What is Macro?
A few months back, in my pre-video blog, I droned on about how my understanding of macro practice centered around examining issues and the “big picture.” I believed it involved policies that affected client systems and that it was difficult to do micro work without also doing macro work because of their interdependence on one another. While I still believe most of this to be true, I now have a deeper awareness of how much more macro practice really entails. A large part of what I have come to understand about macro practice revolves around the concept of community and the relationships that we build with others in that community. I don’t think I ever had a true sense of what community involved, least of all the role I played in the different communities of which I am a member. I still believe that a clinical social worker must also consider the macro perspective in order to work effectively with an individual client. Ignoring the macro piece neglects to honor the systems and communities to which the client belongs. It ignores the connections that individual have with others in their everyday lives.
Leadership Qualities
In my last blog post, I discussed my leadership qualities as they were identified in my Strengths Assessment. I believe the themes of learner, achiever, responsibility and connectedness also apply when considering my leadership qualities. Back in January, I expressed that I felt I was even-tempered, able to handle pressure, non-judgmental and self aware. Reflecting on the events of the semester, I can see that these same qualities allowed me to make the contributions I made. More importantly, I think what I’ve learned about myself, is that I need to be more aware of the talents and abilities of other members of my community. In my quest to do whatever I could to make the events a success I think I may have overlooked the potential contributions of other members of my class. The one quality that I mentioned in January and feel that I continue to utilize most effectively is my sense of humor. I think when things with our events got stressful and/or chaotic, I was able to diffuse some of the tension by making others laugh so that we could get back on track and continue to push ahead instead of getting “stuck” in the small stuff.
Me as an Activist
Reflecting back on my pre-video, I talked about working collaboratively and presenting a unified voice with other members of my community to effect large scale change. While this sounds like a good idea, and it may be, I now realize that my activism starts in the small details of my life and involvement in the issues. It is about being more intentional and less passive in every thing that I do. The blog entry entitled, “Active Being!” really spoke volumes for me. It pointed out that conscious, intentional decision making means we embrace the mistakes and learn from them and live a more purposeful life. Even more importantly for me, this blog talked about learning to “let go.” I will admit, this is a struggle for me, but one I know I will continue to work on as I learn to trust in the commitment and passion of others in my community as we work to achieve a common goal.
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