Ethical Issues in Community Work - Research Paper Example

Ethical Issues in Community Work Introduction Community refers to a group of people sharing a discrete belief, location, activity, interests, as well as other facets that pinpoint their similarities and demonstrate their differences with those who do not share the characteristics (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2010). Members of a community are able to pinpoint the characteristics that bind them with other community members. In as much as members of a community cannot recognize the facets that differentiate them from others in the existing situation; it is worth noting that they would eventually recognize them. However, comprehending these characteristics make community members become complete and develop mutually (Bersoff, 2008). Abstract For a community to meet the needs of its constituents, the relevant stakeholders and the community agencies comprising (non-profit or for-profit, public or private institutions) should provide various psychological and social services to the community (Leadbeater, 2006). This paper shall seek to explain the ethical issues that promote the welfare of individuals in a community set up, the challenges that communities face, the opportunities, as well as the assets that communities possess. It will also seek to identify the problems communities face and resolutions that can be used to solve them. Discussion Individuals responsible for ensuring that the community members and the community groups are well taken care of are referred to as community workers. They include; social workers, psychiatrists, nurses, family and couple therapists, mental health counselors, community organizers and developers, among others (Hardina, 2000). These people should mobilize resources to ensure that the community members are healthy and are enjoying their stay in the community. Therefore, in order to function efficiently, they should be well versed with the assets and opportunities in the community. This is beneficial since some cases may call for referrals, and it may be discouraging if the community social worker does not know where to refer a community member for assistance. They should also be skilled in out-of-office strategies in order to operate as agents, advocates and consultants of change. Additionally, health workers should be well equipped with knowledge and skills of how to effect change in the society (Hoggett, Miller, & Mayo, 2008). Community workers should also be informed on the current social issues that affect the community members and the community as a whole. Having knowledge of the existing social issues will put them in a better place to share information with various groups and clients in the community (Banks, 2012). They should also advocate for the right of all members of the society. However, they pay special attention to the marginalized and the minority groups since they are always neglected and discriminated. Some of the marginalized groups include; orphans, the elderly, the disabled, just to mention but a few. For effective service to the community, community workers should collaborate with other agencies, individuals, as well as organizations. This is beneficial since the collaboration would facilitate the exchange of ideas, views and opinions for the best interests of the community. Traditional approaches to comprehending and treating human problems revolves around resolving internal conflicts. However, the community approach revolves around altering the environmental factors responsible for individual problems. Studies have revealed that environmental factors contribute to several problems faced by different community groups in society. Therefore, a community process that handles both environmental and individual problem serves the best interest of the community members (Parada & Homan, 2010). In as much as the community depends on the help of community workers to champion the developmental process; the community should believe in its abilities and not its problems. This is because strong belief in its strengths will enable to strive towards preventing its problems, rather than solving them. Community counseling plays an integral role in ensuring that the community members are well. This is because it provides an outline for the intervention services and tactics that promote personal development. Community counselors should strive towards increasing public awareness on issues that affect daily lives of the community members. They also strive towards affecting policies, as well as influencing legislations that aim to improve the life of individuals living in a community (Marsh & Magee, 2000). Community counselors should have the capability to multi-task, and this would be extremely helpful in saving time and minimizing expenses that could be incurred in employing extra employees. For instance, a peer counselor responsible for counseling community members who wish to take HIV/AIDS tests should be the one taking the tests. It would be expensive to hire another person to conduct the test, yet the peer counselor can also complete the task successfully. Community counselors should be able to recognize like-minded individuals whether professionals or not so that they can work together to effect change in the community. They should also have the capacity to connect with members of the community so that their work may be easy. Cordial relationships with the community members would facilitate effective communication between the community members and the community counselors. In this way, the community members would benefit a lot since they will be free to share their problems with the counselors, and eventually their problems will be solved. Social Justice Perspective in Community Work Social justice operates on the notion that every person has a right to receive equal treatment and fair allocation of the communal resources. Social justice aims at addressing issues that touch on privileges, social biases, as well as oppression. Community counselors consider social justice as one of the areas that demand their attention (Breit, 2011). This is because the society faces several barriers that hinder the community members from participating fully in its development process. These barriers include; racism, segregation, limited access to quality health care, and discrimination. Therefore, social justice and its advocacy approach aims at ending the oppressive practices in the society. Community counselors should re-conceptualize the manner in which they traditionally viewed and perceived counseling. They should desist from viewing counseling as an encounter between them and their clients, and that the problems clients are facing originate within them; instead they should acquire advocacy and social justice competencies to obtain a paradigm shift that aim at solving social injustices (Gallagher & Hodge, 2012). Equipping community counselors with the knowledge, skills and multicultural counseling competencies should be facilitated by incorporating social justice perspectives in the counseling coursework. Community counselors should employ the use of counseling models to develop ethical sense from a social justice perspective. Community counselors should assess the community’s cultural values and the extent to which the intervention strategies can improve the mental health of the community members. It is imperative for the community counselors to ascertain whether the community’s cultural values and their personal values are congruent. This is because in some instances, an individual’s personal values can differ with the community’s values, and if not checked properly, then the community counselor may fail to perform in his or her duties. The best example occurred with Lupe, a community social worker who was serving the community in a mental health agency creating awareness against HIV/AIDS. The agency involved the local churches to help them reach several society members. However, one church ceased supporting the agency since the agency was supporting promoting safe sex; thus, advocating for use of condoms. Lupe, being a staunch member of the church was torn between leaving the agency and continuing with her job. In this scenario, it is essential for an individual to define the line between personal values and communal values. In as much as Lupe was a staunch church member; she could decide to continue with the job since she wanted to help her community members. On the other hand, she could also decide to leave the job. In both ways, nobody could question her decision since it would be her choice, and she is entitled to her decision. Ethical practice demands that counselors should assume advocacy roles that revolve around affecting public policy, public opinion as well as legislations. Therefore, counselors should comprehend the influence of social, economic, political, and cultural factors that affect human development in order to perform exceptionally as advocates of clients (Breit, 2011). Community counselors should also understand their beliefs and values regarding social issues that affect the marginalized populations. This is extremely essential since they will be in a better position to advocate for the demands of the marginalized populations. They should also have multicultural competency in order to comprehend the cultural relevance and suitability of the advocacy strategies used to solve the sociopolitical problems of the community. Issues affecting the community There are several issues that affect the community. This implies that the manner in which they should be handled vary since they also differ in significance. Issues describe areas of concern that should be addressed for the efficient functioning of the society. The fundamental issues provide the starting for action. These are issues that must be addressed first before anything. This is because they are the most pressing and affects several people. For instance, hunger and poverty can be considered as fundamental issues since they pose several problems and questions (Hoggett et al., 2008). They are broad; thus, demands political organization to be solved. They also offer the foundation for other issues to be built. Additionally, they give community workers a framework that they can use to recognize, examine and provide meaning to definite matters that affect the community. Specific issues refer to all the barriers that prevent an individual from accomplishing what they are destined to achieve. There are three types of specific issues. They include; recruitment or mobilizing issues, maintenance issues and long-range issues. Mobilizing issues captures people attention due to dissatisfaction with the existing conditions, and spur them into action. Additionally, they help in illustrating a problem and encouraging individuals to work on them (Parada & Homan, 2010). The community is faced by several problems that require immediate attention. All these issues fall under mobilizing issues. The community workers are dissatisfied with the state of things in the community; therefore, they come out strongly to make a difference by engaging in meaningful projects that are directed towards solving the problems. Long-range issues refer to issues that take a long time to solve. These issues are of significance to the community despite laxity to solve them. Community members are not inclined towards solving long-range issues. This is attributed to the fact that their pay off is extremely far or because there are difficult challenges faced when solving them. Mobilizing issues should be used as stepping stones for achieving a feat in long-range issues (Bersoff, 2008). For instance, a community should come up with a plan on how it strives to alleviate poverty among its community members. The first step should be calling all the stakeholders in the community who have the same vision. The stakeholders made up of investors, professionals, non-professionals, among others should come up with a workable plan that they must strive to follow. The plan is a long-term way of solving the poverty problem. Maintenance issues aim to improve the state of the community. Maintenance issues entail taking a strong stand on a public topic or endorsing the position taken by another group. In regard to this, the community agencies should support each since all of them strive to improve the living conditions of the community members (Parada & Homan, 2010). The community support groups should not rival each other since the community members are the ones who will be hurt. Conclusion In conclusion, issues affecting community work should not be taken lightly since they can break or make a community. Therefore, community workers should be well equipped with all the information that they need to serve the community members with all the care and attention that they deserve. This implies that they should be well conversant with the current issues relating to the community they are serving. Additionally, they should observe legal provisions while handling the community members. For instance, community counselors’ should observe client confidentiality (Marsh & Magee, 2000). In this way, they would encourage many people with problems to seek help since they have confidence that their secrets and problems will not be told to the public. References Banks, S. (2012). Ethical Issues in Youth Work. New York: Routledge Bersoff, D. (2008). Ethical conflicts in psychology (4th ed.). Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association. Breit, R. (2011). Professional Communication: Legal and Ethical Issues. London: LexisNexis Butterworths. Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Callanan, P. (2010). 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