An analysis of your personal theories and their impact on your future practice. Homework Help

Topic: An analysis of your personal theories and their impact on your future practice.

An analysis of your personal theories and their impact on your future  practice.  Aim  To demonstrate understanding of your personal or implicit theories and the role they will  play in your work with individuals and families.  Topic  Discuss your personal theories about life, how they will influence your practice both  positively and negatively, why self-awareness is crucial to professional practice, and what  strategies you will put into place to limit the negative impacts of your personal theories in  practice.  You will have discussed the importance of developing your self-awareness for effective  practice in previous units including ATS1362 and ATS1363. This essay asks you to further  develop your own understanding of your values and beliefs, expectations and assumptions  and to develop your awareness of the importance of self-awareness for effective practice.  Copyright ? Monash University 2012. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may  not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.  9  There are four key aspects to this assignment:  1. Discuss your personal theories about how life is or should be. For example, ?I think we  should always try to do our best in whatever we do.? When we use words like ?should?  or ?must? we are expressing our values and beliefs. It might help to reflect on why you  are doing this course and the things that you feel strongly about or that make you  angry about the way people treat each other or are treated by our society. These are  indicative of your personal or implicit theories.  2. Now, think about the experiences you have had that are relevant to your practice,  perhaps situations where you have found yourself in a ?helping role? within your family  or friendship group. Perhaps you have been involved in volunteer work or can imagine  yourself in your future professional role. Discuss how your personal theories (and the  values, beliefs and attitudes that they reflect) both benefit and inhibit your practice.  3. Thirdly, you need to examine the literature and discuss why developing an ongoing  practice of self-reflection and developing self-awareness is crucial to effective practice.  4. Finally, informed by your self knowledge and your understanding of interpersonal  theory discuss personal and professional strategies to assist you to limit the negative  influences your implicit theories may have on your practice as a case manager.  Important Note: A minimum of seven (7) references is required.  Assignment hints  We make judgements about other people all the time. This is normal. We make  judgements about our friends, family, classmates and colleagues. The values and beliefs  that inform our judgements become implicit theories developed through our experiences in  families, school, our culture and/or religion, and we see them as ?normal? and ?right?. Often  our cultural values and beliefs are ?invisible? to us. As professionals we have a great deal  of power both to give and to deny people access to services and resources on the basis of  our judgements. It is imperative that we continually reflect on our values and beliefs and  the way they influence our attitudes towards others. Our beliefs about life will both benefit  and disadvantage people using our services depending on the way we use the power we  have. For example, if I believe that a person can achieve anything though hard work my  practice may be influenced positively because I will be very encouraging and supportive.  This same belief, however, can affect my practice negatively because I may become  impatient with people who I do not believe are trying as hard as I think they could! I might  begin to think about them as lazy or unmotivated or unwilling to change. I might feel they  are ungrateful for my efforts. The descriptors I use will become labels and I might use  these labels to justify denying them further services or to impose punitive sanctions on  their further access to resources. All this can be a consequence of my values and beliefs.  Rather than focussing on my ability to listen to and understand their situation, to empathise  and show unconditional positive regard I find my inner voice making judgements based on  my own assumptions and expectations about others. I need to acknowledge and  understand these things about myself and then develop strategies to ensure that I do not  use the power of my professional role to impose my personal beliefs on others.  Copyright ? Monash University 2012. All rights reserved. Except as provided in the Copyright Act 1968, this work may  not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the host Faculty and School/Department.  10  You are, therefore, required to think critically about the influence of your personal theories  on your own practice, discuss both the positive and negative influences of each theory you  choose to discuss, and outline some strategies to aIDress the potential negative  influences of your personal theories on your practice. Marks will be awarded according to  the assessment sheet attached.  Remember to include a separate abstract and prepare your assignment in essay style  with an introduction and conclusion outlining the way you aIDress the topic.  Remember your assessment will need to reflect how you utilise your personal theories  and the literature to demonstrate your understanding of the importance of self-awareness  for professional practice.  Important Note: Obviously, in this assignment you are going to have to tell me about  your personal theories and why they are important to you. You are not,  however, required to relate more than you are comfortable revealing  about your lives. As you consider what and how you will discuss your  personal theories and their origins, it is important to consider that as  social and community welfare workers we will be asking people to tell  us, strangers, about very intimate details of their lives and relationships.  The vulnerability and discomfort you may feel will, in some ways, reflect  the feelings of those men, women, young people and children with  whom you will be working. As you write you will be aware of the power  differential between you in your role as a student and the position I am  in, as your marker, to judge your work. In a similar way people seeking  our services will be aware of the power of our roles as professionals to  judge if and how to assist them. It is important to reflect on your feelings  as you write this assignment in your learning journal to help develop  your capacity to empathise.   Reading list for this unit   The reading list for the course unit ATS2822 Advanced counselling and case management is now available at http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/lists/56F6C691-80C7-64BF-8463-B731D9966D5F.html.