A presentation at Heritage University at CBC Week 04 in in Pasco, WA 99301, USA by Jacob Campbell
Location: Online - Zoom
Time: Monday’s from 5:30-8:15
Week 04: 09/14/20
Topic and Content Area: Direct Social Work Practice
Reading Assignment: Hepworth et al. (2017) chapters one and two
Assignments Due:
Other Important Information: N/A
Week four of SOWK 486 is about understanding what direct social work practice and some of what makes social workers unique in our helping style. We will start with an exercise, considering how you have been helped in the past. Many clients we work with as social workers a mandated to participate in services and involuntary in some manner. We will discuss how to engage with them through some best practices. The agenda for the session is as follows:
In your ethics class, you will likely read the entire code of ethics, but it is useful to read through it and familiarize yourself with the values and expectations of being a social worker. You can find it online National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics.
I post all of the presentations online at presentations.jacobrcampbell.com. You can find the presentation for Week 04: Direct Social Work Practice
[Embed Presentation]
This week the following are your assignments for you to complete the reading quiz for chapters one and two. These are to be completed before class on Monday and can be found in the assignments. Feel free to work in groups or go at your own pace. The answers/results of the quiz will be released on Monday after the class has started. Feel free to ask about the quiz if you questions.
For your asynchronous class engagement, you have a discussion forum that you will be completing.
Meta: Students will complete an initial forum post by Friday 09/18/20 at 11:55 PM and at least two replies to your fellow students by Sunday 09/20/20 at 11:55 PM.
Purpose: The purpose of this forum discussion questions is to have students self-reflect regarding the core values of the social workers and their own lives.
Task: During class this week, I will share the six core values of social workers described in the preamble of the NASW Code of Ethics and related to my values. These include:
Students are to discuss at least two of the values and discuss how they relate to their life and how they connect with it. They will then offer comments and engage in discussions with at least two of their fellow students.
Criteria for Success: Students will be able to write reflectively, giving readers insight into how they relate and connect with social work’s core values. They will comment and discuss with at least to of their fellow students.
“You can close your eyes to the things you don’t want to see, but you can’t close your heart to the things you don’t want to feel.” —Johnny Depp
Each of us to our own degree has had experiences that were difficult, and often times we’ve had somebody who has supported or comforted us.
[Small Group Activity] You will work in small groups of 3-5 people. Recall a time that you were experiencing an intense emotional difficulty and were comforted and supported…
Recall a time that you were experiencing an intense emotional difficulty and were comforted and supported…
Social work has a threefold purpose. It works to do prevention, restoration, and remediation.
Prevention: The timely provision of services to vulnerable persons, promoting social functioning before problems develop.
Restoration: Efforts to restore functioning that has been impaired by physical or mental difficulties
Remediation: The timely provision of services to vulnerable persons, promoting social functioning before problems develop.
In the preamble section, the NASW Code of Ethics gives six different values.
Another area of competency for social workers and part of out ecclectic base of knowledge is that of Research-Informed Practice and Practice-Informed Research
[Discussion] Why is social work research important.
Social workers must be able to evaluate effectively the work they do with clients at all levels. The evaluation of macro system effectiveness, and the ability to understand, analyze, and critically evaluate social literature and research.
Why Knowledge about social work research is important
The most standard, but also the hardest way to complete practice is through what Rubin (2007) describes as the Process Model.
“A form of evidence-based practice in which the individual practitioner formulates a question about his or her work with a client that is answerable with data, consults the appropriate empirical literature, assesses the evidence, shares it with the client, makes an informed collaborative decision, implements the intervention, and assesses its effectiveness.” (Hepworth, et al., 2017)
Very common is getting specific training in a particular EBP (i.e. ART, Guiding Good Choices, etc.)
“focuses not just on knowing about the intervention but on acquiring the skills necessary to carry it out effectively” (Hepworth, et al. 2017, p. 19)
Concerns Include: Generalize beyond effectiveness, short-term nature of of EBP
In working with clients, taking a more eclectic approach is sometimes the method. This is especially true with increased use of training in EBP’s…
Common Elements Approach: In evidence-based practice, examining commonalities across effective interventions (Chorpita, Daleiden, & Weisz, 2005).
Common Factors Approach: In evidence-based practice, emphasizing broad factors shared by different intervention approaches, such as strength of relationship or alliance (Duncan, Miller, Wampold, & Hubble, 2010).
Deciding when and how to intervene with our clients is a vital skill that social workers must learn. The following are some of the criteria that we must consider:
(Watson-Glaser, 1925) from https://www.thinkwatson.com/the-red-model Another process for generalist practice is that of critical thinking…
The greatest thing you can learn from college is critical thinking [Discussion] What does critical thinking mean?
Think RED
In social work, we have all types of clients that we work with.
[Whole Class Activity] Discuss the differences and possible clients for each client type.
Involuntary clients are clients that are forced into involvement with social workers and really do not want to be involved. They could be mandated or non-mandated.
[Discussion] What might be some reasons for clients being mandated?
10 suggestions of working with involuntary clients.
Didn’t talk about yesterday because I feel like it is a bit more difficult to understand and talk about. It’s a bit different, kind of a combination of both Ecological perspective and systems theory.
“A model of interacting elements that enables social workers to examine strengths and weaknesses in transactions between persons, families, cultures, and communities as systems” (Hepworth, et al., 2017, p. 13)
Straight out of biological terms, the concepts of Habitats and niches are important in ecological systems model.
Habitat: The physical and social setting and cultural context within which a person lives. (i.e. overall environment) Niche: The status or role occupied by a member of the community. (i.e. how the person connects with the habit, think interface)
“Assessment from an ecological systems perspective obviously requires knowledge of the diverse systems involved in interactions between people and their environments”
Terms: target system action system (agency system) Closed systems vs. open systems
There are a number of terms that are also associated with ecological systems model. These include:
Filling in the gaps of client needs to reach their goals. Think about / tell story of babies floating down the river.
“Ecological systems theory posits that individuals constantly engage in transactions with other humans and with other systems in the environment, and that these individuals and systems reciprocally influence each other.”
Mutual Influence of People and Environments
equifinality: The principle that the same outcome can be achieved even with different starting points. multifinality: The principle that the same starting point may lead to different outcomes.
Social work is a extremely diverse field. One of the benefits of the generalist methods for social work is that we can practice in so many different fields of practice. While the specific job titles might not be social worker for each one of these professions, these are all areas that we practice in.
[Whole Class Activity - Discussion] discuss each of the fields of practice, with potential examples of roles social workers might take:
Most of the problems that social workers face are complex and could fall in more than one field of practice and it is important to know a wide range of services.
[Small Group Activity - Discussion] What areas of practice do you think of when you think of social work?
-> Previous other categories
Summers (2015) describes case management, and that different positions have different levels of case loads. These very and tend to be on a continuum.
Summers, N. (2015) The fundamentals of case management practice: Skills for the human services. Cengage Learning: Boston MA.
Along with the various areas of practice that we fulfill, we also have roles that we implement. These include the following:
Week four of SOWK 486 is about understanding what direct social work practice and some of what makes social workers unique in our helping style. We will start with an exercise, considering how you have been helped in the past. Many clients we work with as social workers a mandated to participate in services and involuntary in some manner. We will discuss how to engage with them through some best practices. The agenda for the session is as follows: