and skills, improving their service
delivery.
Additionally, experiential learning can help social workers access and generate new
information. As Ash and Clayton (2009) observe, experiential learning helps social workers to
test the efficacy of various theoretical concepts by applying them to real-life situations. These are
concepts such as various approaches social workers use in treatment, such as cognitive
behavioral therapy (CBT). Through their real-life application, social workers can assess, reflect
on, and document the efficiency of these concepts in various contexts. For example, in my new
experiential learning process, I aim to assess CBT’s efficacy in treating depression and trauma
amongst unaccompanied alien children whom I know have experienced significant trauma
exposure. Consequently, this helps add to social work’s knowledge base, which helps develop
new theoretical concepts and intervention approaches.
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Additionally, the experiential learning process provides an opportunity for social workers
to gain experience and skills in applying and implementing these concepts. Notably, the
efficiency of a particular treatment approach significantly depends on the therapist’s ability to
implement the intervention adequately. Therefore, therapists can gain practical experience in
implementing various interventions through experiential learning. Furthermore, as Ash and
Clayton (2009) explain, the critical reflection process will help the therapist assess how well they
implement these interventions and identify improvement areas. Therefore, social workers can
utilize experiential learning to build their knowledge and competence while helping expand
social work’s knowledge base.
Social workers and their clients can utilize experiential learning in various ways to
improve treatment outcomes. The two can challenge their beliefs and assumptions through
experiential learning, gain self-awareness and growth, and generate new knowledge. This is
achieved by a reflective learning process that involves one directly engaging in a learning
experience and reflecting to generate meanings from the experience. Through these new
meanings, the social worker and client will realign their beliefs and assumptions, learn more
about themselves and improvement areas, and gain new knowledge. Therefore, if utilized in this
way, experiential learning can play a critical role in improving the quality of social work services
and client outcomes.
Part 2: Individualized Learning Plan
Experiential Learning Goals
Personal Growth Goals
•
Build my cultural competence skills to increase my capacity to deliver culturally centered
services.
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•
Build my capacity in the delivery of trauma-informed care.
•
Build my intrapersonal skills to allow me to develop good working relationships with my
clients.
Professional Development Goals
•
Build my experience applying various concepts learned in class, such as trauma-informed
principles and cultural competence.
•
Test the efficiency of various theoretical models learned in class and their applicability to
the issues faced by the unaccompanied alien children population.
•
Network with other professionals working in this field and learn and share experiences.
Civic Learning Goals
•
Recognize injustices social, economic, and environmental injustices experienced by the
clients.
•
Develop social change interventions to redress these injustices.
•
Build my advocacy skills to allow me to advocate for policy changes to redress the
injustices faced by this population.
Goals Achievement Plan
I will work with a group of unaccompanied alien children in my upcoming experiential
learning program. I anticipate this will be a valuable learning experience especially in working
with vulnerable populations such as children. This learning experience will teach me how to
interact with clients from different cultural backgrounds, overcome age-related barriers, and
develop practical approaches to help these populations. I will learn through actively delivering
social work services to this group and applying concepts learned in class on working with
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vulnerable populations such as immigrants and children. In addition, I will be implementing a
treatment program addressing the various mental health issues they face.
This learning matters because it will help build my skills and competencies. Also, it is an
opportunity for me to positively impact society and identify some of the populations in need of
the services we offer. Finally, I believe that in light of this learning, other members of the society
and I should be in a position to support the creation of humane immigration policies. Such
policies will ensure that vulnerable populations such as unaccompanied alien children gain the
assistance they need and are reunited with their families. Overall, I believe that this program will
be a fruitful learning experience that will help me build my skills and benefit society.
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References
Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2009). Generating, feepening, and documenting learning: The
power of critical reflection in applied learning. Journal of Applied Learning in Higher
Education, 1, 25-48.
Cardani-Trollinger, C. (2019). The DEAL model.
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtskzQSh5OQ