Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping

Reflections from the Editorial Leadership Team: Seizing the Opportunity to Reflect

Darlyne Bailey, Monica Leisey, F. Ellen Netting, Kelly McNally Koney — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

In Volume 30(3) we welcome a new Publishing Partner representative from Monmouth University and a new Co-Editor from the University of Minnesota to our Practice Section, along with grateful appreciation for the dedicated people who contribute their time and expertise to making Reflections possible. We introduce the idea of Reflections as a “way station” for authors and readers on an increasingly rapid journey of professional helping, where making the space to reflect is absolutely critical, and yet, actually grasping the time and savoring the moment is challenging. We are excited to highlight eight articles that offer insights about self-care and strategies for facilitating opportunities for change in practice and educational arenas as well as remind us of the importance of balancing the multiple and many demand in our lives.

Coming to Terms with Ukrainian/Russian Identity During the War: An American Social Worker’s Perspective

Natalia "Natasha" Smith — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Conflict in Ukraine has disrupted the lives of millions of people, including orphaned children. Yet, the consequences of the war in Ukraine extend beyond the Ukrainian border. The current crisis also impacts Ukrainian adoptees in the United States. Social workers are in a position to help children and families dealing with the effects of the crisis. My narrative adds another voice to the academic conversation from the perspective of a Ukrainian adoptee and a licensed clinical social worker working on coming to terms with multicultural identity as it pertains to the war in Ukraine. Additionally, it guides social workers who may be working with current or future adoptees in a therapeutic space by emphasizing the importance of culturally sensitive and trauma-informed services to address the intersection of institutionalization, adoption transition, and the impact of the current crisis in Ukraine.

Como Una Flor: A Self-Reflexive Experience of Countertransference, Enactments, and Culture

Juan Antonio Rios — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This composite, self-reflexive clinical case study chronicles the complexities of a multi-contextual relationship between an undocumented Latina client and myself, the author and her reunification therapist. Individuals who experience trauma are often left with unresolved wounds that create layers of suppressed emotion. If these suppressed emotions are not healed, they can lead to unhealthy relationships and even, consciously or unconsciously, harmful responses that create re-victimization. Therapists often guide trauma survivors through this journey with support, education, and enactments. Many clinicians make the mistake of bracketing themselves out of this journey, which inevitably elicits counter-transferential reactions as a result. The importance of cultural influence is frequently reduced to language and broad cultural idioms. The therapeutic relationship within this case study, however, challenges the traditional practices of boundaries and enactments and further complicates my parallel journey as an early-career clinician who awakens my clinical expansion from my internal thoughts and a client’s evolution.

Yes, I Am Helping “Model Minorities”: A Narrative of a Bicultural and Bilingual Asian Social Worker

Isabel Sangeun Lee — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

The “model minority” perception creates barriers for Asians in seeking health and social services in the context of their racial positioning and racial realities in the United States. As a bicultural and bilingual Asian social worker, I see the value of Asian Critical Race Theory (Chang, 1993) and the need to apply this theoretical framework in delivering health and social services to Asian populations facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Asian Critical Race Theory raises awareness on the “model minority” myth and how it is another form of racism against Asian Americans. This narrative is about Asian clients who I had worked with in the field, who I found were burdened by the “model minority” myth.

Necessary Tension

Patricia Somers — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

A slack violin string cannot produce a single note of music. A life without some degree of tension may be equally soundless, even unsound. Reflecting on the sometimes straight, more often crooked paths that have led me to inhabit the roles and responsibilities I carry today allows for course correction. It may even grant some measure of satisfaction. Balancing multiple roles, working within restrictive and inequitable institutional structures while simultaneously working to change them, answering the moral and ethical demand to advocate for social justice while holding space for personal spiritual development—these are the tensions at play in my life while navigating dual careers as a counselor educator and a clinical professional counselor.

“The Room Where It Happens”: Doctoral Students’ Journey to Community-Engaged Research

Jennifer Tanis, Leonardo Kattari — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Doctoral education in social work equips students to be stewards of the discipline through training in practice, policy, and research methods. In this article, we, as two doctoral students, reflect on our research practicum coursework. As fans of the musical Hamilton (Miranda, 2015a), we were struck by the parallel of gaining access to “the room where [research] happens” (Miranda, 2015c) and offer commentary on the historically exclusionary practices of the empiricist-driven academy. While learning the research process, it became obvious and disconcerting that doctoral education in social work focuses on teaching students how to engage in primarily positivist, empiricist, generalizable research. However, this epistemology does not align with most social work scholarship agendas. Through critical consideration of personal and professional values, we posit that the social work profession has a responsibility to infuse humanizing, community-engaged research methods and offer points of reflection educators may consider to enhance their research courses.

Baptism by Fire: Field in the Time of COVID-19

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This paper explores our lived experiences as undergraduate social work students in our practicum placements during the first year of COVID-19, including our reactions to seeing COVID-19 unfold in our agencies, the impacts on clients, how we developed social work skills given all of the restrictions, and how we managed our own physical and mental health. We struggled with getting sick—and so did family, clients, and co-workers, some of whom did not live. We highlight the importance of support networks, supportive supervision, and self-care. We utilize the concept of shared trauma to illustrate how, despite the collective nature of the pandemic, each of us brings a unique perspective, especially given the wide range of practicum placements. Finally, we include reflections on systemic vulnerabilities that COVID-19 revealed and frustrations with engaging and supporting client needs.

On Becoming a Professional Social Worker: Stressors and Successes

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Social work is an honorable profession, but it may also be a difficult profession considering high caseloads, low salaries, and numerous opportunities to experience stress, burnout, and vicarious trauma. The process of becoming a professional social worker at the graduate level requires considerable time, energy, money, and stamina. Four first-semester MSW students and I, their professor, share our lived experiences and challenges during the Fall 2021 semester at a historically Black university in the midst of the pandemic. Time management, work-life balance, coursework demands, self-care, social support, social justice, and advocacy surface as primary concerns. Our narratives suggest that self-care for graduate social work students is as important as self-care for professional social workers. Graduate social work programs are advised to consider implementing courses or programs that teach social work students how to engage in self-care rather than presenting it as a topic for discussion. Implications for research are discussed.

Reflecting on Fear and Relationship

Sean Carr — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0700

This reflection is by an MSW early on in my career on the ways social work has made me more afraid, and how fear can undermine and erode relationships. Ultimately, I conclude that unconditional positive regard and relationship-centered practice are the heart of social work. I hope to cultivate kinder, gentler, and friendlier social work practice throughout my career.