Category: Social Work

Introduction

This study paper looks at British social work and specifically concentrates on adult disabilities and tries to answer the question on whether assessment and management of risk in social work with disabled adults can be described as a complex and problematic phenomenon.

A number of materials-books and journals will be used during the research of this subject. The utter generality of the ongoing cultural debate about organizations and personification has predestined that all facets, phase, or parts of social work have been influenced by it and the UK has not been left behind as its impact has certainly not been confined to those working in the new ‘adults’ social services departments.

Assessment and management of risk in social work with disabled adults can be described as a complex and problematic phenomenon

Social workers as professionals are required to be persons who are strong willed and have the desire to be of assistance in the improvement of other people’s lives especially those with disabilities. For that reason, social work as a professional career for any individual entails provision of help, provision of solutions to personal problems such as personal, family and relationship matters to people in their everyday lives.

Furthermore, social workers are also involved in providing help to disabled people, or persons dealing with life threatening or fatal diseases and cases where social problems come into play such as drug abuse and unemployment. Consequently, social workers wind up being connected with or participating in research studies either as subjects or conductors of the study itself, advocates for an improvement of services and policy development/planning involvement (Priestley 2003).

In essence, social work is concerned with providing and making available their services to a specific target populace. They are by and large, concentrated in diverse areas of practice in relation to a person’s inclination and capability. The areas of expertise found under social work fall under political, mental health, elderly, slums dwellers, medical and education. If they have the right State mandated license, these workers are referred to as licensed clinical social workers in spite of whichever setting they are in (Oliver & Sapey 2006).

During the last decade, the viewpoints and principles of the Independent Living Movement have had a considerable power to influence people’s perceptions or deeds by way of dispute, for example, or vigor of character in regard to social work in the area of adult disability.

A shift in practice has been observed from establishment of clients who are reliant on services offered by professionals, to formation of working partnerships with the disabled people in question. This is happening so as to be able to secure the rights of adults with disabilities to be recognized as equivalent citizens of a state (Thomas 2003).

Notwithstanding the shift observed in the last ten years or so, there has also been a substantial sudden increase of attention being heaped on the health, well-being and the embodiment of the nature of social experience (Oliver 1990).

These signs can be witnessed just about everywhere around us. Intellectuals round the world have been engaged in debates over the nature, implication and reason of human life for taking place as the ‘Darwinian theory versus the bible’ debates of the late 19th century have somehow also engaged debates about the connection between humankind and the human body.

These debates take up a scientific, philosophical and theological dimension. Simultaneously, balancing, holistic, mind or body psychotherapies are more and more becoming common. In the UK, media stations have diverted much attention to more attractive reports like corpulence, ‘size zero’ models and celebrities drug abuse (Thomas 2003).

A study/inspection of social services carried out by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) shows that only an eighth of the eight departments surveyed had a plan definite for the disabled adults. The inspection carried out was to assess the services and help offered to support parenting roles of adults with disabilities (Warren 2007).

This led to recommendations being put forward on shifting the outlook in approach of provision of services to working with the disabled persons by recognizing their right to be offered support to accomplish their responsibilities as parents. In addition to this, strategy and policy development to improve ‘joined-up working’ across adults’ and children’s service divisions and between agencies were to be formed.

The 2007 UNICEF report on children in the UK and the USA, reveal the position children occupy to be at the bottom of the list in developed countries in conditions where a range of indicators of health and well-being were in play. Sizeable soul-searching by observers has been motivated in the path of which ‘wellbeing and happiness’ became bundled to nearly all aspects of becoming adults in the society, including offenses, cruelty, the impoverishment of children and the apparent ‘break-down’ of family ties.

There was appeal for information-specified parents who had bodily and sensory incapacitation and or parents with learning incapacitations to evade replicating functions done by the National Institute of Social Work.

In respond to this, in 2002 the Rowntree Foundation set up a task force named, Supporting Disabled Adults In Their Parenting Role, to survey and try to shed some light on how many social services departments in Britain had policies and protocols that covered disabled adults (parents) and how far they were likely to address anxiety raised by the inspectors and by disabled parents (Johnstone 2001).

The responses obtained from about 125 departments visited showed that thirty one of these departments had policies still in draft forms or early stage of implementation. An additional twenty nine departments were either in the process of laying down policies or were planning to do so. On the other hand, sixty three of the departments had no immediate plans to come up with policies. This clearly shows a worrying trend in provision of social services to adults with disabilities (Brown 2003).

Assessment carried out on children alone and not on disable parents and their entitlement to social service provision, can turn out to portray the children as ‘in need’ or ‘at risk’ or as ‘young carers’ (Rapley 2004). Although social services departments are aware that disabled adults are wary of approaching social services for support with parenting, they more than often seem to be taking few measures to allay these fears.

The Community Care legislation was introduced to support social services, together with provision of support to disabled adults to fulfill their parenting roles and responsibilities.

This is weighed down by a persistent complexity brought about by policies and protocols, which indicated that where parenting roles are left out of eligibility criterion for Community Care services, disabled parents would either not reach the threshold for receiving Community Care services or would not receive the extra attention necessary to meet parenting needs as well as personal needs (Shakespeare 2006).

The fairly less attention put on Community Care legislation and the role of provision of professional support to adults with disabilities compounded with the importance on children’s legislation, may suggest an easy slip away from the agenda of providing support for disabled adults in their parenting role and be replaced with alarms over children’s welfare.

Making certain that participation between professional social workers with adults with disabilities the whole time contact with the family is maintained, as well as cases where concerns of child protection may arise, provides for the best opportunity of guaranteeing stability of support being given to the parent and a better relationship between disabled parents and social services (Williams 2006).

Most of these policies articulated clear and precise objectives to provide and support disabled parenting. Nonetheless, the legislative routes to be utilized were not very clear.

This was particularly obvious in regards to adult community care legislation. The report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found out that just about two-thirds of those that responded adult based social workers. However, in terms of the documented plans and procedures, reference to children laws together with children protection actions were usually many, explicit and potent. Unlike references to adult laws and regulation, which were normally dispersed and diffuse.

Social workers have in recent times become more occupied with challenge of how to smooth the progress of movement from ‘structured dependency’ to ‘the realization of human rights’ (Oliver 1990). The disability and equality act 2010 that replaced the disability discrimination Act defines a person with disability as one who suffers from physical or mental impairment and if it has a substantially long term adverse effect on them.

Outcomes-focused assessment

Buoyant due to the views that social service demands an enabling of adults with disabilities to accomplish their everyday tasks and roles linked to their quality of life; researchers into social work and its dynamics are questioning the basics about the evaluation. For instance, on the basis of their work with young people, many of whom had complex health care needs, which Gates (2006) argues that there should be a new ‘outcomes-focused practice’.

Provided that the formation of assessment models is based on the notions of ‘need’, they will continue to be in conflict with the new attitude of ‘personalized social care’. To support this, studies go on to point out the course of action in identifying ‘needs’ without a doubt engages prejudiced judgments on the part of the professionals concerned. This subjectivity is argued that it creates a professional ‘problematic’ concept.

Developing a model or framework for health and disability necessitates a foundation of positive vision with the sole function of embracing hopes, aspirations and quality of life rather than looking to only deal with short term problems and shortfalls.

Engaging of older people together with professionals in the redesigning of models of health and social risks and needs appraisal and assessment proved to be productive. It shows that the accessible expertise could be customized (at a conceptual level) to produce a mechanism that has the potential of improving adults with disabilities access to social services and information.

Studies and researches carried out on health; show an interrelation between health and disability. The UK among others has recently come up with policies and legislations in an attempt to extend disability rights, outlaw discrimination on the basis of disability and fight some of the most apparent types of stereotypical social exclusion.

British social work has transformed into social care service providers with an aim of providing ‘accessible’ and ‘person-oriented’ attention, though there have been several efforts to breakdown synthetic obstacles between health and social care professionals.

The nineties saw the United Kingdom come up with premeditated models of assessment on a needs-led principle assessment meant to ensure social care services were integral to adults with disabilities rather than the other way around. This idea should therefore have amplified the position of evaluation of administration of risk in social care organization development with the goal of autonomous alliance with the social representation of disability. However as commonly perceived, this has not been occurring due to the concept of ‘need’.

It is worthy noting that the principle of assessment goes further than just simply being in contention that social workers need to pay attention to what disabled service users desire. This approach to assessment is entirely quite new. Its application in health and disability does not sort out the desires and perceptions of service users say through the idea of ‘need’.

By and large, this principle has been expressed as an ‘outcomes-focused’ form of assessment whose foundation is hinged on the initiative of exploring together with adults with disabilities the wouldesired outcomes’ that would really have an effect on their day to day lives and then utilizing these wouldesired outcomes’ as a focus point of carrying out assessment.

These assessments can only be carried out through a partnership with the service users and complete consultation from other qualified persons, as they would necessitate a variety of diverse responses from a large assortment of organizations. As a result, option, empowerment and coalition might in reality be fully realized as a means of evaluation (Rothman 2004).

At this moment in time, the outcomes assessment model is immature and is beset by a myriad of apparent problems. It is neither clear how ‘preferred outcomes’ can be fixed into a legal structure of enforceable privileges; nor is it visible how or if the evils connected with the allotment of inadequate services will be influenced by the end objective. Nonetheless, the new model has already changed the way in which discussions of evaluation perceptions are approved despite its present representation state (Hodges 2003; Leslie 2004).

As it might be expected, there are various developing debates which indicate feasible results expressed in our minds by the ‘outcomes for children’ model. The focal point of every child is important, and recognized as government efforts to re-conceptualize specialized performance among social workers that shares to the set out progressive series of effect for children and young people alike.

In addition, an exceptionally essential discrepancy between the proposal for an ‘outcomes-oriented’ application in the health and disability discipline and the ‘outcomes for children’ noted in ‘Every Child Matters’ is evident. Until now, no-one has been able to advocate for ‘outcomes’ for adults with disabilities.

Conclusion

Whilst there is continuous debate and uncertainty whether the assessment and management of risk in social work with disabled adults results to being a complex and problematic phenomenon the possibility for a holistic, well-timed and suitable family support from the family by social workers can only be realized where an understanding of the role of supporting parents in safeguarding the welfare of their children is in place and probable actions are undertaken to maintain the right of disabled adults to receiving of assistance to their parenting tasks and responsibilities. There is growing concern around the world on meeting the needs of disabled adults in a harmonized way.

Nevertheless, unanswered concerns regarding the most suitable way to widen work across adults’ and children’s divisions still abound. The 2002 study carried out by the Rowntree foundation clearly shows a worrying trend in provision of social services to adults with disabilities. In addition, to this a study carried out by the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI), also found out the trend among social services department of not having drawn up specific policy plans that were particularly tailored to provide social services to disabled adults.

In light of this scenario, assessment and management of risk in social work with disabled adults could and can be described as a complex and problematic phenomenon, due to the dynamics involved, but is very necessary so as to avoid persistence of child poverty and the perceived ‘breakdown’ of family life in addition to cases of lack of provision of social services to disabled adults resulting to a concern for child protection.

Recognizing the barriers created by social care services and how they can be identified is a sure way of making certain that assessment is not turned into an unrecognizable phenomenon.

References

Brown, I., 2003. Quality of Life and Disability: An Approach for Community Practitioners. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Gates, B. (ed), 2006. Care Planning and delivery in Intellectual Disability Nursing. Oxford: Blackwell.

Hodges, S., 2003. Counselling Adults with Learning Disabilities. Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Johnstone, D., 2001. An Introduction to Disability Studies. London: David Fulton Publishers.

Leslie, J., (ed) 2004. Care of the Adult with a Chronic Illness or Disability: A Team Approach. St. Louise: Elsevier Mosby.

Oliver, M., 1990. The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke: MacMillan.

Oliver, M. & Sapey, B., 2006. Social Work with Disabled People. Basingstoke: Macmillan. 3rd Edn

Priestley, M., 2003. Disability: A Life Course Approach. Cambridge: Polity.

Rapley, M., 2004. The Social Construction of Intellectual Disability. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rothman. J. C., 2004. Social Work Practice Across Disability. London: Allyn & Bacon.

Shakespeare, T., 2006. Disability Rights and Wrongs. London: Routledge.

Thomas, D., 2003. Working with People with Learning Disabilities: Theory and Practice. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Warren, J., 2007. Service User and Carer Participation in Social Work. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Williams, P., 2006. Social Work with People with Learning Difficulties. Exeter: Learning Matters

In a school environment, educational goals are achieved through the social support of the students, parents and staff members. This is because they need each other so that they can deliver services.

The school and the entire community should have a binding relationship with the pupils. Social workers need to have a new approach to their duties so that they can offer social support and services to the society. In this attempt they will offer counseling to the children, their family members and to the school. The specific needs of the children would vary because of their family background and problems, physical inability as well as social needs that children require to coup with situations in life. Their problem-solving capabilities and their confidence in interacting with others need to be nurtured to ensure that they grow and develop into responsible adults.

The major responsibility of school social workers is to provide good and quality education, counseling and more often, they should discuss on use of available resource to improve the lives of the members of the society.

Delivery of services is very crucial and will depend on various factors which would promote or undermine the efforts of social workers. In a survey conducted by state association, various commissions, workers and employers identified different variables to effective service delivery. Among those sampled were members from NASW, American Federation of Teachers and from other associations. It was noted that majority of them had multiple membership. The rating factors that were used to identify the key factors to effective learning were discussed. (Charkin, 1985)

It was found that it was necessary to show a degree of professionalism by providing good leadership strategies and being of benefit to the community. It was necessary that children be counseled from time to time on matters concerning issues of life such as education and social interactions.

It is necessary that parents are involved in decision making. These will enhance participation, or involvement in the education processes. These contributions through offering of suggestions and opinions can go along way in improving the success and education standards of a school.

The size of the school, the geographical position as well as the community are determining factors of good leadership and policy making in the administrative duties.

The performance of school social workers was found to be on collaborative attachments on community agencies, in having special concern on some children in the class activities and guidance. They preferred to improve the teachers-parents relationships through discussions and meetings that help the teachers to appreciate the diversity of parents and to meet their needs. The social workers also attempt to have in-service training for teachers to set up new programs which address issues of developing professionalism and good relationship with the administrators.

It is found that interrelation between the different professionals in an organization can bring harmony and unity which will lead to meeting objectives of the institution. The social workers, supervisors, administrators, professional teachers and the parents need to have common goals that support the continuity in education.

In this survey, the quality of education needed to be upgraded through recruitment of competent personnel. This was necessary as it would address the problems of dropouts, suicide cases, inter-personal conflicts, and the crisis in the society and in schools.

Social development studies were necessary as they could reduce the social conflicts among peer groups, parents, social workers, school administration and the children at school. Furthermore the effects of working conditions, pressure from administrators, the workload, and high performance expectation are some of the pressures that can interrupt quality service delivery. As a result, good leadership qualities are needed so that they can address these issues with great concern.

Liberty at work is a motivating factor to all the social workers. It should be supported through continued training on social services, competence and professionalism. It would also involve acquiring social skills and interpersonal relationships. Different approaches to problem solving on the part of the teachers, social workers, parents, children and administrators need social competence so that these groups can be integrated to work as a team.

Reference

Charkin, N. (1985). School Social Work Practice: A re-appraisal: Social work in Education, 8, 3-13.

Introduction

Social work organizations form part of the society. Social workers interact with the community on an everyday basis in their attempt to improve the living standard of the people in the society. Criminal justice agencies also play a vital role in the society by ensuring that law and order is maintained.

This is a short essay that analyses the weaknesses and strengths of both governmental and non-governmental social organizations. In this essay, an opinion will also be aired in regard to whether criminal justice agencies should be privatized or not.

Social Work Organizations

Social work organizations are very vital in the society as they assist needy people to access basic facilities such as shelter, providing hostage for children away from their abusive homes, helping the jobless make ends meet among others. Social work organizations can be governmental or private. Both the governmental and private social work organizations have strengths and weakness.

Governmental social work organizations have got much strength with the most profound one being easy accessibility of funds. The governmental social work organizations obtain their funds from the tax payers and thus they can accommodate larger budgets and do not waste time in sourcing for funds; more social workers can thus be employed.

On the other hand, source of funding is a weakness on the part of the private social work organizations as they have to privately source for funds which may take significant amount of time and energy which could otherwise be utilized in carrying out the actual tasks they are meant to. Due to uncertainty of privately raising funds, in most cases private organizations employ limited social workers thus their scope of work is limited (McEntire, 2007).

The governmental social work organizations incur fewer costs by utilizing economies of scale since they are large. In the contrast, private social work organizations can not utilize economies of scale but instead nay suffer diseconomies of scale due to their small sizes.

Viewing the size from a different perspective, the private social work organizations have a chance of being better managed by the virtual that small organizations are easily manageable. This is in contrast to the governmental organizations which are large and may not be managed effectively due to their size (McEntire, 2007).

The governmental social work organizations have access to governmental information which can greatly help to offer helpful and up to date information to the society on various issues. This will make it possible for the government social workers to carry out their duties successfully.

On the other hand, the private social work organizations may not access much governmental information on various issues but can instead specialize in one line, for instance rehabilitation of addicts, where they can offer the best specialized assistance thus being the best in that line (Chapin, 2010).

Criminal Justice Agencies

Whether the criminal justice agencies should be privatized or not has been a contentious issue. There are some agencies which are in the private hands while others are still within the governmental jurisdiction. Private organizations make use of private security to safe guard their property.

The private security agencies have limited scope (Shichor & Gilbert, 2000). I believe that there is a need for some of the criminal justice agencies to be privatized as they are at present while some should not be. Private and governmental criminal justice agencies should coordinate and not view each other as rivals. The court system however should remain solidly in the arms of the government.

Conclusion

Private and governmental social work organizations have strengths and weakness. Ability to easily access funds is a huge advantage to the government social work organizations while at the same time a big disadvantage to the private social work organizations. Some of the criminal justice agencies should be privatized while others should remain within the control of the government.

References

Chapin, R. (2010). Social Policy for Effective Practice: A Strengths Approach. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

McEntire, D.A. (2007). Disciplines, disasters, and emergency management: the convergence and divergence of concepts, issues and trends from the research literature. New York, NY: Charles C Thomas.

Shichor, D & Gilbert, M. (2000). Privatization in criminal justice: past, present, and future. New York, NY: Elservier.

The age of sixteen is characterized by personal anxiety of teenager which acquires its specific display in his or her conduct. The personal anxiety is a mixture of inherent psychological determinants and external conditions. While psychological determinants comprise the characteristics of the emotional sphere of the teenager, his or her attitude to oneself and interpersonal needs, the external conditions are presented by social and psychological characteristics like gender, social status in the system of education and the status in the group of pupils.

All these factors are to be closely considered when dealing with the problems that 16 years old Fai faced with. Accessing and helping the client will be based on the family systems therapy as the main approach and person-centered therapy and behavioral therapy as the assisting ones. The approaches chosen presuppose that the therapy is conducted in terms of close contact with the client and the obligatory assistance of his mother, the teachers’ active participation in the helping the boy is also preferred. Only when these circumstances are considered the client may be sufficiently helped.

The present situation with the boy’s case looks like the following. Fai’s conduct is not approved by the school: the absent rate is too high and the level of academic performance is low. The relationships between Fai, his teacher and classmates leave much to be desired. The situation has worsen when Fai was suspected in having stolen the classmate’s money and was punished by the teacher last year. Fai’s father died two years ago what increased the boy’s tragic assumption of the outside world. When the boy comes home he sees his mother with a strange man whom he does not like, this person will never substitute his father and the boy is reluctant to understand his mother’s love. The only remedy that the boy finds in his situation is playing online games overnight. The computer addiction does not influence positively the boy’s health and behavior. He is so absorbed in the virtual reality that he does not want to accept the laws of the real life: he refuses to have lunch and dinner and he continues to play truant from school for a week already. The situation aggravates because the boy does not realize his problem and is reluctant to adjust to the changes that the school and the mother offer him.

The goals of the therapies applied consist in the following. The general target of helping the boy is to nurture the change in the boy’s life and modify the priorities of his self-development. This will be done through increasing the sense of the boy’s family’s inter-connection and belonging, through encouraging the individuation of every family member. Other goals are to increase Fai’s self-esteem and greater openness to the school experience as well as to the relationships with his mother. It will be done through fostering the client’s agreement between his idealized and actual selves, better self-understanding, establishing more positive and comfortable relationships with his mother, his mother’s friend, his classmates, his teachers and other people around. The application of the behavior therapy presupposes such goals as changing the boy’s way of acting, feeling, thinking and coping. Through monitoring and evaluating the boy’s progress we are going to help him change in the way he needs to change. Unlike the first two approaches, this will be based less on Fai’s life experience; more attention will be paid to his present life. In terms of this theory we are going to improve the boy’s self control by developing his skills, abilities and independence not into the prejudice of his school performance or his relationships with the people around.

Family systems theory has developed from general systems theory when its application to families and other social systems was found effective. According to this system families are treated like systems built up of interrelated elements connected by regular interactions being interdependent on one another. Family systems interact in patterns; these patterns determine how the family systems should function.

Family system approach is an effective means when treating someone in recovery. We will treat Fai’s case as the one aiming at his recovery.

We will need the information on the family history and dynamics where Fai is an individual part. As the boy’s current living situation is known only in general, we will need to find out more about it. We will gather the information from teachers about the boy’s performance at class and his behavior there. We will inquire Fai’s classmates about their relationships with the boy. The concrete information about the boy’s life experience will be got from the boy’s mother and from Fai himself. It would be very helpful if we understand how the boy sees his problem. It is most likely that the boy will be reluctant to speak about his life experience, school performance and the like. Our task is to make the boy feel free in communication with us; he will trust us only in case of absolute confidence. The boy should not feel as if he serves a guinea pig, but should really feel that we are willing and able to help him in the present situation.

We will examine Fai’s self-identifications as well as his family experience around general misbehavior. The therapy will be started from Fai alone. Then, we are going to identify how systems, from a micro to macro level, may be a part of Fai’s perception and, consequently, the problem of misconduct. We will clear up how Fai’s misconduct affects the family and how it is integrated and is maintained by family relational patterns.

We will resort to the experiential-humanistic approach of family systems therapy. The goal of this approach is to assist the boy towards growth of self. Our client needs to realize his potential that will develop his autonomy in terms of academic studies and the boy’s behavior at school. Emphasizing the boy’s strength and getting rid of his weaknesses we will make the boy believe that he may devote his free time to some other activities rather than playing computer games. The boy’s interest in some other spheres should be provoked. The teachers should do their best to involve the boy in the learning process. Once encouraged for some task, he will become interested in one’s own further development.

Fai’s mother’s asking for help is a good beginning. Now she should take an active part in the process of solving the problem. We do not know yet the features of the mother’s character, but in any case, she should be patient about her son. Constant quarrels and reprimanding will not work. Encouragement is the best way to treat the boy. Even the smallest success of the boy should be noticed by the mother. Together with the teachers’ impact this will increase the boy’s interest not only in the studies but in the boy’s general attitude to his life. The mother should be supporting as the boy lacks understanding in class. We also need to find out whether Fai has friends or not. If there are no friends, the boy’s only resort is his mother who should be ready to devote much of her time to the boy’s problems. If the boy has friends, the mother should know who they are and how they influence her son. The boy’s intercourse with the peers that have the same problems is unwanted. Instead, the mother should try to encourage the boy’s friendship with someone who is able to teach him something. If Fai has good friends, the mother should collaborate with them with the purpose of making the boy more caring about his studying and leisure time.

What is also important is to convince Fai’s mother that she needs to be more caring about her son. Her personal life should not be led to the prejudice of Fai. The boy lacks proper attention from his mother and he does not believe that someone cares about him. Hence the boy’s passion for virtual reality, here he finds answers to questions that torture him, but not in his mother’s words.

We will inquire the boy and his mother about the father. What was the boy’s attitude to the father? What role did the father play in Fai’s life? If the father had the same problems but solved them successfully, this should serve as an example for Fai. The boy should be encouraged to follow his father’s footsteps if positive influence is obvious. The mother will be asked about the methods that father used in bringing up the boy. Did award or punishment prevail? If the boy liked spending his time with his father and confided in him, the father’s role should be played by the mother. Her attempts to substitute Fai’s father for her boyfriend are not the right way to cope with the problem. The mother should act with the purpose to establish friendly relationships between her son and her boyfriend. As these are two people whom she loves most of all, the task is not that difficult: interesting evenings spent together will make Fai and her mother’s boyfriend closer to each other and the boy’s jealousy will die by itself. If possible, some consultations with the very boy-friend will be made; he may turn very helpful in the boy’s case. The boy should not be asked to forget about his father by replacing him by the mother’s boyfriend, but establishment of the normal relation between Fai and his mother’s beloved are quite possible.

Another system where Fai is engaged in is his school. Considering this system we will take into account the information we got about the boy’s school performance, his attendance and the bad habit. The case with the classmate’s theft also needs a proper analysis. The reasons to steel the money will be studied, the boy will be asked to evaluate this rash action of his and the way it influenced the attitude of the class towards him. Our task is not to blame the boy, but to help him look from the other side on his action. How did he benefit from it? Was he satisfied with the change of attitude towards him? Were there some other ways to behave?

Though school performance and attendance depends much on the boy, but the teachers’ role should not be underestimated. If they join their actions aimed at helping the boy to succeed in his studies, the results will not keep them waiting. Moreover, when the boy is involved in the learning process, he will find another application of computer instead of constant playing of computer games. Fai’s classmates should help him to catch up with them, but it will be done only when their attitude to Fai is changed. Therefore, the teachers should encourage the classmates to be friendly with the boy and give him another chance.

To achieve the results expected we need to follow the principles of the person-centered therapy: congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy on our part.

Congruence implies our openness and willingness to understand the client’s problems without hiding behind a professional facade. The boy needs to believe us firstly and then he will want to share his feelings and emotions with us. Unconditional positive regard means that the boy will be listened to without blaming him for this or that deed. Interrupting, judging, or giving advice will be reduced to minimum in the boy’s situation, as only in this case he will feel free to all of his feelings without worrying about the outcomes that this expression might have. The absence of our rejection will increase Fai’s desire to share his emotions, thoughts and ideas.

Active listening is a primary way of conveying our empathy to the client: careful and perceptive attention to what Fai is talking about, along with eye-contact and the method of reflection will help us convince the boy about the necessity of changes that should appear in his life. Without trying to modify Fai’s way of thinking we will succeed in making him recognize some alternative ways of thinking that will change the boy’s assumption of the life around.

According to the principles of the person-centered therapy we will adjust scheduling of our therapy session according to the boy’s expressed needs. But if we implement the principles of behavior therapy our sessions will be conducted in the following way: once a week we will talk with Fai about a particular problematic behavior and will explore some event from the past week. We will start from the chain of events leading up to the problematic situation, we will go through alternative solutions that the client has failed to take and will study what prevented him from doing this. And once a week we will conduct a group therapy sessions where the boy’s family, some of the teachers and classmates will be involved. Interpersonal effectiveness, reality acceptance skills and emotion regulation will be developed during this course.

As we can see from the mentioned above, only the complex system of family system approach, person-centered therapy and behavior therapy will help us to solve Fai’s problems. The teachers’, the classmates’ and the family’s involvement in the problem is an integral part of the problem’s solution. When all these rules are followed, Fai is guaranteed a professional help from which everyone involved in the process will benefit.

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Pardeck, John T., and Francis K. O. Yuen, eds. Family Health: A Holistic Approach to Social Work Practice. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1999.

Rogers, Carl. Client-Centered Therapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1951.

Rogers, Carl. On Becoming a Person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1961.

Sexton, Thomas L., Gerald R. Weeks, and Michael S. Robbins, eds. Handbook of Family Therapy: The Science and Practice of Working with Families and Couples. New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2003.

Sheldon, Brian. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Research, Practice, and Philosophy. New York: Routledge, 1995.

The Therapeutic Relationship in Systemic Therapy. Ed. Carmel Flaskas and Amaryll Perlesz. London: Karnac Books, 1996.

Thorne, Brian, and Elke Lambers. Person-Centered Therapy: A European Perspective. London, UK: Sage Publications, 1999.

Zachry, Caroline B., and Margaret Lighty. Emotion and Conduct in Adolescence: For the Commission on Secondary School Curriculum. New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1940.

Psychoanalytic social work requires that one should be able to understand racial and ethnic background of one’s clients. This helps the social worker have the basis to handle his or her clients. However, this factor has been ignored and has been recompensed with the quality of services which are offered to the clients. According to the article, it is equally important to know the religion, race, and ethnic background among other factors so as to deliver effectively and efficiently to clients.

Ethno-cultural transference and counter transference are also emphasized in training social workers. This includes the social worker doing away with over compliance and friendliness, denial of ethnicity, and culture. Through this, the social worker is not sided to anyone despite the place of his or her origin when delivering the services. Friendliness is eliminated from the work place making the delivery of services be in the right direction.

Inter-subjectivity has been emphasized in this article as there is need to interact with the clients. This helps the worker understand clients in the context of their environment. According to the article, one is committed to work with people from all diversities including the poor, and those who come from marginalized areas. This gives an understanding of client in relation to where they live through their interaction. It helps them accept the realities of the environment in which they work. This, in its turn, ensures avoidance of alliances in therapy.

Race and transference have been debated over the past few decades and should be incorporated in study of social workers. Race is a factor which, if left to prevail in working environment, will make services vary from one person to another. However, if the social workers have knowledge concerning different races, they will be in a better position to deal with clients. Today, students should be left alone to discuss among themselves which is the best way to deal with the patients leaving alone the study of different theories which they go through (Bonner, 2002).

Reference

Bonner, C. E. (2002). Psychoanalytic Theoryand Diverse Populations:Reflections on Old Practices and New Understandings. Psychoanalytic Social Work, 11.

Introduction

Social work is a profession that aspires to bolster the quality of life and welfare of a certain group, personalities or a community.

It achieves these objectives by indulging in extensive research, mobilizing the community members to participate in bettering their lives, encouraging members of society to rise up to the occasion as regards to eradication of poverty, and eliminating social injustices that violate human rights.

The main objective of social workers is to improve the quality of lives through human growth, communal policy, administration, review of programs, and engaging members of society in global and societal development (Townsend 1957, p. 12).

Social work is a field of study that incorporates theories from other subjects such as finance, culture, medicine, philosophy, politics and psychology.

In Britain, social work can be traced back to the industrial revolution era. At this time, the state witnessed various upheavals that threatened to divide society into half. The gap between the poor and the rich was ever increasing and poverty levels were rising. Due to this, the major focus of the social worker was to eradicate poverty in society.

The field of social work developed lethargically to be what it is in the modern world. Social workers in the UK found themselves fighting social injustices such as racial discrimination, gender based discrimination, homophobia, and inequity based on age. Currently, social work has developed into a fully-fledged field with the subject matter, theories and methods.

During its initial years in Britain, social work focused on preventing problems and reforming life in society (Young & Wilmott 1957, p. 98). Presently, the field has espoused a critical and holistic model in comprehending and intercepting social problems.

For instance, social workers agree that the problem of poverty is not about sickness, infirmity or ethical imperfection that should be cured but it is matter that pertains to the rich and the poor.

This paper will therefore trace the developments of social work as a field of study and profession since the mid 19^th century to present. Through analysis, it is established that the field has experienced various historical developments in its evolution. The field was more inclined to social control but it currently empowers members of society to determine their own destinies.

Poor Law system

The poor law system was aimed at assisting the poor in England and Wales. The laws were developed in the 16^th century and were in existence until the end of the Second World War. Initially, the laws were intended to help poor individuals who were impotent and had no place to call home.

Later on, the Tudor laws were passed to contain the influence of the vagrants and beggars on the streets. The poor law system can be divided into two major sections that is, the one that was passed during Elizabeth’s regime and the new one passed in 1834. The new law was simply an adjustment to the previous law, which was actually ineffective due to the changing world.

The old law system under Elizabeth lacked implementation because it was left to the church members to run it. The new law modernized the system whereby the government came up with programs aimed at building workhouses for the poor people (May 1973, p. 10). This was made possible through the Poor Law Unions.

In the beginning of the 20^thcentury, the poor law system was replaced by the modern systems that could function effectively. For instance, the state established the liberal welfare reforms that could facilitate the development of modern systems. Furthermore, members of society came up with friendly organizations and unions that could provide quality services to the poor as compared to the old system.

In 1948, the government enacted a law that abolished the poor law system mainly because of the complex nature of human problems. In real sense, the new poor law was one of the best policies that targeted the poor at the time (Reynolds 2006, p. 1087). The policy reduced the burden for the poor by declaring that they could not pay taxes to the government.

The poor suffered a lot because the great reform act demanded that each person was to pay taxes to the state. The law established a poor law commission that would oversee the plight of the poor people in the state. Through the law, the small centers that assisted the poor had to be merged in order to provide quality services.

Through the law therefore, small parishes were fused together to form unions. Consequently, the poor were given houses that could distribute relief food and other forms of humanitarian assistance.

Even though the poor law system boosted the standards of living of many, it suffered from financing. The program did not have specific government support that would guarantee steady supply of services. The system depended on the poor rate levies, which were actually insufficient to supply needed services to the poor.

During the Second World War, the workhouses were very important since they were used as health centers. The number of people depending on the poor law system increased as the war persisted in 1921 to 1938 (Pearson 1983, p. 34).

During these years, the system lacked a clear funding program because the government taxed the middle class but the rich could not fund the program through taxation. This angered many leaders leading to the abolition of the poor law system.

Changing Individuals

In the mid 20^th century that is, 1950s and 1960s, professionals identified social work as a field of study that had its own theories and principles. This was necessitated by a group of workers who viewed themselves as professionals in this occupation. The professionals published articles and books that served as guides in the field.

Before the inception of social work, there were workers such as community center wardens, secretaries of boards and developmental personnel on the housing units. Such workers did not have a specific expertise that could identify them with a certain profession. Researchers came up with a report titled Younghusband Report in 1959, which changed people’s perception to the field of social work.

The report borrowed a lot from the social organization of the North America and utilized it as casework. Workers in the field of social work coined the term ‘community organization’ to describe their activities.

However, the workers preferred to use the words community development and community work. The workers went ahead to adopt ‘community development’ as their identity. The workers developed projects aiming at helping the poor to eradicate poverty in society.

In 1966, the society intended to bring about changes as regards to the role of social work. The members of the social work organization set up a research committee under the hospices of Gulbenkain Foundation to investigate the future programs of communities in Britain. Furthermore, the group decided to set up a community Development program through the home office in order to eliminate poverty.

The Gulbenkian report recommended some things that had to be done to stamp out poverty in society. The report suggested that the community had to offer training services in order to recruit more members to help in spreading the message. Afterwards, the group wanted to help the communities to come up with programs, plan for the programs and execute the same programs in order to accomplish certain tasks using available local resources.

Moreover, the report intended to help local people to upgrade their services. These services could be put into effective use and could be available to those in need. The report urged human service providers to relate services to the people.

This would ensure that services provided meet the desires and wishes of the majority in society. In other words, the services could not be indifferent and unresponsive to the needs of the majority. Lastly, these researchers urged human services workers to beware of the changes in society since the modern world was dynamic.

Services designed had to be vibrant as well. From this, the commission suggested that social work had in it a characteristic of direct locality work, warmer relationships between services and the populace, inter-agency harmonization, scheduling and policy invention.

Between 1960 and 1970, poverty was a key feature in Britain mainly because of the effects of the Second World War. Due to this, scholars urged that people had to change their perceptions and values in order to salvage themselves. The government in this case had to involve people in various programs that would benefit them directly.

For instance, the Skeffington Report on planning claimed that the government had to open up society to give each person a chance to try his or her luck. The British government emulated the US system that had been adopted by the democratic government to eradicate poverty. However, the British government underfunded the program, which led to its failure.

Religious bodies for example Bernardo

Religious organizations, such as Bernardo, contributed significantly to the growth of social work in Britain. Such organizations established social entrepreneurs that helped many people, especially the youths to solve their societal problems. The organizations achieved a lot as regards to the social welfare.

Religious leaders and organizations pioneered the formation of various children’s homes and training facilities that provided specialized care to the disabled members of society in Britain. In other words, religious organizations contributed to the growth of youth work and social work practice (Mason 2008, p. 29).

Religious leaders such as Bernardo could rescue troubled children from streets and offer them with specialized services that would enable them to be responsible members of society. Bernardo raised money through an article titled The Revival. The finances could be used to bring together children in tea estates. Through charismatic leaderships and strong characters of religious leaders, donors gave out their monies as aid to religious organizations.

In Britain, most of the schools were funded by religious organizations in one way or the other. In 1944, the state passed a law that recognized the role of religious organizations in promoting social welfare of citizens. The education act made it compulsory for school going children to identify themselves with a certain religion.

This gave school heads an easy way to foster a sense of belonging among students as regards to social welfare (Harper 2003, p. 156). Christianity had participated actively in promoting lives and eradicating conditions that would cause human suffering. Upon this realization, the state moved to pass a law in 1988 termed the education reform act, which required students and other members of society to recognize Christianity as the mainstream religion.

Though most schools did not honor the 1988 act, the government appreciates the contribution of the church in uplifting lives of citizens. Consequently, it has moved ahead to promise distribution of authorized King James Version bible to all students.

Settlement movement

The settlement movement is considered the most important variable that contributed to the development of social policy. The movement started in Britain and spread to other parts of the world in the 19^th century. One of the achievements of the settlement movement is the Tonynbee Hall, which was founded by Barnett in 1884 to help people in need of social services.

These settlements served as residential homes for individuals seeking education at an advanced age. Fresh graduates from universities and colleges had the chance to train and exercise their careers at the settlement movement centers. They would engage in activities that would benefit the community in one way or another.

This included activities such as youth training, mature education, practicing social work and seeking some knowledge concerning the law. It can be observed that the structures were very important in promoting communal solidarity and eradicating conditions that would lead to human suffering.

The government was quick to recognize the contribution of settlement movements by establishing the two bodies that would oversee the affairs of the movements. It is therefore a fact that a relationship existed between these settlement movements and national agencies.

Major state organizations and agencies emerged from the settlement movements, such as the British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centers, which was designed from the Federation of Residential Settlements. The agency has developed further through merging with the Development Trusts Association.

Currently, the Educational Centers Association, a governmental organization, is an offshoot of the former settlement movement referred to as Educational Settlements Association. The agency offers educational needs to members of society with advanced ages (Finch 2007, p. 68). During the World Wars, the settlement movements played a critical role, as they offered assistance to those in need.

In 1981, the settlement movements advocated for abolition of discrimination based on race and gender. The movements lobbied the government to come up with policies that would discourage discrimination based on gender and race. Consequently, the movements achieved their objective when the government passed legislation in 1981 barring discrimination based on gender and race.

Seebohm Reforms and Rowntree Report

Seebohm Rowntree was a successful businessperson who believed that he had a responsibility of giving back to the society as one way of showing solidarity. He always thought that giving back to society and helping people in need was his duty. Consequently, the philanthropist established some children’s homes and conducted extensive studies to establish the social state of affairs in Britain.

In 1860s, his father had conducted two major studies concerning poverty in the state. Seebohm was inspired by his father’s report to conduct a private study that took him two years in 1901 (Sennett 2006, p. 65). His study was very important because it differentiated between people who had primary problems from those suffering from secondary problems.

Those families that could not afford basic needs were declared to be suffering from primary problems. Such families needed some help since life was difficult for them. On the other hand, Seebohm observed that families suffering from secondary needs had enough food and clothing but their problem was expenditure.

They could spend more than they could earn. The report noted that while some expenditure was justified, others were unnecessary.

Rowntree’s report offered enough information regarding the lives of people such as their wages, the hours they spend working, their diet, kinds of food consumed, health services received and the housing structure. Furthermore, the report demonstrated that capitalism had failed society and new measures had to be taken to salvage the poor.

For instance, the rate of unemployment was ever increasing and families abandoned the old. After the first study, the government requested Rowntree to carry out an investigation into the land problems in Britain.

His report stated that accumulation of resources among members of society would eradicate poverty. This was to be achieved through availing land to farmers for them to practice small-scale agriculture.

The scholar believed that workers could only be effective if their needs and wishes were met fully (Rose 1990, p. 56). To lead as an example, Rowntree brought about some changes in his own organization.

For instance, he increased the salaries of employees in order to boost their morale. His report claimed that the government had to intervene in order to save the situation.

For this case, each company had to increase wages for employees to improve the standards of living. Employers who failed to implement this policy could be deregistered from their respective fields.

List of References

Finch, J 2007, “Displaying families”, Journal of Sociology, Vol. 41, no. 1, pp 65-81.

Harper, S 2003, “Changing families as European societies age”, European Journal of Sociology, Vol. 1, no. 5, pp 155-184.

Mason, J 2008, “Tangible affinities and the real life fascination of kinship”, Journal of Sociology, Vol. 42, no. 1, pp 29-45.

May, M 1973, “Innocence and Experience: the evolution of the concept of juvenile delinquency in the mid-nineteenth century”, Victorian Studies, Vol. 1, no. 1, pp 7-29.

Pearson, G 1983, Hooligan: A History of Respectable Fears, Macmillan, London.

Reynolds, T 2006, “Caribbean families, social capital and young people’s diasporic identities”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 29, no. 6, pp 1087-1103.

Rose, N 1990, Governing the Soul: Shaping of the Private Self, Routledge London.

Sennett, R 2006, The Culture of the New Capitalism, Yale University Press, Connecticut.

Townsend, P 1957, Family Life of Older People: An Inquiry in East London, Penguin, London.

Young, M & Wilmott, P 1957, Family and Kinship in East London, Routledge, London.

Summary of the Case

The client is a 29-year-old woman, Sophie, who was brought in for a consultation by her colleague after she burst into tears at work and shared a story of domestic violence. Sophie has two children from her first marriage who stay with her every other fortnight. Recently, her new husband, Brian, began to express anger about the children’s stays. Brian is dissatisfied with his job. He constantly tries to control Sophie through frequent phone calls and monitoring her movements and degrades her by calling her stupid and cheap. Last night, Brian tripped Sophie and did not let her go to hospital.

Explaining Sophie’s Situation by Using the Socio-Ecological System

From the point of view of the socio-ecological system, Sophie’s case belongs to the individual and relationship level. Sophie’s problems are caused by the relations within her family. Her husband constantly undermines her self-respect by saying that she is not clever enough or that she dresses badly. Moreover, Brian does not allow Sophie to communicate with her children, which is absolutely inappropriate. They are her children, and she needs to take care of them. The individual level of the socio-ecological system presupposes dealing with the developmental experiences and personality issues that form the client’s reaction to stressors. In Sophie’s situation, such issues are:

• depression due to being stigmatised and underappreciated;
• anxiety because of Brian’s attitude towards her children;
• the impossibility of sharing with someone (her husband controls her every move and phone conversation);
• the inability to obtain medical help when needed (when he caused her to fall, her nose bled, and her wrist was swollen, but he did not allow her to go to hospital);
• a serious threat to her own health as well as her children’s wellbeing.

All these issues demonstrate the relationship problems existing between Sophie and Brian.

Potential Risk Factors for Domestic and Family Violence (D/FV)

The outcomes of gender-based emotional abuse may be as serious as those of physical offence (Petrakis 2018). Emotional abuse involves excessive control over a woman’s life, frequent insults, preventing the female partner from meeting with her friends, not allowing her to visit a doctor, and trying to making her stop going to work. In the current case, issues are present that threaten the safety of Sophie and her children. Brian may get too aggressive and hurt them. The emotional risks include social alienation, gaslighting, and the loss of self-esteem and confidence.

Social alienation may develop because Brian does not allow Sophie to communicate with her friends. Gaslighting is a kind of manipulation that Brian has employed. By making frequent remarks about Sophie’s inability to make right choices, he undermines her belief in what she is doing. As a result, she may start to doubt every thought and belief. Finally, Sophie is at risk for losing her confidence and self-esteem as a result of Brian’s constant remarks regarding her looks and skills. Brian keeps telling her that she is stupid and that her position could be filled by some smart male employee. Therefore, the potential risk factors for D/FV include safety and emotional instability.

The Description of Individuals’ Needs

Sophie, her children, and Brian have different needs related to the case. For Sophie and her children, it is crucial to develop a safety plan and perform a risk assessment to evaluate the possible danger for Sophie and her children and try to prevent this risk. A social worker may use different approaches to assessing the risk. Some of the most effective ones are the Victorian Family Violence Risk Assessment and Risk Management Framework and the Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment and Honour-Based Violence Risk Identification and Assessment and Management Model (Petrakis 2018). In addition, Sophie needs support to build more confidence and self-esteem. This goal may be reached through counselling. It is crucial to explain to the client that there is nothing wrong with her choices and that she is a valuable employee and a responsible mother. Finally, Brian also needs help. He should receive counselling services concerning his career pressure. Also, he should refer to a relevant support service to help him find a stable job. Satisfying the needs of all stakeholders will minimise the risk of emotional abuse and will improve the relationship between the individuals.

Challenges and Opportunities in Working with the Family

In working with Sophie and her family, several rewarding as well as some challenging issues are evident. The major problem is advocating for gender equality. Researchers have noted that men’s perpetration of violence against their intimate partners may be caused by sociological, economic and psychological factors (Fleming et al. 2015). This is a plausible explanation of Brian’s behaviour: due to having problems at work, he expresses his anger through treating his wife without respect. Knudson-Martin et al. (2015) also emphasise the difficulty in proving the emotional abuse present in gender inequality. Thus, the second challenge is the difficulty of identifying the signs of emotional abuse. Another challenge is that the client may not want to get help for her situation, which will limit the possibilities for the social worker to intervene (Code of ethics 2010). What is rewarding in working with Sophie is that it is possible to help not only the client but also her children and husband. Thus, there is an opportunity to change Brian’s attitude towards his wife and stepchildren. By choosing the most appropriate methods, the social worker can explain the problems of gender inequality and emotional abuse and teach Brian how to avoid these negative practices.

Understanding Social Determinants of Health

To perform the best assessment of the client’s situation, a social worker needs to take the social determinants of health into consideration. These elements include social status and income, social support networks and social participation, health literacy, education, culture, racism and discrimination, healthy living conditions, genetics and early life factors, individual behaviours and lifestyle factors and access to health care (Petrakis 2018). In Sophie’s case, the greatest emphasis is on the determinant concerning individual behaviours and lifestyle factors. In particular, the conduct of the client’s husband towards her causes depression and anxiety. Moreover, Sophie and her children are under threat of physical abuse. The major lifestyle factor affecting the family’s social position is presented by Brian’s work problems.

Scholars note the significance of social determinants of health and emphasise the impact of these factors on health outcomes (Braveman & Gottlieb 2014). Braveman and Gottlieb (2014) remark that individuals’ income and social position are some of the most crucial social determinants of health. In Sophie’s case, these factors play a crucial role and are associated with the previously mentioned issue of lifestyle factors. Due to his dissatisfaction with his job and, consequently, income, Brian is angry, and he reflects his anger and dissatisfaction with his wife. Research findings indicate that a rise in social position has a potential for improving health outcomes. Therefore, it is highly possible that Brian’s behaviour will change if he finds a better job with a higher income. Another aspect of social determinants of health is that they are interrelated and impact one another (de Andrade et al. 2015). For instance, an insufficient income may lead to social isolation and inadequate access to health care. It is the duty of the social worker to accumulate the necessary resources in order to help the client and her family resolve social issues.

Using Evidence to Contribute to the Knowledge Base for Practice

Social workers need to perform a variety of activities in the process of their work, such as making risk evaluations, managing existential issues, performing therapeutic interventions, providing support and others (Petrakis 2018). In their analysis of individuals, these specialists focus on different levels: micro, meso and macro (Petrakis 2018). Social workers can make use of the available evidence through analysing similar cases and drawing conclusions related to their clients. They have ample opportunity to contribute to the knowledge base for practice. However, it is noted that they may feel reluctant to perform research. Thus, it is necessary to increase their understanding of the significance of research and encourage them to contribute to the knowledge base for practice. In the given case, the knowledge base concerns violence against women.

The emotional abuse to which Sophie is subjected is known for difficulty of identifying its symptoms (Emotional abuse 2018). Thus, it is crucial to collect the available evidence and contribute to the existing knowledge base. Research by Devries et al. (2013) suggests evidence regarding a global prevalence of men’s violence against women. Using the findings of this research, social workers can enhance their knowledge of emotional abuse and the outcomes that it may cause. Further research valuable for the investigation of violence against women is suggested in a study by Ellsberg et al. (2015), wherein the authors review evidence for interventions aimed at reducing the incidence and prevalence of physical and emotional abuse. Ellsberg et al. (2015) conclude that such options as advocacy and home visits can eliminate the risk of further victimisation. At the same time, Ellsberg et al. (2015) note the lack of sufficient evidence for preventive interventions for perpetrators. Therefore, apart from analysing evidence-based research, social workers’ knowledge base for practice should be enriched by their own investigations and analysis.

Reference List

Braveman, P & Gottlieb, L 2014, ‘The social determinants of health: it’s time to consider the causes of the causes’, Public Health Reports, vol. 129, no. suppl2, pp. 19-31.

Code of ethics 2010, Australian Association of Social Workers, Canberra.

de Andrade, LOM, Filho, AP, Solar, O, Rígoli, F, de Salazar, LM, Serrate, PC-F, Ribeiro, KG, Koller, TS, Cruz, FNB & Atun, R 2015, ‘Social determinants of health, universal health coverage, and sustainable development: case studies from Latin American countries’, The Lancet, vol. 385, no. 9975, pp. 1343-1351.

Devries, KM, Mak, JYT, García-Moreno, C, Petzold, M, Child, JC, Falder, G, Lim, S, Bacchus, LJ, Engell, RE, Rosenfeld, L, Pallitto, C, Vos, T, Abrahams, N & Watts, CH 2013, ‘The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women’, Science, vol. 340, no. 6140, pp. 1527-1528.

Ellsberg, M, Arango, DJ, Morton, M, Gennari, F, Kiplesund, S, Contreras, M & Watts, C 2015, ‘Prevention of violence against women and girls: what does the evidence say?’, The Lancet, vol. 385, no. 9977, pp. 1555-1566.

Emotional abuse 2018, Web.

Fleming, PJ, McCleary-Sills, J, Morton, M, Levtov, R, Heilman, B & Barker, G 2015, ‘Risk factors for men’s lifetime perpetration of physical violence against intimate partners: results from the international men and gender equality survey (IMAGES) in eight countries’, PLoS ONE, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. e118639.

Knudson-Martin, C, Huenergardt, D, Lafontant, K, Bishop, L, Schaepper, J & Wells, M 2015, ‘Competencies for addressing gender and power in couple therapy: a socio emotional approach’, Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 205-220.

Petrakis, M (ed) 2018, Social work practice in health, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest.

Introduction

Social workers have been integrated into health systems as a way to reduce cost and increase efficiency. Social workers are seen to work alongside other permanent workers in the provision of health care services. Social workers act as a direct link with the communities they serve. They help communities in tackling health issues and advising them on plans concerning health problems.

Role of social workers in public health

The social workers are playing a major role in dealing with a psychological condition in public health. Their main aim is to curb mental illness by tackling social problems facing the communities they serve.

They have been largely involved in implementing prevention measures in health issues. They are charged with the role of educating youths on dangers that loom on early pregnancy, abuse of drugs and protection from HIV AIDS (Dubois et.al, 295). Social workers achieve preventive measures by organizing community educational seminars. Through education seminars, people are informed of medical problems that exist and how they can improve their lifestyle.

Role of Social workers in Primary Health care

Primary health care centers have integrated social workers as members of health care providers within their premises. Social workers work with patients who are facing social problems as groups, families or on an individual basis. Some of the problems they tackle include depression, patients facing family problems or cases of obesity from patients. Their participation has shown tremendous improvement in the rate of patients’ recovery. To add on it patients who recover under the care of social workers have a low rate of readmission to the health centers with similar problems (Dubois et.al, 296).

Social workers providing Health-Based Services

Upon admission of a patient in a hospital, while other medical professionals deal with physical health problem the social worker will identify psychological problems facing the patient. Once the social workers learn of the psychological problem from patients they will give advice while they are within or outside the health centers to increase the rate of recovery. Patients within health centers need an advocate for their right within health centers. Social workers will try to act as advocates on behalf of patients to make sure health workers provide care according to the patients’ wishes (Dziegielewski, 200).

The advocacy role will eliminate situations where doctors overstep their mandate while dealing with the patients. Illness of patients that lead to family problems requires social workers to step in to provide counseling to the patient and family. The counseling will speed up acceptance of the patients within their families no matter what the problem is. Patients who need to be integrated into social groups to speed up their recovery are helped by social workers within the health centers. Some patients’ categories who require groups for recovery purposes are those who may be suffering from drug addiction.

The social worker is aware of the groups within the patients’ locality and is able to secure admission on behalf of the patient with one of the groups. Patients who suffer from terminal illness require admission to hospice or nursing homes. Such admission might be a problem for them because of the lack of correct information or money. Social workers upon discovery of such problems they will secure the admission of the patients to the hospice or nursing home.

Role of Social workers in Emergency rooms

Emergency rooms within hospitals have integrated social workers to help deal with the social problems of patients getting admitted in them. Patients visiting emergency rooms might face problems of getting clothing, food, or doctor’s attention (Dubois et al., 300).

The social worker in the emergency room will communicate the patient’s needs to the health provider while offering counseling to the patient to improve on chances of recovery. Their role in an emergency room plays a role in alleviating suffering to patients facing terminal illness or homeless patients who do not have families to take care of them. Such patients upon receiving psychological advice from the social workers have higher chances of recovering.

Role of the social worker in Homecare

Patients having terminal illness sometimes receive medical care from their homes. Social workers are allocated certain patients whom they visit to see if they are taking their medications as prescribed. The social worker is supposed to see that the patient is able to secure medical resources either from the government or other organizations to ease pains or suffering in the correct form and correct format. Involvement of social workers in-home health care has greatly reduced the cost of offering health care (Dubois et al., 301).

Social workers in Hospice programs

Hospices have been offering medical care to patients facing terminal and chronic illness. Most patients visiting hospices suffer from a psychological problem because of their form of illness. The social workers try to organize care on behalf of the patient because social workers are well informed of the patients’ environment. Some problems facing patients within hospice might create a family crisis because of lack of agreement among family members.

The social workers will counsel the family members to accept the patient’s illness and try to help in providing health care to the patient. Such counseling will allow family members to cope with the crisis without getting into depressions or fights. The social worker is charged with the responsibility of championing for better health care services to patients under the hospice program. The better services will ensure they get a dignified life while alleviating pain in their last days in the world.

Works cited

Dubois,B. & Miley K. Social Work: An Empowering Profession. New Jersey: Pearson, 2010. Print.

Dziegielewski, S. The Changing Face of Health Care Social Work Professional Practice in Managed Behavioral Health Care. New York: Springer, 2003. Print.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of social work supervision. It will focus on why I would supervise an intern and how the experience would influence my style of supervision. The challenges that I am likely to experience and future development goals will also be discussed.

I would supervise a social work intern to improve my effectiveness as a social worker. Interns bring new perspectives and ideas to the profession. Thus, I am likely to learn from them. I would also supervise an intern in order to improve my supervisory skills. Undoubtedly, interacting with interns provides invaluable opportunities for developing practical skills in areas such as giving instructions, coaching, counseling, and assessing performance (Cousins, 2004). I would also supervise interns as a way of giving back to the profession. Supervision would allow me to develop the profession by participating in the training of future social workers.

My experience with an intern would have a profound influence on my style of supervision. It would improve my creativity because supervisors are expected to use innovative supervision strategies to give interns a variety of insightful field instruction experiences. The experience would also enhance my attitude towards supervision and social work. I would have to be enthusiastic about social work to enable interns to develop a positive attitude towards the profession. Moreover, the experience would motivate me to develop a collaborative supervision style. I would be expected to collaborate with other supervisors, educators, and social work agencies to access adequate materials or resources to provide effective supervision (Smith, Russell, & Giddings, 2007).

Mentoring a student would influence my professional style by ensuring that I uphold high ethical and performance standards. Students view their mentors as role models in life (Smith, Russell, & Giddings, 2007). In this respect, my level of performance and integrity must be exemplary in order to inspire students. Mentoring would also improve my ability to provide support services. As a mentor, I must be available, eager to listen, and ready to encourage students. This will influence me to adopt a humanistic and empathetic approach to social work.

The challenges that I am likely to face in supervision include difficulties in establishing effective working relationships with interns. This challenge is likely to emerge in situations in which the intern is uncooperative. Lack of adequate learning resources is another challenge that is likely to limit my ability to supervise interns. The areas in which I feel competent to include providing information concerning various aspects of social work such as identifying clients’ problems. Moreover, I am competent in motivating and providing feedback to interns to enable them to excel in their careers.

One of my future development goals as a social work supervisor is to pursue a postgraduate course in leadership. The course will allow me to acquire the knowledge and skills that are required for effective use of authority during supervision. Another goal is to acquire cross-cultural communication skills. This will allow me to interact and develop effective working relationships with interns from diverse cultural backgrounds.

I would supervise interns to improve my supervisory skills and knowledge in social work. My experience with interns would influence my creativity and ability to collaborate with key stakeholders during supervision. Mentoring students would encourage me to maintain high standards of performance. In the future, I intend to acquire leadership and cross-cultural communication skills to be a better supervisor.

References

Cousins, C. (2004). Becoming a social work supervisor: A significant role transition. Australian Social Work, 57(2), 174-185.

Smith, C., Russell, R., & Giddings, M. (2007). Evaluating a social work supervision model in a real world child welfare setting. International Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, 10(1), 10-26.

Introduction

Meditation is often regarded as something related to Buddhism or Freudian psychoanalysis. However, meditation can be effectively used in social work treatment. Moreover, meditation can be useful for both, the social worker and the client. There are many possible techniques to meditate. One such technique is the labyrinth, which is a very effective way to meditate, i.e. to contemplate, self-reflect, and, maybe, pray.

Main Body

Sarah Docterman states that the labyrinth is a very effective tool that can be used when working with clients. Interestingly, labyrinths used for this kind of meditation do not have dead-ends or some tricks. These labyrinths are just the only path that inevitably leads to the center. Therefore, there can be no right or wrong way. These labyrinths can be regarded as a metaphorical reflection of human life: there is the only goal (the center of the labyrinth), there is the only way, and the only obstacles an individual faces are turns of the road which can be easily dealt with. The wanderer should only go along the path slowly and without making unnecessary moves. In this case, the journey which is peaceful and pleasant will lead to the major aim, i.e. to the center.

Noteworthy, Docterman points out that this kind of meditation is based on Christian tradition, which is important when working with clients of this cultural background. Keefe (1996) also stresses that meditation, on the whole, is closely connected with Christianity and other major religions. Therefore, meditation is a very important tool of social work treatment since it is possible to state that people will undoubtedly benefit from meditation (especially labyrinths) since it is one of the most ancient ways to relax and self-reflect.

As far as I am concerned I have never thought that meditation can be used in social work treatment. However, now I understand that this is a great experience which can help many people choose their life goals, to understand themselves better, to find conciliation. I was also surprised to acknowledge that meditation can be useful for both the client and the social worker. Sarah Docterman revealed many interesting facts about a technique used for meditation, which made me feel that I can benefit from practicing labyrinths myself. Importantly, Docterman introduced the labyrinth in such a concise way that I can already use the technique.

For instance, I have always wondered how meditators can concentrate on some particular object, image, or idea. However, as far as labyrinths are concerned there is no need to make any efforts since those distracting thoughts (memories, ideas, etc.) become a part of a journey when meditating. An individual simply concentrates on walking, certain action, and distracting thoughts disappear. Keefe (1996) also considers that focus on action is a very effective technique, though sometimes people should make effort to stay concentrated.

Conclusion

I would like to point out that when I tried to meditate using the technique of labyrinths, I found it really helpful. It goes without saying this experience will be useful for my future practice. In the first place, I will be able to better control my emotions and I will be able to empathize with clients which is important for me as a social worker. Besides, I can assist my future clients to use the same technique which will help them cope with their problems.

Reference List

Keefe, T. (1996). Meditation and Social Work Treatment. In F.J. Turner, Social Work Treatment: Interlocking Theoretical Approaches (pp. 434-461). New York: Simon and Schuster.