Reflection on Theoretical Models
Viewing a client from the approach of a person-in-environment perspective and further incorporating practice with a focus on strengths presents both challenges and advantages, both of which are open to change depending upon the client at hand.
Firstly, there is the challenge that the helping professional is faced with and that is their own ability to successfully draw upon and utilize the strengths-based approach when examining the existing interrelations and connections between the individual client and their environment. As Saleebey (2005) points out, this “does not come naturally for many of us. It has to be learned, and many conceptual, professional, institutional, and interpersonal barriers need to …show more content…
As social beings, the construction of our identities and perceptions of self is majorly derived from one’s individual social location and relation to others as a larger whole. Discerning both where and why, an individual fits into the social compartments that they find themselves in, identifying acts of resilience and strengths, as well as recognizing patterns and systems of oppression that permeate a client’s life, all contribute to more effective social work practice as well as a deepened understanding of the power relations that continue to exist in present-day society. As proposed by Carniol (2010), we can use this identification of personal and systemic issues as a source of great magnitude to effect positive change on a macro-level basis (p. 150). Indeed, the unification of coming together as a collective that calls for progressive change and policy restructuring that better supports society’s individuals is reflective of the aim of social work practice with individuals on a personal level—that is, to identify; to change; to resolve and further achieve, and ultimately, to