Theoretical Orientation

When studying or working in a helping profession, such as Social Work, it is important to determine a theoretical orientation because it assist the assessment process of individual clients, families, and treatment groups. According to Posnanski and McLennan, a theoretical orientation is defined as a “conceptual framework used by a counselor to understand client therapeutic needs” (Halbur &Halbur 3). A theoretical orientation is an essential and useful component to social workers because it arranges the overall foundation for the therapeutic process. For example, it provides the framework for students and helpers to form an interpretation about a client’s behavior, create a specific treatment intervention, and analyze the progression of the counseling process. By translating a theory into practice, it provides insight on how the helper thinks and how the clients will be assessed. In addition, a theoretical orientation is useful to social workers as a tool belt is useful to construction workers. Known as “The Helper’s Tool Belt” in the social work profession, it supplies the specific tools for the helper’s specific theory. For instances, if a helper’s theoretical orientation is based on Structural Family Therapy, a tool that the helper …show more content…
Secondly, the paper will go into further detail about to develop a theoretical orientation which provides several strategies and then will see how the strategies and exercises such as the Selective Theory Sorter helped me develop my theoretical orientation. From there, I will began to explore my theoretical orientation and discuss the origin of the specific theory. Lastly, I will provide a brief synopsis on how my theoretical orientation is integrated at my field placement. Overall, after reading the complete paper, the reader(s) should be more competent on what a theoretical orientation is and how to develop their