SOCW 6520 WK 8 responses  Respond to the blog post of three colleagues Has to be responded to separately and different responses in one or more of the following ways: Name first and references after every person Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways: Validate an idea      in your colleague's post with your own experience. Share an insight      from having read your colleague's posting Peer 1: AMBER An explanation of the use of self during your field education experience that you may have encountered or that you might encounter            According to Ganzer (2007), the use of self allows the social worker to be better able to adjust to uncertainty through empathy and experience. In doing so, social workers would be better able to understand the client and be better apt to assist them during treatment. During this field experience, this use of self would be something that I may experience. For example, while attending my supervised visitation sessions I need to utilize my use of self by being empathetic towards the clients and the situations they are going through. In doing so, I am able to provide the proper care and resources that ensure the client’s needs are being met. In addition, I utilize my sense of self by working closely with families that are struggling to meet due to COVID restrictions. In other words, I am currently working with clients on rescheduling sessions due to children, parents and myself all getting sick. Therefore, using my sense of self I am able to put myself in the clients shoes through the frustration they are feeling about not being able to meet. While my disclosure does not exceed whether or not I am sick as well there may be times in the future that disclosure may be needed in order to build a rapport with the client. However, at this time my use of self consists of being understanding of what the clients are facing since we are all still struggling with COVID restrictions. Thus, this has allowed me to build a rapport with my clients as we work hard to ensure that all needs are being met. A description of potential boundary challenges in your field education experience            While Ganzer (2007) discusses how the use of self-disclosure can bring forth many boundary challenges the only challenge that I may experience would be that of giving clients my personal cell number. This form of self-disclosure causes boundary challenges in the sense that it gives clients easy access to me even after hours. Which in turn can lead to a faster rate of burnout as I feel obligated to respond. In addition, this is a boundary challenge as it forces me to respond to clients on days that I am not in. With that being said, I have had to tell clients my work schedule so that they do not text outside of those hours. In doing so, this decreases boundary challenges as well as the risk of burnout. References Ganzer, C. (2007). The use of self from a relational perspective. C.

1. SOCW 6520 WK 8 responses
Respond
to the blog post of three colleagues Has to be responded to
separately and different responses in one or more of the
following ways:
Name first and references after every person
Respond
to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the
following ways:
Validate an idea in your colleague's post with your own
experience.
Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting
Peer 1: AMBER
An explanation of the use of self during your field education
experience that you may have encountered or that you might
encounter
According to Ganzer (2007), the use of self allows the
social worker to be better able to adjust to uncertainty through
empathy and experience. In doing so, social workers would be
better able to understand the client and be better apt to assist
them during treatment. During this field experience, this use of
self would be something that I may experience. For example,
while attending my supervised visitation sessions I need to
utilize my use of self by being empathetic towards the clients

2. and the situations they are going through. In doing so, I am able
to provide the proper care and resources that ensure the client’s
needs are being met. In addition, I utilize my sense of self by
working closely with families that are struggling to meet due to
COVID restrictions. In other words, I am currently working
with clients on rescheduling sessions due to children, parents
and myself all getting sick. Therefore, using my sense of self I
am able to put myself in the clients shoes through the
frustration they are feeling about not being able to meet. While
my disclosure does not exceed whether or not I am sick as well
there may be times in the future that disclosure may be needed
in order to build a rapport with the client. However, at this time
my use of self consists of being understanding of what the
clients are facing since we are all still struggling with COVID
restrictions. Thus, this has allowed me to build a rapport with
my clients as we work hard to ensure that all needs are being
met.
A description of potential boundary challenges in your field
education experience
While Ganzer (2007) discusses how the use of self-
disclosure can bring forth many boundary challenges the only
challenge that I may experience would be that of giving clients
my personal cell number. This form of self-disclosure causes
boundary challenges in the sense that it gives clients easy
access to me even after hours. Which in turn can lead to a faster
rate of burnout as I feel obligated to respond. In addition, this is
a boundary challenge as it forces me to respond to clients on
days that I am not in. With that being said, I have had to tell
clients my work schedule so that they do not text outside of
those hours. In doing so, this decreases boundary challenges as
well as the risk of burnout.
References

3. Ganzer, C. (2007). The use of self from a relational perspective.
Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(2)
, 117-123.
Peer 2: Ritchie
The use of self in social work practice is the combining of
knowledge, values, and skills gained in social work education
with aspects of one's personal self, including personality traits,
belief systems, life experiences, and cultural heritage (Dewane,
2006). It is the use of self that enables social workers to strive
for authenticity and genuineness with the clients we serve,
while at the same time honoring the values and ethics, we so
highly value in social work practice (Walter, 2008).
When worker are being genuine and having skills to
listen and interact with patients and families effectively has
required me to be intuitive. During my process recording last
week, I discussed my counter with a patient's daughter who was
in denial about her father being in hospice and the seriousness
of their decease. Use of self requires me to have the skill and
ability to provide understanding to the approach of care and
support when in conversation with the daughter. In contrast, it
is not my place to dishearten her but support her in her coming
to terms with her father's condition.
I have to run into a challenge in my field with the use of self,
but I imagine it would be related to understanding interventions
that may be necessary to know and apply to a patient and or the
bereaved party. According to Ganzer (2007), while we have
come a long way from the therapist's idea as a blank screen in
practice, we still rely on the therapist's technical expertise and
effective interventions. This tendency speaks to the role of self
as an instrument or tool and assumes that the therapist has some
degree of knowledge of what the patient may need.

4. Walter (2008) states that, the use of self as a therapeutic tool,
allows the worker to be able to effectively establish rapport,
improve outcomes of interventions and contribute something to
the field of social work no one else can contribute—"your
unique personality, worldview, relationship skills, and life
experience."
Reference
Dewane, C. J. (2006). Use of self: A primer revisited. Clinical
Social Work Journal, 34(04), 543-558.
Ganzer, C. (2007). The use of self from a relational perspective.
Clinical Social Work Journal, 35(2), 117–123
Walter, H.B., (2008). An Introduction to Use of Self in Field
Placement. The New Social Worker.
https://www.socialworker.com/feature-articles/field-
placement/An_Introduction_to_Use_of_Self_in_Field_Placemen
t/
Peer 3: David
I embrace my unique ability to use my personality and sense of
humor to set individuals at ease and to build relationships and
or rapport with clients. Due to the fact that I came from a lower
socioeconomic background, where I had to face many obstacles
in my own life before going to college and getting my BA
degree, I am able to draw from my own feelings and experiences
to develop empathy and understanding for clients and the
situations they find themselves in. In this context, I employ the
“use of self” in my social work field placement.

5. Boundaries are created due to the fact that even though I come
from the lower socioeconomic status as most clients, my
perception and thought process has elevated through education
and applying the skills learned to create tangible change. Just
because I was from the hood, I am not
of
the hood. Setting this boundary enables clients to want to better
themselves, with myself as an example.
The use of self in social work practice is the
combining of knowledge, values, and skills gained in social
work education with aspects of one’s personal self, including
personality traits, belief systems, life experiences, and cultural
heritage (Dewane, 2006). It is the use of self that enables social
workers to strive for authenticity and genuineness with the
clients we serve, while at the same time honoring the values and
ethics we so highly value in social work practice. In an effort to
explain the use of self, I use the micro skills assessment/case
management as an example of how use of self looks in
professional practice (Ganzer,2007). When I engage in
individual or group sessions, I am exposed to the same basic
skill set (e.g., paraphrasing, summarization, responding to
content, feeling, and meaning) (Poorman,2003). These skills are
manifested through my personality, relational skills, and
developmental capacity. The goal is to master the integration of
my social work skills with my authentic self.
To integrate the authentic self into the skills required
for social work field placement, it is helpful to view the use of
self from five different perspectives: Use of Personality, Use of

6. Belief System, Use of Relational Dynamics, Use of Anxiety,
and Use of Self Disclosure (Dewane, 2006). Through analyzing
each of the constructs and their application to my daily practice,
I begin to discover the unique attributes that will enable me to
relate to clients in a more authentic manner and contribute to
the field of social work in a way that is uniquely reflective of
me.
References
Dewane, C. J. (2006). Use of self: A primer revisited. Clinical
Social Work Journal, 34(04), 543-558.
Ganzer, C. (2007). The Use of Self from a Relational
Perspective.
Clinical Social Work Journal
,
35
(2), 117–
123. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1007/s10615-
007-0078-4
Poorman, P. B. (2003). Microskills and theoretical foundations
for professional helpers. Boston:
Allyn & Bacon.