6 page due 1500 hrs

Asking for Help Assignment: People seeking social work services often feel vulnerable; consequently, a person in such an emotional state can present challenges for the social worker to engage, and assess for the provision of social work services. It is important for practitioners to develop empathy—an important dimension of practice that enables social workers to work with people as they are. In order for you to understand vulnerability and develop an unconditional positive regard for client systems, this essay requires you to reflect on a period of your life when you had to ask for help. You are not expected to discuss the actual situation, circumstances or challenges that motivated you to ask for help. Instead, you are expected to discuss what the experience of asking for help was like. This assignment allows you to engage in “meaning-making” as you begin to understand issues presented by people who use social work services during the engagement/ relationship-building, assessment, and action phases of social work practice. Use the following questions to complete the first half of the assignment: 1. Identify and briefly describe a time in your life (e.g., childhood, adolescence, adulthood, migratory experiences) when you had to ask for help? My daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor when she was 4.5 y/o. She received chemotherapy, radiation, and stem cells transplant. All these treatments had consequences, like hearing loss (mild damage in her high frequency), and she became a slow learner. I registered her in a Catholic school in kindergarten when the school year was almost done I was told that she was going to be retained in the grade due to her poor performance, here is when I asked for help. I contacted the social worker from the hospital who immediately connect me to a foundation who helped me through the process of looking for the appropriate school for my daughter. She was evaluated several times, by the Department of Education, and also neurology psychology of the hospital. The advocate that helped during the process got my daughter everything that she had the right to receive and that she needed. After numerous meetings, evaluations, hearing my daughter was admitted to a magnificent school. A school that provides her all her needs and where she is happy and learning (she was very frustrated in the Catholic school and every day was a struggle for her to go). I had to visit numerous school from District 75 since there’s was no program in the school of New York City that specifically fulfills the needs of a student like my daughter that went to treatments that made her a slow learner. Those students where low functioning, with behavioral and emotional problems. That was not a good fit for my daughter since she is a very social girl, caring. An environment like this could be very difficult for her because would not let her perform well (you can search on how a child with no behavioral or emotional problems can be affected by a child who is, more in the school environment). After evaluations were made and determined to create an IESP (contract in Catholic schools) that stipulate that they had to provide my daughter with speech, occupational therapy, SEETS, and one to one tutoring in school. The DOE failed to provide these services that were mandatory by law, it was until March of that school year (note that school year starts in September), that they were able to send a person to provide my daughter with her services. Because of this the foundation advocate, and the law firm where able to get through a court hearing 300 hours of private tutoring for my daughter from a very good tutoring service. 2. What feelings came up for you? (e.g.., anxiety, sadness, ambivalence, etc) I was devastated, after all, she went through also have to deal with a situation like this was not easy for neither of us. Why something so simple as being in school was getting so complicated. Every year I have to go to EIP meeting to repeat myself and remind of what my daughter went through. Also, I have to attend a court hearing and repeat the same story every year so the department education pays for my daughter tuition. To repeat something that is a lifelong condition, that will not change significantly. It made me anxious about not knowing 3. Without naming the person you asked to help you, please identify if the helper was a family member, a friend, a counselor, or another role not listed here? The person that I helped was a family member, my daughter. 4. Power – who had the power in the exchange between you and the person you asked for help? If you held power, how did you use your power? What was your positionality? What was the other person’s positionality? I can say that the lady from the foundation and me we both had the power, we both made a team where everything needs my input as well hers, it was a 50% each. She had the knowledge and knew how the system works, and I add to that. It’s difficult for me to explain how, because obviously, I took my daughter to all the evaluations, I was the one requesting anything that she needed, but guided by her. She explained beforehand how everything was going to happen, and it went as plan. She connects me to a law firm that represented my daughter and they are still representing her. Every year the attorney goes with me to the court hearing. The DOE attorney never presents a good case, they assumed because I’m Latina that I won’t assist or that I’m not well educated in order to advocate for my daughter, to know my rights, and asked for what by law she deserves. 5. What were the reactions of the person when you asked for help? When I contact the social worker from the hospital she was very empathetic with me, she immediately told me to calm down, not to get stressed, that she was going to help me, and that everything was going to be alright. That the foundation that she was going to put me in contact with were excellent, that they were dedicated to helping children that undergo the process that my daughter went through, and that the foundation was very empathetic with children that had brain tumor (in case you want to add briefly what she was diagnosed with is ATRT Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor) 6. As you prepared yourself to make the request for help, what reactions were you expecting? Which reactions caused you to feel most apprehensive? I didn’t have any idea what was going to happen, I just thought about the social worker, since she helped a lot during the treatment I just thought that she was able to help me again. I felt anxious about not knowing what to do, I was blocked, was not able to think in anything bad. I always had the feeling that my call for help was going to be positive, that she was going to help me. 7. Identify three lessons you have learned from this period of your life. Are any of the lessons related to issues of power, privilege, and oppression? How might the lessons impact your beliefs about asking for help? • Power: I learned that as a mother I was very powerful when it comes to helping my daughter to get what is appropriate to her. The process was so long and frustrated at times, you can find people in the way that are not willing to help, and that makes the process very difficult just because. • Privilege: I had the privilege of having all this help from the appropriate people. People that were very savvy and knew all the rights for a child as my daughter. • Oppression: It was unfair how the system makes you exhausted, how they made you go everywhere, up and down to receive the services that my daughter needed. Knowing that she had to right to all the services, that no big effort was supposed to be done because her condition is lifelong that cannot change, they still made me go through a process that was long and exhausted. The second half of the assignment requires you to relate lessons that you have learned thus far in the course, as well as demonstrate beginning practice behaviors. Specifically, we expect you to use content that you have read during the semester to address the following questions: 1. Given what you have learned about social work practice, what would you do differently from what you experienced when you requested help? I think I wouldn’t do anything different, I was so lucky that the first door that I knocked was the correct. The social worker from the hospital was the perfect person to help me, and she sure was. 2. Why would you do things differently? Be sure to document your responses with what you have learned and read. As I mentioned, I wouldn’t. what I can positively add to this is to spread the word to anyone to knock doors and look for help, that it may take many doors to knock, but one will be open. To inform people how the DOE can operate, and perhaps tips on what to say or do when going to this kind of office to request help, more if it's for a child, your own child. 3. What would you do that is the same as what you experienced? Why? You can elaborate on this. 4. Based on this experience what have you learned about social work professional roles and boundaries? We are here to help, but the best part is that we love to help. You can elaborate on this. 5. How would you recognize and manage your personal values in a manner that allows professional values to guide your practice? You can elaborate on this. 6. How does your first semester understanding of the course content guide you to respond to someone whose positionality is different from yours? You can elaborate on this. This paper should be 6 pages in length and make use of at least eight readings from the PL syllabus. • Minimum of 8 sources. • Minimum 6 pages. • Due 11/4/2018, if you can have it before better. • I will provide you the readings. • Throughout the paper you have to incorporate power, privilege, and oppression, there are readings referring to the terms. Sources: This are the readings that I think may help with the paper, you can use outside sources, this is readings provided in the class and some should be incorporated. A total of 8 sources must be used for the paper • Epstein_Mindful_Practice and Lynn & Mensinga-Social workers and Mindfulness(1: This article may help explain how important was and is for me to be mindful with other, and other to be mindful with me. • D. Goodman ch. 2 - About Privileged Groups: This may help talk about how privileged groups have better medical care, even though I don’t complaint how my daughter was treated, it never came out of my mind how other, for example from my roots (Dominican Republic) don’t have the privilege of having a good medical treatment based on their economic status. • DiAngelo ch. 4 - Defining Terms[1: o Prejudice: This term can exactly be explained how the attorney from the department of education prejudiced me thinking that I was not well educated to know my rights, to fight for my daughter rights and to express myself. o Discrimination: Discriminated by my own race (the attorney was Hispanic in one of the years that I went to a hearing). Another occasion discriminated by the attorney thinking that I was not well educated, and didn’t know my daughter's rights to advocate for herself. o Oppression: Without the help of the attorney I wouldn’t know all my rights. The Department of Education of NYC held a lot of information that informs parents of their children rights in order to not provide them because of budget or who knows the ea=xact reason. The authorities act like if the money that pays for children services are coming from the staff pockets. o Positionality: What is my positionality in society. I’m a single parent, who works to pay bills and the basic needs. • R. Goodman-Trauma and Resilience: I was born in the US, but g