Wisdom

Yesterday, I worked on updating our Learning Agreement to reflect CSWE's new Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards. As I worked on the form, I was able to reflect on the wisdom and value of these new standards. Each of the ten core competencies has sub-parts that gives enough detail about what social work is all about but isn't bogged down in minutia. For example, check out the third core competency:

Educational Policy 2.1.3—Apply critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments. Social workers are knowledgeable about the principles of logic, scientific inquiry, and reasoned discernment. They use critical thinking augmented by creativity and curiosity. Critical thinking also requires the synthesis and communication of relevant information. Social workers

• distinguish, appraise, and integrate multiple sources of knowledge, including research-based knowledge, and practice wisdom;

• analyze models of assessment, prevention, intervention, and evaluation; and

• demonstrate effective oral and written communication in working with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and colleagues.

I thought, "How our students will demonstrate this competency?" which then led to "How do I demonstrate this competency?" I have multiple sources of knowledge - my professional library, access to social work journals, etc - but what about practice wisdom? My traditional sources of practice wisdom

have been my network of colleagues who share their ideas about best-practices when I run into them, mostly in the office or at conferences, or via email or listservs. Recently, I have found blogs by social workers and others to be a new and vibrant source of practice wisdom. Blogs offer me a place to "use critical thinking augmented by creativity and curiosity." The blogs I follow introduce me to new professionals who share honestly about how they are dealing with the many challenges that come along with being a social worker. They are creative and inspire me to be curious; they make me laugh and cry; they make me think and reflect in a different way about social work. My professional network of sources of practice wisdom has grown exponentially.

Every morning, I love to read the local newspaper from front to back (I generally skip the Sports and Business sections). I scan for stories related to social work and often clip out something to post by my office door (poverty, child abuse, social welfare policy). Now, after reading the newspaper, I check out my favorite blogs that come via RSS to my email and then I check Social Work Blogs to see what has been posted recently. I have learned the value of leaving comments and have been learning how to establish appropriate boundaries in my digital world just like I do in my physical world. What a wonderful way to start the day!

But, I still haven't answered the question, "How do social work students demonstrate this core competency?" Maybe I have?

Comfortabe with Paradox

I had time today to visit a lot of social work blogs and others as well. I didn't have an agenda or a clear purpose, and I didn't realize the amazing journey I had started until I realized hours had vanished and I had only scratched the surface. When I stumbled on Social Work Blogs, I found an amazing listing of all current social work blogs and the recent posts. What a great resource and source of inspiration for those who are new to blogging in social work. There a LOT of social workers who are sharing their stories in the blogosphere!

Along the way I posted several comments and signed up to follow several blogs. As I read these blogs, I was struck by the variety of

• blogs design (use of color,format, photos, font)
• themes (clinical social work, self-reflection, new social workers, adovacacy, blowing off steam)
• simplicity vs complexity
• length of posts
• frequency of posts per month

There were many commonalities as well, but the one that struck me hardest was how social workers are constantly dealing with ambiguity and paradoxes. As much as

Image via Wikipedia

we try to systmatically work with clients, there is never a clear path to walk with our clients towards goal attainment. In fact, if we do stumble upon an easy case, we stop and scratch our head and wonder, "What's going on here? What am I missing?" Easy and clear are not terms that are common to social workers. This is one of many realities of the social work that shapes our personal and professional lives every day. The "grist for the mill" in all of the social work blogs I read today touched on this reality in one way or another - which was drew me into reading and commenting on all of those blogs today.

Celebrating Flag Day

Today is National Flag Day, and to celebrate, I posted our flag outside our front door. It made me think of the men and women who are social workers on active duty in the US military, and colleagues serving as civilians in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs. Did you know that there are 17,728 social work postions in the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs? If you are looking for a job with the federal government, go to USAJOBS - The federal government's official job site.

Check out these facts from Social Work Jobs in the Federal Government:

• Social Workers are in high demand at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to support troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The number of positions at the VA increased by more than 650 from 2005 to 2006. Click here to read articles on Help Starts Here's Web site about Social Work.
  
• In the Department of Defense, the Army, Navy and Air Force each have 200-900 social work jobs.
  
• The Forest Service (In the Department of Agriculture) employs over 400 people classified as “Social Services Aid and Assistant.”
  
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs contains the majority of social work and social services positions in the Department of the Interior. The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service each contain an addional twenty positions in social services.
  
• The Indian Health Service provides the majority of positions in social work and social services in the Department of Health and Human Services.
  
• The National Institutes of Health (part of the Department of Health and Human Services) employs more than forty people in social work.
  

Thank you to all who work and serve our country as social workers in the federal government!