Continually learning and
maintaining a sense of cultural competency is crucial in culturally grounded
social work, as I have been learning throughout my coursework in this graduate
program. Being aware of my own emotions
and feelings and how they can be triggered by certain comments, situations, or
actions is also important in determining how I interact with my
environment. Identifying what triggers my
emotions, thoughts, and feelings will help to understand how I will act/react
in any circumstance.
One specific trigger that has
impacted the way I interact with my clients and colleagues is the use of racial
microaggressions. In the past few months,
the use of microaggressions in social work practice has become increasingly evident
to me. I find these microaggressions to be backhanded
compliments which contribute to internalized oppression and continued
stereotypes. Coming into this program, I expected a certain level of respect
and cultural competency from my colleagues and peers, but this has not always
been the case. I have found that using
these racial microaggressions is a way to display racism and is influencing the
clients that get services. I have also found that the language I use does
not always take into account the feelings and emotions of others and how my
words may trigger a reaction in another person.
I am beginning to understand the importance of monitoring the use of
language in order to create an empowering environment for myself and my
colleagues. I am also speaking out when
I hear something that is offensive. I am
also acknowledging that learning how to use language appropriately is a
lifelong learning process and I am only at the beginning of my journey.
When I hear someone using a microaggression,
I become stressed out, angry, disappointed, and annoyed. When I have encountered this situation, I
have become angry with the person for being so offensive. I have a hard time understanding why
individuals choose to use the language they do, knowing that their words are
not empathetic and they are contributing to continual systems of
oppression. I then become annoyed and
disappointed with the person and stop listening and placing any value in what
they have to say. Overall, the whole
situation stresses me out and makes me frustrated.
I think I react in an unhealthy
way because I set my expectations for every person the same and don’t always
take into consideration their environment and upbringing, which influences the
way they interact with the world. My own
experiences influence my interactions with people and sometimes when triggered,
it is easy for me to forget that each person carries their own personal
experiences and biases.
These reactions certainly get in
the way of how I interact with my clients and colleagues. It is not healthy or realistic to shut down
and ignore a person because I do not agree with what they are saying all the
time. Becoming annoyed and discouraged
will destroy the healing environment that I seek to maintain in my practice
setting. I know these incidents are
opportunities to learn and grow and I should not let my emotions cloud my
thinking to the point where I shut down.
I first need to manage my thoughts
and emotions by acknowledging them.
Understanding what triggered an emotion or feeling in order to change my
thought process and not get offended.
Becoming offended is just a defense mechanism and is not an adaptive way
to handle a trigger. Being mindful of
the situation and taking into consideration my place of privilege and how that
impacts the way I view the world will help me to lessen the effects of
reactions to any trigger. I also need to
acknowledge that being sensitive is okay, but managing those emotions is
critical. If I put these changes into
practice, I can excel in social work.
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