Year three, day eight
10 years ago
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
empowerment.
I spoke today with a friend who is working with a rural Department of Social Services. We both lamented the language that is used to discuss the clients... how the clients are really devalued, dehumanized, and treated like pests instead of humans seeking assistance. This week I will remain cognizant of my words and thoughts when I refer to a client. I will continue to realize that my job as a social worker (of sorts) is to empower and offer tools to those who are in need, not to dehumanize, remove power, and scold. It gets overwhelming sometimes. Sometimes I feel like I am a chauffeur. But what am I doing to change this? What tools am I offering? What kind of power am I modeling? Good thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We're actually trying to make the shift from saying "client" to "consumer." I heard that that was going on in the MSW world?? But yes, I'm totally with you on the valuing people for and as people bit. I sometimes get overwhelmed with just how rich the stories and how vibrant the interactions my consumers bring to my life--they are so much more than just cases or placeholders in a program.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll do quite well with this initiative, Miss D. =)
Yes, but noone would know who I was talking about if I said, "my consumers". Usually I say "my families" but that also doesn't read well without further explanation, so what's a girl to do? Actually, there's not much talk about it in the MSW world at all that I've heard of, I should bring it up in class... Usually I'm a big semantics person, but this is one of those situations where I have not yet been convinced that the change is meaningful to the consumers so much as it is meaningful to the academics. I could be totally wrong, so enlighten me!!!
ReplyDelete(only seeing this just now--sorry!)
ReplyDeletehmmmm, I'll have to ask my co-worker who really started the initiative here, but it's becoming almost an unspoken organization policy to start saying "consumers." I am not nearly as consistent with it as I'd like to be, but I DO think it is important. Have you brought it up in class yet?