| Description
This presentation will argue that to be spiritually and religiously sensitive and competent in our work with our clients, it is important the social workers learn how to ethically integrate their spirituality/faith and their social work practice. It will illustrate a wide variety of integration approaches or models that encourage social workers to be authentic with regard to their handling of their own spiritual beliefs and values, as well as to exhibit genuine respect for the beliefs and values of their clients. In addition, this session will explore a range of ethical issues related to integration including the importance of social workers: a) being aware of their own religious beliefs and values (and how they influence their work) in order to be able to work competently and ethically with clients, particularly those who have identified religion or spirituality as important in their lives; b) understanding how to assess and address clients spiritual and religious issues and concerns while maintaining a sensitivity to the issues of unequal power and vulnerability that are an inevitable part of client relationships; c) understanding the context of particular work environments (for example, working in a public agency versus working for a congregation or faith-based organization) as it relates to issues like informed consent when it comes to addressing clients spiritual and religious concerns. This workshop will conclude by defining spiritual assessment, provide a rationale why social workers should become competent at conducting spiritual assessment, and illustrating 5 spiritual assessment tools for use in social work practice.
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Learning
Objectives
As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to: 1. Describe at least three approaches or models for integrating spirituality/faith and social work practice that encourage social workers to be authentic with regard to their handling of their own spiritual beliefs and values, as well as to exhibit genuine respect for the beliefs and values of their clients 2. Articulate social workers’ responsibility to be prepared to assess and address spiritual and religious issues, particularly for those clients who self-identify religion and spirituality as important in their lives, while at the same time being vigilant to safeguard the rights of clients by not unduly imposing their own religious beliefs and values on those clients 3. Outline how issues related to informed consent, client vulnerability, and the power dynamics of the worker-client relationship potentially create ethical tensions when the spiritual and religious beliefs and values of social workers interact with those of their clients 4. Articulate a definition of spiritual assessment as well as 3 reasons for the importance of conducting a spiritual assessment in one s work with one s clients. 5. Describe at least three spiritual assessment instruments and their respective strengths and limitations. |
