Generalist Theory In Social Work

Dr. Yeo did a wonderful job teaching us research, and the benefits of having a research-informed practice. It is important to understand theories, and how social workers can apply theory into their practice. When working with individuals, families, groups, or communities, it is important to understand system theories. If you’re working with a family that has an ill family member, the family system may be impacted. It is important for social workers to understand that systems can change and adjust, and we as social workers can help a family system find their balance again. For example, a family member may have to take on the role of the ill family member. In addition, I learned that it is important to practice theory and engage in quantitative and qualitative research methods. If you are working in a community that has a high homeless population, it would be important to consider the research that has been done to assess the homeless population in this community; this could be both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data would assess how many people are homeless in this community; whereas, qualitative data would assess
Whitford’s class was the generalist model. As bachelor level social workers, we will be utilizing the generalist model of social work in our practice. One of the first stages of the generalist model is engagement. I learned the importance of the first initial engagement with a client; in addition, Dr. Whitford taught us different ways that we can engage with diverse groups of people. I also learned the importance of using empathy, warmth, silence, and other social work skills during the engagement stage. I also learned the importance of being aware of my biases, and how my biases can impact my ability to engage effectively with clients. Dr. Togo taught us that we must put our “lenses” on to ensure our biases do not influence how we interact with a client that may have different views than