Essays on Ethical Issues in Community Work

The task is: “Therapists often enjoy opportunities to serve as an agent for social change within the community. In doing so, we believe that we contribute to a mentally healthier environment that fully informs its members of the mental health resources available to them.

Think about how you would respond to the nine questions beginning on p. 528 of your textbook. After considering your responses, discuss how you might personally undertake the role of change agent in your community. What professional skills will you apply in your endeavors?

Given your professional aspirations within the helping community, what do you see as positive tasks that you may undertake within your own community? How confident are you that you may accomplish your goals?”

When a therapist is going to start the community work, he/she has to understand that the number of ethical responsibilities significantly increases in comparison to the individual clients. The community approach focuses on ways of changing the environmental factors causing individual problems.

First of all, the therapist that practices community work develops a deep understanding of the client. It is known that the approaches to work with individual patients and work with communities differ. For instance, the major task in the work with communities is preventing rather than mediating problem.

The community counseling model usually includes the following four components: direct client services, direct community services, and indirect community services.

In my opinion, the major tasks of the community therapist are the social transformation of the community and also well being of the each member of the community.

In the process of the community work I’m going to use the following principles and values: cultural diversity and understanding, development of a critical consciousness, commitment to social justice, and mutual learning.

I also will take into account alternative counselor roles that may be necessary for the community, will develop treatment programs for the whole community, educate people and focus on conflicts resolution.

Conflicts may often occur in the community, because the problematic situations may appear in the interpersonal relations. I’m confident that I will be able to successfully work in the community and in my opinion there is doubt that the therapist has to be absolutely confident in its actions to be able to serve as the positive example and the mediator.