Adulthood and Intersectionality

Requirements and Guidelines

• You will construct a 4 5-page paper which must follow APA 7th Edition guidelines (professional version) and adhere to the academic integrity policy of the University. Please utilize the required readings for Module 2 and additional peer-reviewed journal articles (if needed) for this assignment.
• Prior to beginning your writing, you need to identify an adult individual (current client, previous client, acquaintance, or relative) whom you have extensive knowledge of their life. This assignment will be difficult if you do not know an extensive amount about this persons life. The person you identify must meet the following criteria:

1. The individual should currently have, or have had in the past a clear interaction with a larger system (e.g., medical system, school system, criminal justice system, child welfare system, social service system, public housing system, mental health system).
2. The individual should also identify with one or more groups impacted by historic and systemic oppression and/or discrimination (e.g., socioeconomic status, disability status, immigration status, race, ethnicity, mental health history, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity, religious affiliation).

• Please provide a brief introduction to the paper and an overview of your identified individual, the large system in question and why they engaged with this large system, and the quality of the engagement with that large system (helpful, not helpful, detrimental, discriminatory, supportive). Provide justification for your assessment of the quality of engagement with the large system.
• Using Intersectional Theory assess the individual in terms of interactions with the large system that you identified.

1. Food for thought: How has each aspect of the individuals intersectional identity impacted them throughout their life-span. Has it changed from young adulthood to their current age? Do you believe that aspects of their intersectional identity impact the way they engage with the large system, or conversely how they are treated by the larger system? Is their engagement with the larger system representative of how they engage with society as a whole?

• Describe the geographical location (larger environment) that the individual resides in. Your description should include the geographic location (state, region of the US, urban, rural etc….).

1. Food for thought: Is the impact of the individuals intersectional identity further exacerbated by the geographic location where the individual resides? Describe how the individual interacts with their larger environment. Did their behavior or engagement with their larger environment change based on their engagement with the system? (e.g., they were rejected by the Veterans Administration for disability related health benefits thus creating a distrust of government systems).

• Bringing it all together: Culturally responsive practice with respect to ones professional perspective is required in the social work profession. You must maintain self-awareness about intersectional identities and how your perspective of those shapes our professional identity with implications for practice. For the final piece of this paper, you will need to critically reflect on your own intersecting identities and the potential for these to impact your practice.

1. Food for thought: Have your life experiences impacted your understanding of systemic oppression, and discrimination in our larger society and the larger system of focus? Social work is an action-oriented profession. How can an Intersectionality Framework assist you in analyzing issues and use this to make individual and systemic changes?

Example Individual:

A 22-year-old African American woman named Kayla grew up in a low-income neighborhood and has had ongoing contact with the mental health system, social service system, and medical system. During her teenage years, Kayla struggled with depression and anxiety after experiencing family instability, financial hardship, and the loss of a close family member. She received counseling through a community mental health agency, used Medicaid for healthcare, and at times relied on food assistance and other social services to help meet basic needs. As a young Black woman from a low socioeconomic background, Kaylas life has also been shaped by larger systems of historic and systemic oppression, including racism, economic inequality, and limited access to quality mental health care.

You must use at least two of these references posted, if you dont, dont except this assignment. Rogers, A. T. (2022). Human behavior in the social environment: Perspectives on development and the life course (6th ed.). Routledge.

• Chapter 10: Development in Early Adulthood
• Chapter 11: Development in Middle Adulthood
• Chapter 12: Development in Late Adulthood

Bryant-Davis, T. (2019).

. Psychotherapy, 56(3), 400-408.

Holman, D. & Walker, A. (2021).

. European Journal of Ageing, 18, 239-255.