A Non Indigenous Social Worker - 1389 Words

I really enjoyed this week’s readings as I was able to gain a better understand of topics that I have never discussed before. As a non-Indigenous social worker, it is necessary to understand the aboriginal people’s history and the impacts faced from the residential school era. According to Walmsley (2009) â€Å"although the last residential school closed in 1996, their influence is omnipresent in Indigenous communities today† (p. 98). This really struck out to me, not much has been done to address all of the issues. I had no previous knowledge of the discriminatory provisions of the liquor policies. These readings really helped in furthering my understandings of impaired health. My volunteer experiences involved working with aboriginal women†¦show more content†¦By being honest in saying, â€Å"I am sorry, I do not understand this† or â€Å"could you please tell more about this† can really help in building trust worthy relationships. Like W almsley (2009) said â€Å"one way to optimize learning is to choose a â€Å"cultural guide,† someone who is respected by all, knowledgeable about the community and with whom a non-Indigenous social worker can develop an open trusting relationship† (p. 104). This could be a band social worker, band councillor, or Elder. They are able to provide more insight and knowledge then what I would generally expect to gain from academics. Just as it is important to understand other cultures, it is as important to know my own culture. It helps in understanding why I believe the things I do and recognize the concepts that have shaped my own thinking. In a sense, these are my feelings and thoughts about how I was raised or the things I liked or didn’t like about parenting. These values are based on my own experiences of what I believe is effective childcare and ways in which children should be taught, guided, supported and disciplined (Walmsley, 2009, p. 104). For instance, I relate this to something we discussed in class about hitting your child. I have been slapped as a child; it was a form of discipline at times which I think is justifiable (like the times I would refuse to not take medication which was going to help me feel better). Hence, as a social worker the term â€Å"slapped†