![]() “You cannot make a genuine, authentic connection if you are judgmental, critical and you have bias,” Pender Greene said, adding that social workers and other helpers who have self-awareness are less likely to harm others because of stereotypical thinking. “For social workers to be successful, self-awareness is the most important element because without being aware of how you’re feeling, it’s absolutely impossible to address the feelings of other people,” said Mary Pender Greene, LCSW-R, CGP, president and CEO of MPG Consulting in New York. Those connections are built on the ability to relate. Helping professionals need to connect with their clients. Why Is Self-Awareness Important When Helping Someone? Self-awareness allows anyone providing assistance to do so in a nonjudgmental way that acknowledges every individual’s unique situation. Recognizing another’s circumstances, or looking at the world through their lens, is part of engaging in self-awareness. Keig credits the VA for providing training programs, including one through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which offers resources on working with people who are homeless from a trauma-informed lens. ![]() “Getting that trauma-informed perspective, that basic lens of looking at why people are in the predicaments that they’re in and why they might be struggling or resisting, taking all those things into account is going to be really helpful,” said Keig, LCSW, who is the National Association of Social Workers’ 2020 Social Worker of the Year. Keig had interacted with people experiencing homelessness when he worked in an urban park in San Diego, but he knew he had to learn to work with them as a clinician. Social worker Zander Keig’s first job after earning his MSW was working in health care for homeless veterans at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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