Louder Than Words

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/14385

Louder Than Words (LTW) is the official Texas State University School of Social Work Student Journal that illuminates peer-reviewed academic written and creative works. LTW will become an annual forum that incorporates students’ diverse social work-related pieces.

Journal website: https://journals.tdl.org/txstswj/index.php/txstswj

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Now showing 1 - 13 of 13

Review of the 2021 Redistricting Maps of Texas
(Texas State University. School of Social Work., 2022-08) Ruiz, Annay
This paper is an opinion on the Republican Party's redistricting map for 2021 and its present andfuture implications for people in Texas. First, this paper describes the background of the redistricting process and gerrymandering. Then, it explores how the current population changes in Texas might influence the state's voting patterns and the Republican Party's influence. Following this, it examines how the Republican Party in Texas has diminished the LatinX and Democratic vote by gerrymandering districts in favor of Republican and White voters. The evidence is given by examining voting districts’ population rates of LatinX, people of color, and White voters in a few districts. Then viewing the entirety of the state and comparing the number of districts that contain political voter bases of each party. This opinion also provides a summary of current legal actions to counter the new district map in Texas. It ends by illustrating why social workers and social work students should care about policies and government procedures.
Female Clients and Endometriosis in the Social Work Health Care Setting
(Texas State University. School of Social Work., 2022-08) Rodriguez, Brianna
This piece highlights women's plight in the health care setting. Far too often, women seeking medical sanctuary are overlooked and dismissed as cases of what was once known as "female hysteria." This paper focuses on the journey of Cassie Bennett, a hypothetical client struggling with a diagnosis that primarily impacts women: Endometriosis. This paper aims to analyze and provide constructive feedback regarding the treatment provided to Ms. Bennett and start a conversation about the importance of client advocacy and empathy. The world of health care can seem quite intimidating to clients. It is the responsibility of health care professionals and social workers to establish healthy rapport and conduct in-depth assessments of clients to ensure that all used forms of intervention are appropriate for the client. Another important aspect of this case study is the need for a successful discharge plan. Care does not stop when the client leaves the facility. Please refer to Figure 1 for a brief brochure summarizing the findings of this paper.
You're Out: A Policy Analysis of TX HB 25
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Kitchen, Rylee
Texas House Bill 25 (HB 25) was enrolled in October 2021 during the third legislative special session of the 87th Texas Legislature (Texas Legislature Online, 2021). The act mandates that youth who wish to participate in school sports must compete on the team which corresponds with the sex on their original birth certificate rather than the team which matches their gender identity or the gender they experience internally (HB 25, 2021). There are nearly 14,000 transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth living in Texas (Herman et al., 2017). This population experiences a much higher risk of many negative health outcomes compared to their cisgender peers (Johns et al., 2019). HB 25 is discriminatory and will negatively impact TGD youth in Texas. Additionally, HB 25 is one of many proposed pieces of anti-trans legislation that has been pursued by members of the Texas Legislature over the last year. In this policy analysis, I overview existing research on the importance of young people participating in sports, the harmful impact of sports bans on transgender and gender-diverse youth, the way that HB 25 fits into the broader landscape of anti-trans legislation in Texas, and what social workers can do to support transgender youth.
The Role of Social Work in Climate Change
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Hopp, Laura
Social work is a profession that has long advocated to advance the rights of vulnerable populations, reduce systemic inequities and promote long-term social change. However, the profession is missing the opportunity to explicitly equip social work students and those in the field with an understanding of the connection between climate change and injustice. Around the world, climate refugees are forced to migrate following unpredictable environmental disasters, communities suffer at the hands of environmental racism. Additionally, rising globalization contributes to the economic and ecological exploitation of developing nations. Social workers have an ethical obligation to work towards environmental justice at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Social workers can provide therapeutic support to individuals displaced by climate disaster, join with and mobilize local citizens in policy advocacy efforts, and act as a link between legislators and those directly impacted by climate change by holding government officials accountable for prioritizing climate action. Environmental justice must also be an indispensable dimension of the social work profession to truly advance long-term social change. This paper will examine the ways in which social workers can support those impacted by climate change at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels.
The Case of Irene Harper and the Implications for Social Work and Other Helping Professionals
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Goodman, AJ
This paper aims to highlight the importance of strengths-based work with clients and how social workers and other helping professionals may become aware of and utilize a variety of strategies to advocate for their clients. When working with vulnerable and at-risk populations, helping professionals must uplift and enable their clients for positive outcomes. Irene Harper presented herself to the emergency room with food poisoning. Mrs. Harper believed her symptoms were flu-related, would subside, and chose not to seek immediate medical attention. Mrs. Harper was admitted first, then her husband, Mr. Harper. They were negatively impacted by consuming wild mushrooms, which contain amatoxins that can deteriorate the liver resulting in toxic hepatitis (Mayo Clinic, 2021). The Harper family’s strengths include their support for each other and adaptability in high-stress situations to change their environment. The Harpers’ strengths are hindered by a lack of access to proper nutrition. This barrier has created a push-and-pull event, where the strength overextends resulting in robust, secondary challenges. The Harper family’s secondary challenges are their admittance to the emergency room and interactions with social services. Social workers must identify strengths and challenges in collaboration with their clients to better assist them through the helping process.
Scream
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Lewis, Jazz-Lynn Lewis
A scream represents many human emotions. Learning and understanding the perspectives of clients will aid in the advocacy process in social work. Most people have a scream inside them, as though only they may know what has caused it. The ability to listen, empathize, and comprehend urgency is demonstrated through emotions. These emotions are inextricably linked to and practiced in the field of social work advocacy. A scream might express relief or a plea for help. The call-to-action will be influenced by the incidence of the scream. Injustices persist, and screams are becoming increasingly ignored in society. If the issues of social injustice remain, a lack of acknowledgment to protect a person's dignity and worth will endure. The scream for social justice that lives in every human being is depicted in this poetry. Without the help of social workers and other advocates, a person or a group of people who are marginalized may be seen as less than the general population. It is the ethical responsibility of social workers to organize and legitimize social justice movements.
The Lonely Gardener
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Kephart, Hannah
As a child, witnessing addiction was always framed in the sense of extreme, that people knew they were overwhelmingly addicted to a substance, and it would ruin their lives the moment they started using. However, I was unaware of the silent slope that addiction could be and that I had already been on the slide down for quite a while when I was assigned to an abstinence project that would open my eyes. I chose to abstain from nicotine, a substance I had been using for nearly two years at the time, believing it would be easier to quit as it had never been a powerful influence in my mind. When the struggle of the first week hit me like a train, I started to look past my fallacy and see the reality of my dependency on nicotine. Through the help of my accountability partners and the knowledge I gained throughout the course, I made a genuine long-term commitment to quitting smoking when I first believed I would not be able to. This project gave me an incredible perspective and insight not only on my own struggles with addiction but those of the potential clients I may work with in the future in the social work field. Through this poem, I aim to cast a light for those in the social work field to gain perspective on addiction. I hope that others out there struggling with addiction know that in the end, we are not alone and that we have support out there even if we did not realize it before.
How I Learned Community
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Buvinghausen, Berret
The three poems provided were initially written for a hip-hop and social justice class. The project was about community in social work and the conciseness of social work values. These values include service, dignity, and worth of a person, the importance of human relationships, and competence. Service involves the overall attention and treatment of the client. In providing treatment, a social worker should ensure that the dignity and worth of the client are maintained reminding them that every journey is important and deserves attention. Dignity and worth and worth of the client can be categorized as competence, which can translate to awareness of self and awareness of the client. In the three poems, I express thoughts, feelings, and emotions that have shaped me into the person I am today. Love Thy Neighbor is to show how community was present in my childhood and highlights my innocence of not being highly aware of the chaos of life. It illustrates my thinking as a child and explains how this point of view influenced my adulthood perspective. Curiosity Raised the Cat describes how I became the young adult I am. It touches on the transition from everything I did not understand as a child to those experiences making sense. It poses the question of ‘what if I had never experienced the things described in Love Thy Neighbor. Finally, Love Thy Self culminates the choices and experiences I have made toward the social work profession. It concludes my story by having a full circle moment from being the scared child to being the comforting professional. These three poems shine a light on my childhood from ages five to 20 years old. It begins with discovering my dad's diagnosis of cancer in late 2007 and ends with me reaching my goal of becoming a social worker. The poems will gradually walk the reader through a devastating life experience that fueled my passion for social work and helping others. To submit these very personal poems, I had to allow myself to be vulnerable. It is important for social workers to reflect upon their firsthand experiences and values that influence their work with clients which may sometimes include being vulnerable with yourself. To encourage the client to do the same, a social worker must have the competence to create a safe and vulnerable place for the client to express dignity, self-worth, and self-determination.
Louder Than Words, Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2022
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2022-08) Clary, Kelly Lynn; Travis, Raphael; Elliot, Michelle; Thompson, Katrina; Scallon, Drake
Torn
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2021-09) Holt, Keyla
This is a self-reflection painting that depicts one ‘torn’; a woman pulling them to be more feminine while a man is pulling them towards masculinity. The green ribbon around their neck represents mental health awareness. The anklet worn is the semi-colon because they tried to take their life the day after Christmas, 2017. The semi-colon is the adopted symbol for suicide awareness, “my story is not over yet”. I identify as Black, homosexual, and gender nonbinary and have struggled with my gender identity since the age of five. I am 40 years old and still battle with Gender Dysphoria. Who am I? Fearing rejection, I have successfully hidden my various mental illnesses from the public eye. Considering my culture, the stigma behind mental illness adding to the stressors of not being accepted for my skin color, or the person I love, or who I identify as is often too much to bear. With this painting, I hope to bring awareness not only to Gender Dysphoria, mental health, and suicide, but to intersectionality as well; they all affect everyone, including social workers. It is often said that people fear what they do not know. We as a people are extremely diverse and from that diversity blossoms fear and intersectionality. As social workers, it is our duty to challenge the injustices of intersectionality that have plagued our society for centuries. So, we must continuously promote awareness and arm ourselves with the necessary knowledge needed to create more inclusive, equitable societies.
Give Up Your Idea That Life is Linear
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2021-09) Trevino, Diana
This poem is an invitation for social workers to consider personal development as a practice. It also frames recovery as personal growth; something that is universal to all. The main goal of this poem is to normalize the process of recovery. The social work core value of dignity and worth of a person calls social workers to meet their clients where they are and enhance their self-determination. Progress is not often linear. Personal growth can wax and wane, double back, and pause. There are many opportunities throughout a person’s life course to refine their practices. Often, people in recovery from substance abuse, trauma, and grief, lament about failure and having to start over. However, revisiting developmental milestones does not negate the therapeutic and personal work that has been done previously. This poem also suggests that people should honor their previous lifespan steps by viewing their past choices and behaviors as an integral part of their ongoing journey. When current steps follow paths people have crossed before, they can review milestones with deeper, wiser introspection. This poem acknowledges, with gratitude, that people are given many opportunities to strengthen their practices.
The Importance of Financial Social Work
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2021-09) Streu, William
The social work profession uses many approaches to fulfill its mission of enhancing human well-being for all people (NASW, 2017). Financial social work is one approach that deserves greater attention in the field. It promotes the economic well-being of everyone through financial capability (Sherraden & Huang, 2019). Economic injustices, such as extreme income inequality, poverty, homelessness, unaffordable housing, and predatory financial practices, reveal a tremendous need for financial social work today. Despite these realities, many social workers find themselves unprepared to assist their clients with their financial circumstances and difficulties. This paper makes a case for increasing the inclusion of this approach in social work practice and education through analyzing its implications on social work theory and ethical principles.
Louder Than Words, Volume 1, Issue 1, Fall 2021
(Texas State University, School of Social Work., 2021-08) Clary, Kelly Lynn; Travis, Raphael; Elliot, Michelle; Fitzpatrick Thompson, Katrina; Zamora, Mariana

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