The Six Core Values Of Social Work

While social workers want to build trust and rapport with their clients, they need to find a way to do so in a way that allows for professional contact. Romantic relationships and even personal friendship with clients outside of practice are examples of unethical relationships between a social worker and a client. However, as with all ethical issues, there are grey areas. Ultimately the burden is on the social worker to understand all the ethical principles, values, and their working relationship with their clients and to build boundaries from there. Besides boundaries, another complex challenge of the profession can be confidentiality. It is clear that protecting the confidentiality of clients is paramount in this field. This is evidenced by the repetition of the importance of confidentiality throughout the NASW Code of …show more content…
Service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence are the six values that set social work apart from other helping professions (National Association of Social Workers, 2008). These values should be personified by all social workers and according to Reamer (2013) social work’s core values also “influence the kinds of relationships they have with clients, colleagues, and members of broader society” (p. 16). I chose social work as a profession mainly because my personal values match well with the profession’s values. To me, the most important value is recognizing that each human being has inherent dignity and worth. This is a value that my parents instilled in me at an early age and it is in part, why I am very passionate about helping others. This also plays a part in my personal quest to insure social justice for every human. I would find it very challenging to dedicate my education and my life to a profession if my values conflicted with the core values of the