Introduction to Self-Identity
Self-identity is a person’s self-conceptions, self-referent cognitions, or self-definition that people use to describe themselves as a consequence of the structural role positions they occupy or particular behaviors they engage in regularly. These self-identities reflect the labels people use to express themselves. Self-identities may be seen in the context of providing meaning for the self. This is because they refer to concrete role specifications and behaviors and differentiate roles or actions from counter-roles or opposing behaviors. The identity theory perceives the self not as an independent psychological entity but as a multifaceted social construct that results from the roles individuals play in the society and their behaviors. One of the predominant aspects of our identity is racial identity. This racial identity is, in some manner, subjective to power and privilege in society. Through the Cross model, the RID describes how Black individuals develop themselves as racial beings, acknowledge the realities of structural racism and White privilege, and come to accept race as a healthy aspect of themselves and others.
Description of My Ethnic group, socioeconomic class, Religion, Age group, Sexual orientation, and Community I grew up in
Under racial and ethnic classification, I fall under the Black or African people category, making me a Black person. My socioeconomic status refers to my social standing as an individual in society. This standing can be assessed through my level of education, income, and occupation. In reviewing these aspects, I can classify myself in the middle class. In terms of religion, I can describe myself as a practicing Christian and a member of the Catholic Church. In classifying myself in an age group, I fall under the young adult group. I am also heterosexual, which means I am attracted to people of the opposite gender. The primary means of classifying my Community is through the locality, which is Greenwich Village. I’ve lived most of my life in this neighborhood, and overall, it is a fantastic place.
In describing the groupings I currently belong to, I would first say I am a Black person who belongs to the middle class in terms of socioeconomics. I am still a practicing Christian who attends the Catholic Church regularly. I am also a young adult, and I have remained a heterosexual. My neighborhood is still Greenwich Village since it remains the neighborhood of my parents.
What My Parents and Significant others Said About Families Different from Our Family
In our neighborhood, there were culturally diverse families, including Whites and Asians. Older family members usually advised us that while the Asian family living next door were good people, we were to limit our interactions with them. We also had two white families living in the neighborhood. Our parents usually advised us that these people were different from us, and we were therefore advised to keep our distance. We always used to stand in awe when this family and their kids, who looked pink, passed us by. Sometimes, when they came out, kids would follow them chanting ‘mzungu.’ We always perceived these two families as superior and more cultured than us Africans. This conforms to the pre-encounter phase of Cross’ model, where we, as Africans, motivated by our parents, had devalued ourselves while putting the white families on a higher pedestal. We also perceived that since Asians were somehow white, they were also on a higher pedestal than us.
Experience Where My Culture Was the Dominant Culture
In the Community where I live, my culture has remained dominant throughout my life. This has put me in touch with the realities of being a black African person. Our culture was dominant because our group was larger and more powerful than the others. Being the majority meant we wielded more power over the other groups. The white families represented the subculture since they lived differently but were not opposed to our dominant culture. The Asian families made the counterculture, and this is because their culture opposed the core values enshrined in our culture. Their religion, beliefs, and practices were different from those of our culture. It was particularly striking that they were allowed to intermarry within the family, a concept we found strange. The experience of being in the dominant culture meant that I was socialized in by prevailing cultural norms and practices. My code of conduct also tends to reflect and replicate this culture in various ways. The first impact of being in the dominant culture was that I was introduced to the definitions and significant characteristics of our culture, the core beliefs, and what meant to belong to this culture.
Gifts Brought to Social Life
The first important gift that I can bring to social work given my background is empathy. This is because I have developed the ability to identify with and understand other people’s experiences. Due to my own experiences, I am well placed to perceive, understand, experience, and respond to other people’s emotional states and ideas. I also understand that experiences are unique to a person, which means every case must be handled in its own context. This is not to disregard generalities that may exist across cultures, but to understand that everyone has specific and unique perceptions and worldviews.
The second important gift I possess is good communication skills. From interacting with several different cultures from childhood into young adulthood, I have been introduced to other cultures’ significant characteristics. This will facilitate interactions with a wide range of people in the field of social work. Proper communication will also be essential in understanding the client’s needs, which is vital in advocating for their rights. Being well-versed in varied cultural nuances, I am mindful of body language and other non-verbal cues clients may use to communicate. Another skill is the ability to apply different models that characterize racial development in understanding the different stages a client may be in developing their racial identity. This is crucial in comprehending and handling a client’s needs.
Personal Qualities That Will Facilitate Interpersonal Relationships with People from Diverse Cultures
One of the personal attributes that will play a crucial role in developing these relationships is cultural competence. Working effectively with clients from diverse backgrounds requires a social worker to be conscious and responsive to people’s cultural beliefs and practices. My cultural competency results first from the ability to examine my own cultural background and identity while pursuing the relevant knowledge, skills, and values that enhance the delivery of services to people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Achieving cultural competency means I have a non-judgmental attitude and an appreciation for diversity and the value of individual differences, which will enable me to cater to my client’s needs.
Another personal quality that will be an added value to developing interpersonal relationships is active listening. This will be crucial in identifying, understanding, and providing clients and colleagues’ needs. Listening requires one to concentrate, ask the necessary and relevant questions, and utilize paraphrasing and summarizing techniques. Active listening will be crucial in people’s engagement and developing trust and rapport with clients. This trait will also be necessary for observing for cultural nuances that a person holds dear and how to handle them.
A personal quality that may prove detrimental to establishing healthy interpersonal relationships with people from diverse cultures is impatience. As a social worker, it is a given that I will be encountering a wide array of circumstances and individuals in the line of duty. Working through complex cases and clients with multiple challenges who require a special dedication to get to the root of their problems may require astute patience. As an impatient person, this may improve to be a barrier to developing the needed interpersonal relationships. However, this can be addressed by learning to be calm and collected in scenarios where I begin to show signs of my impatience. I can also remind myself of my mission and objective as a social worker to assist those in need in society. This could help me in focusing and carrying on with what I am required to do.
Blind Spots that Could Affect My Work
One of the main blind spots that could affect my work as a social worker is a countertransference. Countertransference is a term that means the inner emotional reactions of a social worker to a client. This feeling is not limited to a social worker but any helping person. This factor emerges when the client’s vulnerabilities intersect with those of the social worker. A social worker may or may not be aware of this factor in their helping relationships. However, it is present in all the helping relationships, and it may occur at micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice. Countertransference must be understood and managed, especially in relationships that elicit strong emotions. When not addressed, countertransference can result in a blind spot that may generate un-therapeutic reactions from social workers.
I see myself working well with clients who are open and can confide and trust in me to help them. This is because it is easier to understand someone who is more forthcoming with their feelings than a cagey client with their issues. An open client means I will obtain the necessary information and develop the required knowledge to respond to the client’s needs and demands effectively. It is also easier to build trust and rapport with a client who is open and can communicate their issues. This trust and rapport are crucial for the client to adapt and use the interventions I may provide.
One of the gaps that I have in my professional experience is working with people with disabilities. Social workers play a vital role in developing interventions that strengthen human functioning and enhance societal structures’ effectiveness. These structures provide resources and opportunities for clients and beneficiaries of services, and one of the critical populations that benefit from these services are people with disabilities. These services include that social workers provide include preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services. This gap in my professional life has resulted from minimal interactions with this population. However, this gap must be eliminated since, as a social worker, I will be required to assist disabled persons in caring for disabled persons and ensuring they are integrated into the mainstream social settings.
Working with mentally challenged clients may pose a challenge to me as a social worker. This is because clients with mental health issues may have complex problems that may require addressing. These complex issues may take a toll on a social worker resulting in stress and burnout. The main challenges that may be encountered when handling this group are committing clients to psychiatric hospitals without their consent, child abuse, neglect reporting, and establishing and maintaining confidentiality. Health insurance companies also pose a challenge in covering and paying for mental health care, which may compound a social worker’s frustration.
Development of Self-Awareness on My Biases and Impact on the Social Work Practice
Implicit bias is a factor that means an individual harbors unconscious biases or expectations and does not necessarily mean they have bad intentions or are aware of these prejudices. As an individual aspiring to be a social worker, it is critical that I be mindful of any biases I may be harboring. These are both conscious and unconscious bias. Managing these biases is crucial because being motivated by uncontrolled, unconscious beliefs may cloud my judgments, leading to improper and unfair decisions. The first step in addressing these biases is to identify them and understand their genesis. Biases result from thoughts ingrained in us from an early age due to observations and actions around us and from the media. Understanding biases stem from a self-awareness of my beliefs and feelings. Understanding these biases and their impact on the social work practice provides the ability to make just and informed decisions and avoid decisions based on emotion that blindly follows implicit biases. Another impact is that I can acknowledge how bias influences our perspectives and affect those around us.
Conclusion
Understanding an individual’s development as racial beings, acknowledging the realities of structural racism, and finally accepting race as a beneficial aspect of ourselves and others is essential in forming our identities. It is also imperative to assess and understand our self-identities and how they affect our professional lives as social workers. Developing qualities like compassion, empathy, cultural competency, and active listening are necessary requirements in providing proper care as a social worker. It is also necessary that we assess ourselves for prejudices that we may hold consciously or unconsciously and how they affect our professional practice. Managing and understanding our self-identity’s various components is crucial in ensuring we make just, informed decisions in the professional social work setting.