Re-connecting social justice and social work practice: A testimonio

This thesis has been written in the form of a Testimonio. It is a heartfelt, passionate and personal account of a social worker's life experience as a professional and as a client of the social welfare system. It is a critical analysis of the profession of social work and its connections to urgent matters of social justice. This thesis was written after the writer had experienced a car accident with injuries that changed the course of his life. The accident placed difficult challenges and barriers in his path that led him to be dependent upon the system of care. This experience provided the writer with unique insights into the world of social work and social justice since he was able to add the difficult experience of life as a client to his rich history as a professional social worker. Testimonio as a methodology has given the writer the ability to express his passion and deep concerns for matters of social justice while challenging traditional positivistic research methods. A Testimonio challenges traditional research methods by acknowledging the power of writing with emotion and promoting diversity in knowledge dissemination by incorporating a first person reflection on urgent matters of social justice. In doing so, the writer has managed to follow in the rich path of social work writers that have been able to critically combine the personal and political in the pursuit of social activism.