Cultural Awareness Reflection

1. Summary of Issue My cultural background causes me to be curious about cultural competence, and as a future social worker, I think it is important that I am able to understand what it means. With the never-ending string of racially charged violence, protests against the governement, and all other actions carried out my disadvantaged groups, it has caused me to look at myself and the concept of white privlage that I have. I have always known I was not well-rehearsed in the understanding of other cultures, but it was not until things really started to blow up in the public eye that I realized how much different the experiences others have are from my own, and how little I actually picked up on those differences even though I thought I was

Social workers will have clients from all types of cultures and backgrounds that are exremely different than their own, and it is important for the social worker to be able to work with the client in a way that adhears to the Code of Ethics while at the same time respecting the client’s culture in the most

At these levels, you really are looking at the culture as a whole and not just how it affects an individual. An indivudal client may not subscribe to all of their cultural beliefs and practices, but you do not know which ones they might until you begin working with them, so it is important to have a grasp of the cultural as a whole and a willingness to respect all aspects of it. It can be a challenge to understand the differences between groups in each culture, but awareness and willingness are key. As an example, I personally have become friends with someone who is Native American, and she has told me about the culture and beliefs they learn in her tribe. She has also emphasized to me that her subgroup is different from the larger tribe, and the larger tribe is different from the “umbrella” we place all Native Americans under. I found myself eager to learn and understand parts of her culture and her upbringing, but I was self-aware enough to know I could never truly understand what living in her culture is like. As a social worker, if a client came to me and told me things such as, “I must perform rituals before I step onto my land if a spirit has attached itself to me” or “we spend days celebrating, as a community, each young girl entering puberty” I would have to take into account that these traditions are extremely different that what I expereience, and speak to her in a way