Anti-Oppressive Practice Essay

1772 Words8 Pages
Consider the extent to which anti-oppressive practice illuminates or challenges your emerging framework for practice: It is perhaps as a result of my upbringing and my travels as well as my Irish work experiences to date that I have come to value every person as an individual. Horner (2007) cites Thompson (2005) who states that we as social workers need to see 'individuals as both unique in their own right' as well as being 'part of a broader web of social and political factors', (as cited in Horner, 2007, p101) and I have come to realise that in many instances the individual should not be blamed for the circumstances they find themselves in. Coming from a background in social care and specifically, for example, the homeless sector in Ireland and abroad, I would always have heard that homelessness is not the problem, that it is a symptom of something else and invariably it was never as simple as a decision to live on the streets or in shelters. “Anti-oppressive approaches place the value of social justice centre stage in all dimensions of social work practice. It does not blame individuals for their difficulties, but encourages us to adopt a multi-dimensional analysis which recognises the personal, cultural and structural dimensions of the oppression experienced by the service users..” (Healy, 2005, p188). As outlined by Healy (2005) and Dalrymple and Burke (1995, 2006) a social worker practising anti-oppressive practice must adhere to five core principles of anti-oppressive practice, a model of anti-oppressive practice first espoused by Dalrymple and Burke in 1995. The first is that a practitioner must reflect critically on his or herself in practice. We must reflect on our own histories, biographies and values and those of other professionals to 'truly empathise with and understand the clients' experiences', (Healy, 2005, p183). In their book
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