The article of Erlinda A. Cordero, Direct Practice in Social Work: An Overview, discuss the social work being a dynamic profession and how its practice should be ready in facing the paradigm shift. The author gave historical background on social work practice before 1970 and how these practices evolve due to varied problems and situations that arise from time to time. Also, she talks on how a state of the art practice should be administered in practicing social work where she emphasizes that for an advance direct practice, such as clinical practice, one is expected to be a holder of Master of Science in Social Work degree. The author gave a quick discussion on the philosophy of direct practice and how the instrumental values evolved and eventually became the principles or guidelines to the practice of social work. The length of the author’s discussion involves the role of social workers in direct practice and the helping process. Towards the end of her article, she discourse the implication of the roles and the helping process of social work both in education and practice. At the end part, she tackles the issues and the emerging trends in social work.
THE REACTION: Reading the article makes me realize the rapid evolution of social work practice due to the changing events and situations and how the author wanted the social work practitioners to adapt in this change by narrowing the gap between academe and practice.
Although I am not a Bachelor of Social Work degree holder I came to appreciate the importance of both social work as a profession and the social workers as the implementing person. My current work challenges me to understand the underlying principles, processes and policies in the field of social work. I think it is my responsibility to deliver quality services to my clients, and to do that, I should equipped myself with the knowledge pertaining to the practice of social work profession.
I have a full understanding of