expertise” (NASW, n.d). It is important for social workers to only provide services in which they are well
educated in. A social worker providing a service to a client and is not properly educated on how to
intervene with the client’s issue may cause harm to both him or herself and the client. If a client has a
history of sexual abuse, it is not wise for a therapist without the proper education, certification, and
training to provide sexual-specific therapy to the client.
Social workers use knowledge and judgment daily in practice. Social workers must ensure that he or she
use judgment in an ethical way. The Code of Ethics states, social workers should exercise careful
judgment and take responsible steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect clients from
harm (Standard 1.04). Within the article Professional Competence, Betty, MSW was trained to counsel
adults(Bogie & Coleman, 2000). Betty was then asked to provide professional services to children after a
major event. It was Betty’s responsibility to make the judgment to refer the children to a therapist who is
qualified to counsel children.
Bogie, M.A. & Coleman, M. (2000). Professional competence. Practice Pointers, 1(9). Retrieved from:
Gamble, D. N. (2011). Advanced Concentration Macro Competencies for Social Work Practitioners:
Identifying Knowledge, Values, Judgment and Skills to Promote Human Well-Being. Journal Of
Community Practice, 19(4), 369. doi:10.1080/10705422.2011.625914
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social
Workers. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
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19 days ago Andason Romanous Tashi
RE: Discussion - Week 6
COLLAPSE
Charmaine,
I like how you introduce the importance of social workers demonstrating professional expertise while
relating to their clients. This is directly related to quality outcomes (Shen, 2015). I agree with you that
lack of comprehensive knowledge by a social worker may harm both the professional as well as the
client. To effectively demonstrate ethics in their professionalism, social workers are tasked with
understanding the code of ethics and standards which should inform their practice and judgment while
targeting quality patient outcome.
Reference
Shen, Z. (2015). Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in
nursing: a literature review. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(3), 308-321.
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19 days ago Monique Holsey
WALDEN INSTRUCTOR MANAGER
RE: Discussion - Week 6
COLLAPSE
Charmaine, social workers should try to have an eclectic knowledge base about areas of social work.
Research and becoming lifelong learners is something that is very important.
Dr. Hyman
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19 days ago Julian Marsh
RE: Discussion - Week 6
COLLAPSE
Hello Charmaine,
Reading your discussion I agree that a social worker should only provide services to a client if they are
well educated on the issues at hand. If a social worker is not knowledgeable about what the client’s
