Generalist Practice & CSWE Competencies: Quick Reference

Generalist Practice

  • A generalist practitioner is a social worker with essential knowledge, values, and skills at the micro level (individuals), mezzo level (groups and families), and macro level (organizations and communities).
  • Guided by theoretical approaches: systems theory and ecological theory.
  • Target system: the specific individual, group, community, or organization we are aiming to help.

Purpose of Social Work

  • Help people solve their own problems.
  • Identify and build on their capacities.
  • Link people to resources.
  • Contribute to the development and improvement of social policies.

The Uniqueness of Social Work (LO 1)

  • Focus on any problem.
  • May target the environment for change.
  • Advocacy.
  • Professional values and ethics.
  • Partnership with clients.
  • Adherence to professional standards.

Defining Generalist Practice (LO-2)

  • CSWE: Social work education is accredited and supervised by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
  • CSWE ensures programs help students become competent in 99 areas (Areas of Competencies).
  • Each competency has specific behaviors (total of 3131 behaviors).

CSWE Competencies (LO-2)

  • 11: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
  • 22: Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice
  • 33: Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
  • 44: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice
  • 55: Engage in Policy Practice
  • 66: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  • 77: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  • 88: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
  • 99: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

CSWE Board of Accreditation

  • CSWE governs accreditation and governance of social work education (Board of Accreditation).
  • https://www.cswe.org/about-cswe/governance/governance-groups/boa/

Eclectic Approach and Core Principles (values) of Generalist Practice

  • Eclectic approach: Selecting concepts, theories, and ideas from a wide range of perspectives.
  • Core values principles:
    • Empowerment: increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power to improve lives.
    • Self-determination: right of individuals to make their own decisions.
    • Strengths: leveraging capacities, resources, and assets a person has.
    • Resiliency: ability to recover from adversity.

Diversity and Difference

  • Diversity includes: extage,class,color,culture,disability,ethnicity,gender,genderidentityandexpression,immigrationstatus,maritalstatus,politicalideology,race,religion,sexualorientation,tribalsovereignstatusext{age, class, color, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, immigration status, marital status, political ideology, race, religion, sexual orientation, tribal sovereign status}.
  • Discrimination: treating people differently based on group membership.
  • Oppression: extreme limitations/constraints on a group.
  • Stereotypes: fixed mental images about a group that ignore individual differences.

In-Class Activity: Diversity (Diversity and Difference)

  • Prompt: Provide one example of Discrimination, one of Stereotypes, and one of Oppression.

NASW Code of Ethics

  • Values are principles believed to be inherently good; Ethics are standards guiding behavior.
  • The social work profession has 66 professional values.
  • Core values:
    • Service
    • Social Justice
    • Dignity and Worth of the Person
    • Importance of Human Relationships
    • Integrity
    • Competence

Ethical Dilemma

  • An Ethical Dilemma is a situation where ethical standards conflict.
  • Example: client expresses intent to commit murder but confidentiality constraints apply.

Core Values In-Class Activity

  • Question: Which of the six core values is most important to social work and why?

Systems Theory

  • System: an element that functions as a whole with interrelated parts; examples: cell, classroom, human body.
  • Systems are dynamic and interact with other systems.
  • Goal: maintain balance (homeostasis).
  • Interactions require input (information) and output (information).
  • Systems have subsystems.
  • Equifinality: multiple paths to the same end.
  • Boundaries define where responsibility ends and another begins.
  • LO-8

Ecological Theory (LO-9)

  • Focus: interactions with the environment.
  • Microsystem: immediate environment (siblings, peers, school, work).
  • Mesosystem: connections between microsystems (teacher–parent, church–neighborhood).
  • Exosystem: larger social system indirectly affecting the individual (family work schedules, community resources, mass media).
  • Macrosystem: cultural values, customs, laws.
  • Chronosystem: time and life transitions affecting individuals (e.g., puberty, marriage, major events).

Similarities and Differences Between the Two Theories (LO-10)

  • Similarities: both emphasize systems and dynamic interactions across levels.
  • Differences: ecological theory emphasizes living, dynamic interactions; systems theory can refer to inanimate systems as well.

Social Work Roles

  • Facilitator: guides and eases group processes.
  • Mediator: resolves conflicts.
  • Negotiator: represents a group or individual to gain something from another group/system.
  • Case Manager: helps clients understand options in a given situation.
  • Broker: connects clients to community resources.

In-Class Activity: Social Work Roles

  • Examples or role-play prompts for the roles listed.

Target System

  • The entity we aim to assist or influence in an intervention.