Running head: VALUES PAPER

Dachia Butler
Values Paper
Wayne State University

VALUES PAPER

In practicing to become a social worker I believe that all the core values are important in
learning to work with people in everyday life. Some personal values that I have that are
especially helpful in practicing social work are honesty, trust, openness, respect, and
understanding. These values in particular are important to me because they are needed to lay a
foundation with people to make them feel comfortable talking with you. While those values are
congruent to the NASW code of ethics I do have a few biases. Values that may conflict with the
NASW code of ethics can be my desire to try to fix every problem, not liking to ask for help, or
believing that I have all the answers to every question.
All of the core values are helpful in practicing social work. The biggest problem is being
able to separate your own personal values from the professional ones sometimes. You must also
understand that everyone has their own set of values that may be completely different from your
personal values and your professional values. The core values are set in place to help us as social
workers work around situations like that and to help us understand the clients values without our
personal values interfering with the work.
Growing up in a religious family I was basically forced to go to church every Sunday.
However, as I grew older my parents allowed me to make the choice of going to church or not.
After a while I decided that I no longer wanted to attend church. For the few years that I did
attend church on a weekly basis I learned a lot about the Christian religion and about different
people in the church. Although I no longer attend church I still consider myself a spiritual
person. I still read my bible, say my prayers, and live by the will of God. Being of the Christian
belief has helped me relate more with the value importance of human relationship. Just like in
the field of social work it is important to build relationships with people in-order to help them to
your best potential. Your relationship with one person can have an impact on the entire family,

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church, or community. Working together to help each other and trusting each other is important
in getting your job done and making your client feel welcomed.
Another situation that has helped me shape my values and beliefs as it relates to the
NASW code of ethics is the support of my family. Integrity, dignity and worth of a person, and
the importance of human relationships are important in my familys structure. In my immediate
family, consisting of my mother, father, and two sisters, we value respect and trust the most. We
have always been able to come to one another with an open mind and discuss any problems we
had. There is also support that we strongly values. It is sometimes hard to support one another
because we all have different career paths and our values that we learn outside of the home
conflicts some of the time. However, we know that as a family unit we must stay connected to
one another and support each others decisions even if we dont agree. We are no never pass
judgment on each other either. For instance, I have a very liberated I enjoy hearing other peoples
opinions. My sister, who is in school for criminal justice, is more conservative. Every time we
have an open discussion she believes that nothing can surpass her opinions and that everything
she says is 100% right. I often find myself withdrawing myself from the conversation with her
or just letting her talk until she has felt like she made her point.
As I mentioned earlier in my text I am very open to working with all different types of
people. There are a couple populations that would be hard for me to serve. Working with people
who have abused children in any type of way would be especially hard for me to work with.
Serving the population of men who have raped and abused women would definitely be hard for
me. Anybody that has harmed a defenseless child or person would be the most difficult for me to
serve. Understanding that some of these types of people may have serious physiological
problems it will still be difficult to wrap my head around the fact that they harmed an innocent

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person or child. I have never been harmed by anyone but my sister was sexually assaulted when
she was a child. Although I am younger than her I can see the effect the assault has on her to this
very day. When children are assaulted at a young age it scars them forever and sometimes
causes them to spiral out of control. I ask myself why should I waste my time trying to help the
perpetrator when I can help the victim. What kind of assistance can I be to a person who can
commit such a disgusting crime? My sister had counseling after the assault for years but nothing
seemed to help her. She could never forgive the person who had harmed her. This situation
interfered with many of my sisters relationships with people. She admitted to me that she has
trust issues thats why it is hard for her to focus on one steady relationship. She is afraid of being
hurt again and she is not willing to open up. Hearing these types of things from my sister is
devastating for me. Knowing that she will never have a normal relationship or having a family
like the one we grew up in is so sad. She was robbed of her innocence and her future in a way.
There is not anything in my own spiritual/religious beliefs that would be a barrier to
serving this population. In my spiritual beliefs we are not to pass judgment on each other that is
not our job. We are to forgive, move on, and help each other the best way we know how.
Working in the field of social work I know that I cannot avoid working with these types of
people during my entire career. Eventually I will come in contact with someone from this
population. In all honesty it will be very hard for me not to judge a person that has done harm to
innocent people. I will start my session with an open mind. I would first allow the client to
express their personal problems from their past, there previous problems may be the reason they
committed the crime that they did. I would allow the client to make himself comfortable with
me so that he can feel a sense of trust. Then I would help the client in realizing his strengths in
the situations and helping him learn how to manage the negative things in his life that has caused

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him to act out. I would explain to the client that we are all humans and we all make mistakes and
deserve second chances. It is never too late to make changes in life there is always a time to turn
things around and become a better person. The best way I can help them in a non judgmental
way would to just allow them to vent, help them weigh out the good and the bad, and
recommend resources to them that would help them become a better person.
Two ethical codes that will help me serve the population of people who assault innocent
people and children would be the value of dignity and worth of a person and the value of service.
The value of dignity and worth of a person is important because at the end of the day that person
is still human and deserves to be treated as such. We all sin just in different ways but no sin is
greater than another. To help the person you must respect them as a person and understand that
they have emotions too. The value of service is important because as a social worker it will be
my job to serve people who are in need of my service regardless of the reason they need it. I am
there to help make a situation better to allow a person to see through their problems and make
room for improvements. I will serve this population the best way I know how utilizing all of my
resources to help improve the bad imagine this population holds. However, the person must be
willing to work with me if they want to see change I cannot do it alone.
Respectfully referring a client to someone who could better help them would be kind of
difficult without sounding like I am passing judgment or not equipped to do my job. I would try
my best to be honest with the client letting them know that I do not have much experience with
their situation and letting them know that I have a co-worker who is more experienced in that
area that I believe who would of better assistance to them. I would give them a list of people
would could help them but let them know who I would recommend the most and further explain

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to them the services that I best offer and extend an invitation to allow them to contact me if I
could be a service to them in the future.
This part of the assignment has affected my decision to become a social worker in a
negative and positive way. It makes me realize that I will have to work with groups of people
that I am totally against and that could interfere with my personal life. This has a negative affect
on me because I feel like I am going against something that I feel strongly about. It is hard to try
to justify someone abusing an innocent child. If I cannot convince myself that this person
deserves a second chance how can I help them believe that they can become a better person?
However, this can be positive for me because it is a challenge for me. To be the best social
worker I have to be open to challenges and learning how to approach situations that I am
uncomfortable with.
My future plans to adhere to the core values of social work and the ethical codes in
serving populations that challenges my thoughts, beliefs, habits, and actions are to learn how to
set aside values that I feel strongly about that can interfere with me helping a client. I must stay
strictly professional and if I believe that I cannot then I should, in a respectful and professional
manner, refer the client to someone else who can better accommodate his or her needs. In
practicing to become a social worker I will get better at applying the social work code of ethics
and values towards my clients situations.