Putting professional values into practice
Learning Objectives
After considering this resource, you should understand different ways you might promote service user participation within your individual practice.
Putting the service user at the heart of your practice and working in partnership with them, rather than on their behalf, helps to promote a greater balance of power in your working relationship. As Lomax and Jones (2014, p.82) argue 'It is important to place service user participation in the context of your developing social work values.' In doing so, you will be able to link the work you are doing with the professional ethics underlying intervention.
The following activity will help you consider how you can integrate core professional values into developing your working relationships with service users.
Reflective Questions
- What models have you come across that might be helpful when thinking about service user participation?
- What barriers might there be to putting service users at the centre of your practice? How might you overcome these? Perhaps talk about this in your next supervision session.
- How does service user participation reflect social work's value base?
Reference:
R Lomax, K Jones,(2014) Surviving your Social Work Placement 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.