tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369945627807634027.post8016905637100875324..comments2023-08-28T08:11:20.733-07:00Comments on Antisocial Social Worker: Social Work As Counterculture - Part IIantiSWerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07500867187473208284noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369945627807634027.post-29759793177713713282008-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:002008-08-11T10:30:00.000-07:00My only problem with this is the definition. We l...My only problem with this is the definition. We live in a diverse world with s many cultures interacting with one another. Awfully hard to say which one is dominent and it depends upon the context.therapydochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05088184676439578876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369945627807634027.post-73072497861987632252008-08-11T10:10:00.000-07:002008-08-11T10:10:00.000-07:00@ cb - that reminds me of how the drug problem is ...@ cb - that reminds me of how the drug problem is always about the street use, and not the other use in the "higher" classes. If we don't see it, it's not a problem, right? Also, about the mental distress: I wonder how much society causes the distress by calling it a mental illness. If people were allowed to exist as who they were, how many of the problems wouldn't really be problems? This is simplification, but I know at least a few people who were made especially worse because of the system that entrapped them after they became "ill".<BR/><BR/>@ bluejeansocialwork - "trying to be in the system but not of it". I love that. I would think that's a counterculture attitude.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the comments. Good things to think about.antiSWerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07500867187473208284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369945627807634027.post-53045047907431925852008-08-10T10:54:00.000-07:002008-08-10T10:54:00.000-07:00I like the way you presented this analysis in such...I like the way you presented this analysis in such an organized way--it allowed me to step back and do my own thinking. It seems to me that the more time I spend as a social worker, the more beneficial the skills of negotiation and reframing are. I cannot possibly get anything done if I divorce myself from our social and government systems, or try to actually tear them down with no viable alternatives. Yet while I work in and through them, I try very hard to retain the advocacy piece of social work--trying to be in the system but not of it, if you know what I mean. The hope is that this will result in very slow, non-dramatic movement--little waves. <BR/><BR/>Because I don't want to do in my clients, who actually have to use social and govenrment systems in their existing forms, I'm rarely highly confrontational with with systems I work with. But I still think it helps to plant seeds about things that can be improved. Maybe this is more like a co-culture than a counter culture--just trying to reframe and challenge as I go along, hoping it may lead to change some day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369945627807634027.post-78102977388698147962008-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:002008-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:00Firstly - of course you're cool :) As you said, th...Firstly - of course you're cool :) <BR/>As you said, the first point is a no-brainer. Embracing individual and social change is a good summation. <BR/>Second one, I'm with you again and would say 'to a point' - that point being that the social worker is an agent of state control. <BR/>I wouldn't give a point on the third one. Which seems to be where your argument is heading. <BR/>In my case anyway, I feel I am a part of the constraints imposed by the government. Individuality - what is it? Especially in the field of mental health, it's partly about attitudes and what is acceptable by society. One man's eccentric is another man's danger. <BR/>Take the example of someone who has a compulsion to collect stamps. His house is filled with stamps, he has rooms and rooms full of them. He doesn't bother anyone and noone bothers him. <BR/>What if the obsession is a celebrity? A car? Foodstuffs that turn bad and rot in his home? A next door neighbour? <BR/>Is the actual mental condition different? Or is it the acceptability to society that changes? <BR/>When he keeps himself to himself we are fine with that, but when it impinges on others, it isn't? <BR/>What about responsibility for the possible mental distress he might be feeling - do we ignore that until it affects other people?<BR/>Fairly simplistic arguments but I think they are all about what society says is acceptable behaviour. <BR/>And you're right - when I stopped worrying about being cool, I knew I was. <BR/>Now, at this point, I don't have to prove it to anyone anymore :)<BR/>Sorry for rambling!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com