Explain your values and what have learned about empowerment, acceptance, being nonjudgmental, objectivity, self-determination, confidentiality,

accountability? COMPETENCY 2.1.10

bullet 3
Over my time at Loras I do not think my values have changed, but have been opened
towards more topics and ideas I had not known existed. These values are what lead me to
become a social work major and are what have become more applied and thought out due to
my class and experiences. My faith has contributed greatly to my values in being accepting of all
people and to help those in need. My values have grown from those to understanding how they
are applied to a professional environment and when done so correctly help out clients in the
most successful and sustainable way.
If one values helping others, but does not allow the others to help themselves then they
have failed. If one values being accepting of all people and nonjudgmental, but neglects to help
someone because of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc. then they have failed. If
one values objectivity, but uses biases instead of proven knowledge and experience then they
have failed. If one values self-determination, but does not allow a client to determine their own
path then they have failed. If one values confidentiality and accountability, but freely passes
information and does not keep their word then they have failed. They have failed in actually
valuing what they say they value and as a social worker they have failed their clients. I have
learned to keep all of these things as values in the front of my mind while serving others
because if you dont then you are not really helping them in a valuable way and a way that will
be sustainable for them to reach and continue being successful. Social Work depends on the
ability for a social worker to connect clients to services they will only need temporarily, much

like their own, and from there be successful upon their own volition. If the values discussed
above are not truly valued, as I feel I do, then success will be more difficult to reach.

Were there any policies, procedures, or general practices at your agency which caused you to
have a conflict of values? If so, describe and tell how you resolved the conflict(s). Are there any
policies you believe need to be changed? Give an example and how it would impact the agency.
COMPETENCY 2.1.2 bullet 3
The largest part of my field placement agency that caused me to have conflict of values
would be that fact that a part of the job of being a parole/probation officer is actually the basis
of the job, which is monitoring that people are acting as the should be to reach success and
then locking them up if they continually fail. Being a parole officer, although maintains some of
the values discussed previously, does not lend itself to all of them. I would say it values all of
the previous discussed values up until a point where it no longer cares about them and decides
the only way to fix a problem is through punishment. Many people have stereotypes of
criminals and in my field placement I realized that many of those stereotypes truly are
stereotypes. One should be accepting, non-judgmental, objective, keep confidentiality and
accountability, and try to empower their clients/offenders to self-determination. Unlike social
work though when people fail we do not continue to observe some of these values such as
empowerment, acceptance, and self-determination. A decision is made for the client and they
are no longer believed in, but sent to prison. It is not this way obviously for all clients as some
succeed, but the fact that locking someone up as a way of problem solving is not a value I hold.

In my mind and understanding there are many policies that need to be changed. In fact
a large part of the criminal justice needs to change in my opinion. I dont think this is a conflict
that I have or ever will completely resolve. I think it is more or something I came to terms with
through the fact that I was serving an organization with a policy that I needed to follow and that
I was still learning from the experience. The time I would spend there was only temporary and
is part of a system that many believe in. What I can do is try to help offenders in other
capacities such as treatments and therapy. It wasnt really any policy that I believed need to be
changed as much as a discomfort with the system as the changes I would make would
completely change the agency and the system it works within.

How have your attitudes regarding people/situation/policy changed since becoming a social
work major? How will that change impact how you practice?
Since becoming a social work major the way in which I believe people out to be helped
has changed a lot. Initially upon becoming a social worker I knew nothing about what a social
worker was besides someone who helps people. All I knew was that there were a lot of
problems in the world and I wanted them fixed. My attitudes have changed since then as I feel
that I am not going to be the one helping people, but I will be a tool in helping people help
themselves. I feel like I had heard about this a lot in classes, but this really hit me during my
field placement when I realized I cannot control someones outcome. If they do not want to try
to succeed hard enough or just say they want to, but dont act, then they wont and that isnt

your fault. These are ideas and attitudes that greatly impact the situations in which I will
practice.
I also think that since becoming a social work major and spending a large portion of time
studying people I have a greater knowledge of policies that negatively and positively affect
people. My attitudes towards these policies have changed in not only do I know about them,
but I value them and see them as keys to solving the larger issues at hand. I found that as I have
gone deeper into my understanding my attitudes have shifted less away from helping people
only through direct practice, but now wanting to work more towards changing policy. I feel I am
more frustrated by policy and see it as the key to actually helping people more permanently.
This all impacts how I practice as it impacts what type of situation I will practice in. I feel that if I
do not use my skills and knowledge to do some more macro work I will be doing a disservice to
help people. I also think that as a social work I have learned to try to see and understand a lot
of the unseen that clients may present and that one must be able to understand the things
they may not like or the decisions they may not agree with.

Considering your strengths and limitations- what are your plans to utilize/capitalize on those
strengths and improve on those personal limitations? COMPETENCY 2.1.1 bullet 2
I believe that my strengths are that I am very empathetic, positive, and adaptable, as
well as that I am a maximizer and a developer. These are all strengths that lend themselves well
to social work. As a developer I like to help people improve or develop themselves and their
own skills. This what the core of social work is and can capitalize on it by being intentional with

my interactions with clients and colleagues in the future. As a maximizer I want to make the
most of all situations, which is something I belief, but also something that takes some
motivation. In order to capitalize on this I need to find the proper motivation within my position
so as to capitalize on it. It is easy to see how this strength can be utilized not only when directly
more with clients, but also in wanted to use all available time to continue to do strong and
ethical work. Empathy is an important part of social work in that if you cannot or do not try to
empathize with your client you may not want to help them or you may not see ways in which
they may need help that they are not as open to asking about. Trying to feel what someone else
feels is a great motivator for continual social work. Positivity is simply a strength that keeps you
going through difficult times, which is a common experience for social workers especially during
burn out. Positivity is also a helpful tool when working with clients in difficult situations who
may need someone to provide a positive outlook to see potential strengths in the situation.
Finally adaptability can be often utilized as you never know what problems may arise and need
to be addressed. If a person is too focused on one part they may not be able to help as well
when something major occurs.
Some limitations I have are that I can be overly empathetic which can lead to a lot of
overthinking and considering of a particular case or situation. A positive to that though is that
my adaptiveness allows me to quickly move of a subject when needed and does not allow me
to be held up by one issue for too long before I am used to what is going on and allow my
positivity to re-spark. I feel the largest limitation I face is my worry that I will be unable to help
all of the people I want to in the way I want to. The best way I see to improve on this is to use it
as a motivation to keep going and moving forward towards hopefully more success.

How will the roles you performed at this placement prepare YOU for a career in the field of
social work and other roles you may encounter? COMPETENCY 2.1.1.bullet 3
I think roles I performed at my field placement have prepared me for a career in the
field of social work and other roles I may encounter through a great deal of understanding what
practice actually looks like and how interaction should or can be like. As a field placement
student I was able to work with client with my supervisor and on my own. I was able to attend
numerous group treatment meetings, as well as many hearings. I visited the jail and
encouraged access to other resources through referral.
As for working with clients individually and with my supervisor, I learned how to build
report with clients and gained more confidence and understanding in how client interaction go.
I chose this placement because I thought it would challenge me and what I found is that if I can
work with people who are not receiving help voluntarily, that working with those who
voluntarily are receiving help, although is not easier, will allow my more confidence in at least
initial interactions. I also feel that I have gained a lot of practical knowledge as to how the
corrections portion of the criminal justice system works which is helpful as it sometimes acts as
a pseudo-social services system and seeing where is succeeds and fails affects how other
services come into play. I do feel prepared to work with clients individually because of the time
spent with clients individually and while watching my supervisor work with clients. I also feel
like I have gained some understanding of the consideration that go into a treatment group and
all the variables that come into play in practice.

Examine the challenges faced by under resourced client systems and how has social policy
impacted their lives.
When I think of under resources client systems I immediately think of people with
mental health and substance abuse issues. These are people who are often stigmatized and
sometimes seen as dangerous or criminal. Although there are services available to people with
these issues, there are blaring gaps in treatment almost anywhere you go and especially in rural
areas. There is also a great amount of inequity in the number of professionals to individuals in
each state making access to care extremely difficult. These are two populations whose
problems are more often than not blaringly obvious, but are also populations of people who
large portions if not majorities are not receiving any treatment and those who do not receive
treatment may not be receiving enough treatment or continuous treatment. The stigma
associated with these problems is so great that they do not want to receive treatment for fear
of judgment. There are also stigmas prolonged within the criminal justice system that do not
allow people to be treated as such and receive less treatment than needed before throwing
them back out into the public quickly with no formal immersion process most times.
Policies that impact the lives of those with substance abuse and mental health issues or lack
thereof are great. Most drugs are criminalized leading to unnecessary incarceration/supervision
and stigmatize their use making receiving treatment less desirable. There are few policies that
are currently trying to increase access to treatment for both substance abuse and mental
health that dont also hurt what they are trying to help in some aspect. In Iowa Governor

Branstad shut down to mental health facilities in favor of community based treatment that it
doesnt seem has increased or changed much yet. Social policy could push more money to
increase the number of professionals, fill in gaps in treatment, and help decrease the stigma by
showing a want to support those with mental illness and understanding of the prevalence and
need to treat with parity.

What is most challenging for you in the Code of Ethics document? How does this document play
out in the arena of practice?
The most challenging parts in the Code of Ethics document for me would be make sure I am
strictly adhering to confidentiality and working with a supervisor. Although I do not foresee any
major problems or disregard for confidentiality within myself, I at times have a difficult time
understanding at what point is sharing information okay and when it goes too far and could be
breaking confidentiality. It is clear that using a name or saying something that would make the
person clearly distinguishable is not okay, but I sometimes worry that even sharing stories
about what happened at work today could be going too far. I think this is especially a
challenge with colleagues as I feel that in many work environments that I have experienced
little to nothing is held back between colleagues and people often know a lot about the case
load of others. I feel that a general concern for confidentially shows that it is valued and
thought out. Maintaining this thought process or finding my line will help me practice ethically.
I think it plays out in practice as well in not sharing what I think breaks confidentiality and

stopping my colleagues when I think they may be breaking the confidentially of their clients
unnecessarily.
The part for me that is challenging about working cohesively with a supervisor is that I am
still grasping my work style and how I like to be supervised so it is difficult for me to articulate
that if I am not completely comfortable with the person. I also have held a lot of leadership
opportunities enjoy that role so going back to a more subordinate role may be difficult without
some leadership to compliment that.

How have you become more culturally competent through field and what are the challenges you
still face in your impending practice?
I would say that I was definitely able to become more culturally competent during my
field placement, but not exponentially. I think if one says they must have either worked with a
very uniform case load or have not spent enough time reflecting on their experience. There is
always something you can take away to become more culturally competent. I think a challenge I
still face is that I want to use my Spanish language skills, which definitely need to be sharpened,
but I also have the least amount of experience thus far in my life with Latino/a populations. I
did live in Spain for four months, but Spaniards are different from Mexicans are different from
Hondurans are all different from people from any Latino country. That is a specific challenge I
foresee myself facing in my impending practice, but there are endless possibilities of challenges
I may face that are impossible to predict. I also believe that in any place you go in the United
States whether the Midwest, South, East, etc. there are different cultures you will come in

contact with in practice that will need to be understood and a level of competency will be
necessary.

Describe the value of your Loras education in relation to your future career, leadership and/or
graduate school goals.
The most valuable parts of my Loras education in relation to my future career would the
experiences that allowed me to understand what active learning is and apply it to my
experiential learning experiences. Active learning is all about not just digesting what is taught to
you, but chewing it over and responding to how it affects you. Active learning is about playing
your part in what you come in contact with by thinking about it outside of what is suggested
and acting on it. When you try to further your understanding outside of what you are taught
you are then actively learning. I was able to push my active learning abilities to the limit during
my experiential learning experiences as I knew they were uncommon and I wanted to be able
to pull as much from them as possible so I pushed my capacity to learn in all environments.
Having experience in active learning, I will now be able to better apply it to all parts of my
future professionally and if I go on to graduate school one day. My Loras education did more
than teach me what was in books, but what I learned looked like in real life through experiential
learning and pushing myself to be more engaged in learning through active learning.

What constructive feedback can you offer the Program for ongoing improvement in the Social
Work Program as a whole for future students?

Constructive feedback I have to offer the social work program for ongoing
improvements for future students would be to make sure that when a teacher who teaches an
important class such as a Practice class goes on sabbatical that it is gone over in detail how the
class is normally taught and what expectations are because talking with some other students it
became clear that expectations for class were different between years with different teachers.
This is a core class and it appears strange that we would not all have the same experience or
amount of stress and learning.
Another item of feedback would be having individual meetings with future field
placement students to go over field placement agencies that may be a good fit for what you are
looking for. It is hard to pick out what agencies to interview at and with further discernment
with a professor I feel this could be improved upon a lot and lead to much better experiences
that better match what students are looking for before they commit to one of three
interviewed agencies that many of which could be poor fits. I know based on my interviews
there was only one real agency in which I would get social work-like experience.
Finally I believe there should be a session outside of classes for juniors/seniors that talks
in depth about grad school, licensure, and what different social work degrees are and how they
are useful. I feel like I was never talked to about any of these things indepthly and they are
things I wish I knew about before I graduated.