Social Work Values

Throughout my involvement with all parties, I endured commitment to Alan, as he was very vulnerable, and preoccupations with his well-being and social justice, which are rooted in the social work profession value base. The key values I applied while working with Alan were the right to determination, confidentiality and privacy, I have the obligation to protect Alan from harm, and I have an obligation to obey the law and the right to self-protection (BASW, 2016g).
Incorporating social work values are central to its practice, maintaining behavioural codes and standards of practice aimed at protecting the public are undoubtedly essential. Due to the types of situations, I encountered and had to deal with, I also had to explore personal aspects
I found it difficult as my personal values conflicted with some members of the families (BASW, 2016g). In addition, as I had a statutory duty to protect Alan while restricting his freedom as the application for a DoLs was approved. Dilemmas occurred also in the care setting and the availability of resources to accommodate Alan’s’ other medication conditions. I expressed that the care provider was not looking at Alan holistically but they primary focused on his dementia. When making decisions involving risk to Alan’s health and social well-being and while being aware of social work values I felt out of my depth to make skilful judgements due to the lack of accumulated experience. Therefore, I spoke to practice educator regarding my responsibility in such a situation and policies and structures of accountability guidance of the local authority. I gained the knowledge and understanding that accountability is the process where the quality of my practice is to be judged and I am responsible for my actions and decisions. Therefore, I needed to know my limitations and seek advice when I was unsure of what action to take and this being the case throughout my placement (Trevithick,