Personal and Professional Social Work Values
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As a social worker, one is sure to associate with persons from different cultures and backgrounds. In this modern era, a social worker is sure to interact with individuals who support different beliefs, such as a personal interpretation of sexuality. For instance, a social worker taking drug addicts through rehabilitation counseling is likely to interact with at least one member of the LGBTQ community. In such a scenario, the social worker should accept that his/her values (personal, ethical, and moral) should not influence the way they conduct their professional responsibilities.
To comprehend this, distinguishing between personal values and ethics and professional values and ethics is vital. Personal values are the set of beliefs and behavior that an individual lives by and guides his/her decisions. It is likely for a social worker who lives by strict religious codes to have personal and ethical values and opinions against homosexuality (Dessel et al., 2017). In contrast, professional ethics and values guide the social worker in the line of duty. These values revolve around the basis of fairness, impartiality, and commitment. Professional values, therefore, overshadow personal values when it comes to social work. Social workers working with recovering drug addicts are thus required to treat and serve the members of LGBTQ in the same way as heterosexuals, no matter their personal beliefs.
Social workers must suppress their perspective or individual prejudice to work for the interest of their clients. It is without a doubt that discrimination of the LGBTQ group may interfere with service delivery to the clients. When these biases impact the social worker’s perception of the client, discriminative habits may crop up, affecting the professional relationship of the worker and client (McInroy, 2016). This may result in the social worker offering members of that community less treatment, time, and services, which I would consider unfair since members of the LGBTQ community should also receive equal treatment as heterosexuals. As professionals, it is necessary to assist individuals regardless of their gender, race, profession, or sexual orientation.
References
McInroy, L. B. (2016). Pitfalls, potentials, and ethics of online survey research: LGBTQ and other marginalized and hard-to-access youths. Social Work Research, 40(2), 83-94.
Dessel, A. B., Jacobsen, J., Levy, D. L., McCarty-Caplan, D., Lewis, T. O., & Kaplan, L. E. (2017). LGBTQ Topics and Christianity in Social Work: Tackling the Tough Questions. Social Work & Christianity, 44.