SOCIAL INTERVENTION.
Introduction.
Social work is a discipline or a profession that is practiced by qualified sociologists. It involves seeking to facilitate the wellbeing of individuals, communities or even societies (Siporin, 1975). Social work enhances social change, cohesion, empowerment, and development. Social work is interconnected with social justice, Human rights, and respect for diversities. It involves the provision of social welfare in order to alleviate the economic and social problems that people face. Such difficulties include health care, education, and food security (Sach, 2003). A sociologist connects people and structures so as to tackle the challenges of life and promote the well-being of everyone. (Hopkins, et al. 2011)
It is the work of a social worker to assist people to grow their skills and capabilities so that they can use their resources and those of their communities to resolve their tribulations. Therefore, social work requires specialized knowledge and skills, and also upholding particular values (Wagner, 2000). One is supposed to use the relationship as the basis of intervention for any outcome.
The intervention involves a systematic procedure of assessing and planning so as to prevent or remediate a social, developmental, or educational problem. Intervention alters the course of an injury, a disease or a condition through instigating preventive measures and treatment. The intervention involves interacting with members of a specific social system in order to address particular social problems. Social work intervention is the method of working in a range of ways with families and individuals who are in certain need and assist them to become more independent and stable. Services offered by Social Workers include counseling, financial help, health care, parenting instructions, job training among others (May, 2011)
In an infant school in West London, United Kingdom, there is a reception class which deals with kids between the ages four and five. It is social worker’s prerogative to investigate cases of child abuse, family violence and neglect and take the protective remedy. Such remedies included supervision of placing affected children into protective care and reporting the concerned parents to authorities who assisted in hiring professional counselors for parents.
SOCIAL INTERVENTION
Social intervention is the process of taking an action for provision of social welfare. It involves taking of policies to prevent an injury or harm from occurring. Social intervention helps in alleviating poverty, provision of services like education, health services, training, and delivery of foodstuffs in negatively affected areas. Intervention helps understanding people more effectively (Davies, et al. 2005)
Implementation of social intervention requires the involvement of two basic principles. The principles include being authoritative and facilitative. Being authoritative entails the social worker to give information and supervise its delivery to challenge the person receiving the help. Being facilitative assists in drawing out of ideas and solutions in order to reach or drive a targeted outcome. Both principles should be prescriptive, confronting and informative (Greenough, et al. 1987)
Employing authoritative intervention requires the sociologist to be informative by the provision of necessary information to the parents and the child. This exercise requires the social worker to be prescriptive. Being prescriptive calls for one to explicitly direct or instruct the person receiving the help. (Hopkins, et al. 2011) In order to understand Austin’s predicaments, the social worker must confront both parents. Confronting of the parents includes challenging their attitude and behavior. (Myles et al. 2004)
Facilitative intervention requires a social worker to be cathartic. Being cathartic helps the social worker to express and overcome thoughts and emotions that one has previously confronted. The social worker works as a catalyst in helping other people to learn, reflect and discover for themselves. (Phillips, 2008) In this case, the social worker must directly engage with Austin’s mother. The social worker came to a conclusion that Austin was to be placed in a children orphanage. Austin was placed in Mildren Children Orphanage situated in West London. Austin’s was willing to take back his son once her jail term ends in two years’ time. Although Austin’s mother was collaborative, Austin’s father was not responsive and at times abusing the social worker using vulgar language. He even refused to be addressed as Austin’s father. All these activities required the social worker to be supportive in building up the confidence of Austin’s mother. She was ready to change for the benefit of Austin.
In order to ensure that Austin’s mother did not get back to drugs, the social worker helped her enroll in a group which would help her in the future. The group that Austin’s mother decided to join is known as “alcoholic anonymous.” “Alcoholic Anonymous” helps people say no to drugs and assist them in finding alternative solutions to their problems. Austin’s mother was very glad to join the group, and she was looking forward to benefiting from it. Austin’s father resisted to be enrolled with any group and refused to be involved in any way. Austin’s mother came up with a plan to sue him for child neglect once she was released.
The social worker’s role requires upholding a high standard of morality for effective delivery of services being rendered. One must follow the ethical principles to ensure that the service user is not placed to further harm (Lord, et al. 2006). In this case, the social worker had to remain calm even when dealing with Austin’s abusive father. Despite his cumbersomeness, the social worker had to visit him frequently. Austin’s father had become aware of the social worker so much that he used to dodge him at the social worker’s slightest appearance. Austin’s father also used to give the social worker false dates for their meetings. He would promise to get back to the social worker after a day, but the following day he would be nowhere to be found. It also became clear that the phone number he had given the authorities was not going through. So it was very hard to get in touch with him. It was very critical for the social worker to use of good communication skills while dealing with Austin’s father. Effective communication skills enabled the social worker to put forward his initiatives both to Austin and his parents.
In order to be able to carry efficiently out his work, the social worker had to be a good listener. Being a good listener helps any social worker to be able to know what he is working with. One is able to assess the situation and know what strategies to employ to solve the problem at hand (Gray, 2000). Effective listening involves observing, understanding and responding to the problems noted. One should with respond with empathy, genuineness, be non-judgmental and also be sensitive in dealing with clients (Weiss, 2001) In the case of Austin’s father, the fact that he had neglected his son made him angry. He would hurl unprintable words to the social worker and to his wife who was Austin’s mother. For example in one occasion the social worker had visited him with Austin accompanying him, instead of showing fatherly love to Austin, he out rightly dismissed them. He would not spare even a minute to hear what they were going to tell him.
One should also be able to understand the circumstances that have led to the current situations and the underlying factors (Reamer, 1999). This is done through a collection of all relevant information from the clients. Information is gathered through asking questions from both parents and from Austin too. Using open-ended questions like “what” and “how”. This encourages showing of information, and the client’s behavior is portrayed in his/her answers. (Bellini, et al. 2007) Understanding the client helps the social worker know exactly what he is dealing with and the solution to the problem ahead of him. The client’s feelings and thoughts also emerge through conversing directly with the client. Like in the case of Austin’s mother she showed a lot of remorse towards Austin’s predicaments. She demonstrated a willingness to take Austin under his care once she was out of jail.
Using close ended questions also assists the social worker to establish accurate information. Such questions have “yes” or “no” responses. Facilitative Listening helps to build trust and strengthen the relationship between the social worker and the client. After numerous visits to Austin’s mother and they had grown close to each other such that their relationship was that of friends. After helping Austin’s mother o join the alcoholic anonymous group, she confessed to the social worker that were it not for the group. She probably would have returned to drugs. She also had been elected as the group’s representative where she used to help other inmates join the group.
Assessing in Crisis intervention
Assessing the crisis is another critical role of a social worker It is a practice that takes place throughout the crisis (Golan, et al. 2006). The social worker seeks information from the service user to help him determine the level of risk and any specific harm. A sociologist will actively listen and interpret the information given by the client. Sociological intervention is a permanent sociology since the explanation of social action assists us to establish the heat of an open discussion with the participant (Rao, et al 2008). Assessment of a crisis also helps the client or the service user to benefit from the action to be taken and direct their collective action consequently turning it to social movement (Sarantakos, 2013)
Every participant, either the sociologist or the client must gain active participation of the social actions. The sociologist must be able to establish practical consciousness depicted by the client. Practical consciousness shows that the client has real knowledge of the social action. In the case Austin’s mother, she depicted a high level of practical consciousness. Her character clearly portrayed her consciousness in many ways. She was always on time for the appointments and was always ready to ask any questions especially in areas she where she did not understand. She was always asking on the wellbeing of her only son inquiring on his state of health and development.
During the assessment, the sociologist holds an interview with the social actors to be able to establish the cause of distress or crisis (Green, et al. 2006). The interview helps the interviewee, especially among the destitute to grasp the situation as an exceptional opportunity to speak their hearts out and explain any pressing issue. (Baron-Cohen, et al. 2004) One could clearly notice that Austin’s mother loved such sessions where she could speak on her tribulations in her marriage. It is through such sessions that the social worker came to learn of the behavior of Austin’s father. Such revelations placed the social worker in a better position to approach and know how to handle Austin’s father.
Assessing the crisis also allows the sociologist to draw a conclusion about the situation at hand. Assessment will also help the client to respond to the situation so as to overcome the problem (Quirmbach, et al 2008). During the assessment, the sociologist can understand the client’s emotional state. Emotional distress is the first indicator of an existing crisis. The sociologist should use appropriate and accurate language that reflects on the emotions. While addressing Austin’s father the social worker had to be careful especially when he was angry. The social worker had to remain calm even when he was abused, Austin’s mother had become used to the social worker, and she was exceptionally open to him. So the social worker experienced fewer difficulties while dealing with her unlike Austin’s father.
Through observing the behavior of a client, the sociologist can assess the ability of the client to respond and handle the situation. Such behavioral functions include difficulty breathing, uncomfortable sitting posture, sudden changes in moods, and stammering. These behaviors help the sociologist to understand the level of distress that the client is experiencing. At first, Austin’s mother depicted such behaviors; the social worker would tell her to breathe slowly and take her time. And after understanding that all the social worker was doing was for the benefit of her family, she became comfortable with him. Austin’s father, on the other hand, was difficult to work with since he often became angry with the social worker, making the meetings very uncomfortable.
Acting in crisis intervention
It involves intentionally responding to the assessment of the client’s condition and taking the appropriate measures (LeBlanc, et, al. 2003). Acting involves three crucial ways. These are collaborative, non-directive, and directive methods. All these methods are aimed at helping the client overcome a certain crisis that he/she is going through. (Dawson, 2008).
Collaborative Counseling
This is a method of acting in crisis intervention involves working together with the client to assess the problem, identify possible options for addressing the problem and finally taking action towards a particular option (Myles, et al. 2004). Collaborative Counseling is crucial as it makes the client feel included in problem solving and decision making (Osterling, et al. 2006). The client feels that he/she has an obligation in planning and implementing the action taken. The social worker used this method while dealing with Austin’s mother as she was a very active client especially in matters dealing with the welfare of her child. It was a bit difficult to use this method with Austin’s father who claimed that he had nothing to do with Austin or his affairs.
1) Non-directive counseling
This is the method of acting which is only suitable for clients who are able to plan and implement actions on his own. He requires minimal supervision from the sociologist and can easily identify the crisis on his/her own. Austin’s mother was excellent at this with sometimes giving me options of what we should do or what she thinks should happen. (Quartz, 1997)
2) Directive counseling
It is a method of acting in crisis intervention where the client is assessed as being immobilized by the experiences to the extent that she is unable to cope with the crisis (Hagiwara, et al 1999). The social worker takes temporary control and responsibility for the condition. It is a method of acting which is used only when necessary (Mundy, 1995). The social worker identified this method as being appropriate to be used in Austin’s father. The social worker together with Austin’s mother had planned to sue him once she was released from jail.
Values to be upheld by a social worker
Social justice is a key value in sociology. Any sociologist decides to enter into that profession in order to help the underprivileged, the homeless, vulnerable populations, and people struggling with substance abuse. (Hopkins, et al. 2011) Therefore, anyone who practices sociology must uphold high levels of morality and observe the professional code of ethics. The values that the sociologist must uphold include the following.
Human dignity and worth.
A social worker should understand the intrinsic values of human life notwithstanding the client’s background and beliefs. The social worker should respect the differences between his personal belief and those of his clients (Gilson, 2011). A sociologist should always take into account the ethnic and the cultural diversity of his clients. The social worker should acknowledge that his clients have fundamental rights for self-determination. (Charlop, et al. 1989)
Integrity
A social worker should demonstrate a high level of integrity. This means that he should perform his duties honestly, responsibly and ethically. By so doing the social worker establishes a foundation of trust with his clients. Trust builds confidence in clients, and they are able to confide with the social worker any information that may be important in assessing the crisis. Being trust worth means that no social worker should betray his client’s confidentiality by giving the client’s information tin to unauthorized persons.
Competence
This entails that the sociologist practices on his area of professionalism and expertise. The sociologist should not misrepresent his experience and skills in order to get ahead. The social worker should strive to improve his skills and knowledge continuously. (Kroeger, 2007) By so doing, the sociologist makes a meaningful contribution to the sociology profession. Competence is realized when the sociologist continually conducts academic research and participate in professional conferences. (Sullivan, et al. 2006)
Conclusion
Austin’s case required proper attention since he was a five-year-old child. His mother was serving a jail term for drugs abuse. Austin’s father was unresponsive and a habitual drunk who had neglected his role as a father. Therefore, an effort was put in place to make sure that Austin received appropriate care from a reputable institution. Austin was admitted into Midren Children Orphanage and he was in good hands. It was ensured that while in his stay at the Orphanage, Austin developed and grew normally like other kids. The social worker had to employ some strategies in order to achieve his obligations as a social worker for the wellbeing and development of Austin.
The first strategy was to increase social motivation in Austin’s life. The social worker had to foster self-awareness and promote self-esteem amongst the kids in the institution. Mildren Children Orphanage offers a fun-filled environment for the kids. There are many games and toys for the children to play with.
Another strategy used was increasing social interaction and initiations. Children were urged to play with age mates and by so doing be able to know each other. Social rules were made clear to all children a process which ensured the rules were concrete. Such rules included staying an arm’s length from one another. This was a strategy designed to prevent bullying from bigger children.
They likewise set out to enhance proper social reacting. Here, sociologists use demonstrating and pretending with a specific end goal to impart abilities.Children would be told to emulate trainers, clergy, and the respected people in the society. The children also had to reduce interfering behavior through reinforcing of good behaviors. The institution also promotes the generalization of skills through involving of peers in the activities carried out in the institution.
Also, different trainers were involved so that the kids could feel free to raise or talk about any issue to any trainer that they personally like.
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