SOCW 6210 Week 9 discussion post responses. Respond to at least two colleagues in one of the following ways: · State how your colleague's examples of spirituality's influence in client relationships resonate with you. Provide support for your perspective. · State whether you are likely to use your client's strategy in your own social work practice, and explain why. Be sure to support your responses with specific references to the resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references. Reply to the following Posts MB’s post states the following:Top of Form Post a Discussion in which you explain how considerations about clients' worldviews, including their spirituality or religious convictions, might affect your interactions with them. Provide at least two specific examples. Social workers work with populations of people with different beliefs spiritually and religiously. As social workers we must learn to respect someone else’s values and beliefs. We also need to learn that people’s different values and beliefs influence their behaviors and interactions with people.  We need to make sure that we respect other beliefs and not act on our own personal beliefs when working with clients. We need to be mindful of other cultures and their beliefs on such things like abortion and the roles of women. As a social worker I may believe personally that a woman should have the right to abort a baby but my client may believe abortions are not an option and may go against their religious beliefs. We must be mindful not to force our views on them. Another example would be in certain cultures they believe that the man is the head of the household and all communication and decisions will be made through the man. As the social worker we must honor that and not disrespect that by doing the opposite of what they believe just because its “normal or right” to us. Explain one way your own spirituality or religious convictions might support your work with a client, and one barrier it might present. As a social worker I must put my bias to the side and not let it get in the way of my professionalism. As a Christian I should not judge others this would be key in social work practice. This belief would remind me to stay open minded about others and why they may behave they way they do. A barrier would be me being judgmental and continuously bringing up my beliefs, forcing it on them and not respecting them.  This is wrong and could cause a client to not feel comfortable or respected. Finally, share one strategy for applying an awareness of spirituality to social work practice in general. One strategy for applying awareness of spirituality to social work practice is knowledge and education. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), “The goal of incorporating religious and spiritual beliefs in social work curricula should include a broad array of knowledge of many different religious and spiritual beliefs,.

1. SOCW 6210 Week 9 discussion post responses.
Respond to at least two colleagues in one of the following ways:
· State how your colleague's examples of spirituality's influence
in client relationships resonate with you. Provide support for
your perspective.
· State whether you are likely to use your client's strategy in
your own social work practice, and explain why.
Be sure to support your responses with specific references to
the resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to
provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.
Reply to the following Posts
MB’s post states the following:Top of Form
Post a Discussion in which you explain how considerations
about clients' worldviews, including their spirituality or
religious convictions, might affect your interactions with them.
Provide at least two specific examples.
Social workers work with populations of people with different
beliefs spiritually and religiously. As social workers we must
learn to respect someone else’s values and beliefs. We also need
to learn that people’s different values and beliefs influence their
behaviors and interactions with people. We need to make sure
that we respect other beliefs and not act on our own personal
beliefs when working with clients. We need to be mindful of
other cultures and their beliefs on such things like abortion and
the roles of women. As a social worker I may believe personally
that a woman should have the right to abort a baby but my client
may believe abortions are not an option and may go against
their religious beliefs. We must be mindful not to force our
views on them. Another example would be in certain cultures
they believe that the man is the head of the household and all
communication and decisions will be made through the man. As

2. the social worker we must honor that and not disrespect that by
doing the opposite of what they believe just because its “normal
or right” to us.
Explain one way your own spirituality or religious convictions
might support your work with a client, and one barrier it might
present.
As a social worker I must put my bias to the side and not let it
get in the way of my professionalism. As a Christian I should
not judge others this would be key in social work practice. This
belief would remind me to stay open minded about others and
why they may behave they way they do. A barrier would be me
being judgmental and continuously bringing up my beliefs,
forcing it on them and not respecting them. This is wrong and
could cause a client to not feel comfortable or respected.
Finally, share one strategy for applying an awareness of
spirituality to social work practice in general.
One strategy for applying awareness of spirituality to social
work practice is knowledge and education. According to
Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), “The goal of incorporating
religious and spiritual beliefs in social work curricula should
include a broad array of knowledge of many different religious
and spiritual beliefs, primarily to expand understanding and
sensitivity” (p.694). This strategy starts as being a social work
student understanding the importance of being educated on
different religions and being sensitive. As social workers you
don’t know what person you may work with and what their
beliefs and values are. You may not know all the different
religions, but you at least need to know how to conduct yourself
and be competent enough not to let your personal beliefs get in
the way of helping others.
Reference
Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding
human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston,
MA: Cengage Learning.
Crisp, B. R. (2011). If a holistic approach to social work

3. requires acknowledgement of religion, what does this mean for
social work education?. Social Work Education, 30(6), 663–
674.
AR’s Post states the following
Considerations about client's world views, spirituality or
religious convictions, might affect my interactions with them.
As social workers it is important to remember to protect an
individual' s human rights. Social workers must show the same
treatment, to every one regardless of their views, religion,
sexual orientation, age, or values and beliefs. It is important as
social workers we respect a clients right to self-determination.
Growing up as a Christian, we have a perception that abortions
are considered bad. If a client comes to me for support in
receiving resources on abortions. I will not interject my view on
abortions on the client nor will I only supply pro-life resources
to the client because of my spiritual beliefs. That would not be
ethical nor would it not be allowing them their right for self-
determination. If I did not respect their right towards self-
determination, this would affect my interactions with them by
placing my views on them. Placing my moral and beliefs on
them. This situation could also create bias and build a barrier
within the working relationship because of the client's choice to
abort a child. As a social worker I will not be any help for the
client due to me not being able to place my bias aside to
effectively meet the client's needs.
My own spirituality or religious convictions might support my
work with a client, and a barrier it might present.
Social workers, should be able to place their bias to the side to
be able to provide support for the client to meet their needs.
Social workers should gain an understanding of one culture,
background and their family dynamics to understand their

4. values and personal beliefs. Understanding the layers of every
individual's structure and the effect that religion and spirituality
have on a person can be an advantage to the client and also the
social worker.The social worker can acquire certainty as a
professional in helping individuals explore through life's
difficulties better, and the client picks up a feeling of
importance a reason in figuring out how to conquer anything
that comes across their path (Allick, 2012). Â My own
spirituality or religious convictions might support my work with
a client, by providing empathy to an individual's religion. Just
like I have choose my faith as a Christian and choose to
fellowship and worship. I have an understanding of someone
else decision to do the same thing with their chosen religion. To
understand and to respect and honor one's faith is a great way to
understand a person life since it is the simple place that their
importance and feeling of the reason is found were morals and
values are. Some barriers may include not being able to bring
up certain beliefs, being fearful of the different perspectives
from the client and believe they cannot relate (Nickles, 2011).
One strategy for applying an awareness of spirituality to social
work practice in general.
As a social worker it is important to self- reflect, gaining your
own understanding of your biases, perspectives, values and
beliefs. When you are self- aware you are more cautious of
some issues that may become triggers, you may need to receive
support with understanding some underlying issues. This will
allow you to feel comfortable when speaking on topics and
issues that do not necessarily align to your own beliefs. This
will allow you to be able to support and meet the needs of the
client.
Reference
Allick, David M. (2012). Attitudes toward Religion and
Spirituality in Social Work Practice
Nickles, T. (2011). The role of religion and spirituality in

5. counseling. California Polytechnic State University: College of
Liberal Arts.
SR’s post states the following:
Faith is seen as that which brings people together and provides
a unifying concept and sense of belonging for family,
congregation, and society. Determining a client's spiritual
beliefs and possible membership in organized religion can lead
to various means of empowerment (Zastrow, 2016). When
considering clients' worldviews, including their spirituality or
religious convictions, and how they might affect interactions
with clients one must consider how a person's religion could
become either a tool or a speed bump. For example, a client who
is a part of a group whose main focus is on racial segregation
would not be willing to work with anyone who is not their race,
just as some others may feel that men and women should not
work together. This can become an issue when the client isn’t
getting the care or services they need because of their religious
beliefs. A way religion could play a positive role in client care
would be that outside sources needed could be an option, such
as food or shelter assistance or even counsel. It could allow the
client to see a light at the end of their hard road.
Baha’i believes in peace, justice, love, altruism, and unity. The
Baha’i teachings promote the agreement of science and religion,
the equality of the sexes and the elimination of all prejudice and
racism (Baha’i, 2019). I follow the Baha'i belief in that I
believe in equality and unity rather than exclusion. I believe
that this is a very useful tool in life and in social work practice
as it promotes the belief that we are all the same and do not

6. place judgment on others. This helps to understand that one's
religious beliefs sometimes play a big part in their life and that
judgment is not to be made, only to help them along their path.
A barrier that I could foresee is that some may not believe in
equality, they may feel they are better or worse than others.
They may believe in something other than GOD, and may not
understand my way of equality. This makes it important to focus
on the client and not my personal beliefs.
Spiritual self-care was even more essential for those who
provided emotional care for others. Social workers can assist
their clients by maintaining a mindful witnessing perspective.
Spirituality entails cognitive, philosophical, experiential,
emotional, as well as behavioral aspects (Weinstein, 2008). One
strategy for applying awareness of spirituality to social work
practice, in general, would be to use mindful mindful practices
This would help the client to reflect on behaviors or their needs
and decide ways that they can approach them in a new light. For
example, a client who suffers anxiety could utilize meditation
practices. As a worker, it would be useful to try and see things
from the client's view allowing the worker to develop care plans
based on the needs and preferences of the client. Forcing a
religion on anyone would only hinder the relationship.
References
Bahaiteachings.org (2019). What is the Baha’i Faith? Retrieved
from https://bahaiteachings.org/bahai-faith
Weinstein-Moser, Edie (04-2008). Spirituality in Social Work
— the Journey From Fringe to Mainstream. Retrieved
from https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/marapr2008p32.
shtml
Zastrow, C. H., & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2016). Understanding
human behavior and the social environment (10th ed.). Boston,
MA: Cengage Learning. Chapter 7, Sections "Review Fowler’s

7. Theory of Faith Development," "Critical Thinking: Evaluation
of Fowler's Theory," and "Social Work Practice and
Empowerment Through Spiritual Development". Retrieved
from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781337342063
/cfi/6/22!/4/16/20/16/6/[email protected]:50.9