Social Work Advocacy Case Study
Patient is a 51 year old Caucasian female living alone in her own home. The patient has a history and current syntoms of geralized anxity disorder, social phoina and panic attacks, which she takes madications for and sees a psychrist 2-3 times per month in Havasu. Patinets lives with six cats and the house environment is somewhat cluttered. The patinet is orinally from Glendale, CA., has a brother in Palmdale, CA, who is stays in contact with sometimes. Pt has a daughter in Big River, who is not supportive of her, but has three grandchildren who visit her.
As kids, many of us grow up with stories of super heroes and people of greater power that help the helpless. We grow up thinking that only bad things happen in stories where heroic mutants can fix it. As adults, we start to see how messy the world is and wish those super heroes in stories were real. Just like Marvel has their Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the real world has social workers, who act as agents of change. An agent of change in the field of Social Work seeks to improve or restructure parts of the system that could be flawed or in some way harming people’s well-being.
After gaining a better understanding of Macro practice, in my opinion macro practice does not necessarily mean you’re always indirectly dealing with clients. I still feel macro practice empowers clients by involving them in systemic change. Macro social work looks at the larger picture and how the larger picture works and what is needed to change social injustice for all. I think that social work as a profession is meant to support clients be all they can be and to assist clients to benefit themselves. Macro social work practice has also been described as the indirect practice, distinguishable from the direct micro- and mezzo-focus and action with clients, families and small groups.
The social work role utilized in Fort Bend women Center is advocating. Fort Bend women Centre advocates for victims. I did not witness any role, but some of the staff that worked with the agency was advocated by the agency. The social work skills I observed in this setting are case management skill, referral skill, and outreach and education skill. Evidence Generalist social work skills I observed in this setting are sheltering.
1. Even with our medical advances, the United States ranks 29th because of lack of health care for some individuals but also the lifestyle Americans have. Another reason is that class statuses correspond with our health outcomes. What I meant about this, is that lower and middle class individuals are exposed to more health threats than higher class. This is the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts and race/ethnicity.
The victim has chronic pain, she's been diagnosed with scholasis, spinal scholasis, and has a knee injury that requires she remain in a wheel chair. The victim is able to care for basic needs but needs assistance when she's in her wheelchair. Ms. Larington stated that her mother hit and slapped her a week ago after she found her outside smoking a cigeratte. The reporter stated words were exchanged and the victim was slapped after calling her mother a bitch. The reporter stated her mother doesnt ask her if she's hungry or needs anything and that her mother is hard of hearing.
Some situations in life can put someone in a very awkward position. Due to the vast diversity that exists among individuals, there are different responses that arise when one is faced with difficult times. Chris is an Indian citizen and has been battling lung cancer for eight years now. His family is dependent on him as their bread winner. Each passing day makes it harder for Chris to get enough money that he can share with his family of three children.
The social workers find resources that will help the clients resolve their situation, taking in
Macro practice draws from theoretical foundation and at the same time contributes to development of new theory. Macro practices goes beyond individual interventions, but are often based on needs, problems, issues, and concerns. Rothman, Erlich and Tropman 2008, identify three areas of intervention, communities, organizations, and small groups. Noteworthy, macro social work teaches workers how to conceptualizes social problems and their solutions on a continuum from micro practice with individuals, to mezzo practice with families and groups to macro practice which interacts with institutions, communities, and society at large.
First of all, I had the opportunity to interview Kim Bartells who’s a Licensed Social Worker (LSW) in Michealsen Health Center and learn more about her role as a social work. Before I started interviewing Kim, I asked her if it was alright with her if I recorded the conversation and she said it was fine with it. I started the interview with asking what type of population Michealsen Health Center serves and she told me it was mostly elderly people. Kim works in a “Microlevel intervention involves working with individuals--- separately, in families, or in small groups---to facilitate change in individual behavior or in relationship” (DuBois and Miley 69). This types of individuals she is working with are elderly residents “who utilize long-term care experience a combination of physical or cognitive limitation that require some level of assistance in activities of daily living” (DuBois and Miley 314-315) and their families as well.
Being a social worker is often a challenging, yet rewarding career. Social workers are responsible for helping individuals, families, and groups of people to cope with problems they’re facing to improve their patients’ lives. Social workers are also trained caseworkers in social service agencies who perform several functions which they use different components of the practice framework, the theoretical underpinnings to in order to build helping relationships. After interviewing a caseworker in a specific social agency there were advantages and disadvantages of methods along with challenges encountered in working in that specific agency. With all of this the functions, roles and responsibilities of a caseworker is what helps any agency to uphold
I feel that it is the role of a social worker to carry a philosophical charge to empower and protect those who are the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society and at certain times this may be as an advocate. The closest experience I have when it comes to acting as an advocate, would be my children. When they were three and four I took them to see a specialist at our local elementary school to have them tested for issues dealing with their speech. Afterwards, an Individualized Education Plans (EPI) was developed for both of them and my husband and I had to fight the school for each of them to stay in their programs until we felt that their goals had been meant. There are several characteristics I have that will enhance my ability to
Modern social workers are frequently tasked with certain objectives by their agencies, which leave little room for any work beyond specific treatments and timeframes (Gitterman & Knight, 2016). Although social workers are bound to the set of ethics put forth by the NASW, practitioners are often limited to focusing on the issues of the individual rather than the larger societal issues that may be behind those concerns. Additionally, many social work students end up working in direct practice, rather than macro work. There is a need for social workers to engage at the macro level in order to facilitate community organization and empowerment. Critics suggest this theory may not take into account the unique experiences of each individual and perhaps key characteristics of the individual or group are not taken into consideration (Sadan, 1997).
Many social workers went from working in private agencies, to working with public agencies to help the people suffering from poverty. “1000 social workers took jobs in public sectors, they fought to train caseworkers and otherwise improve the public sector service”(Abramowitz, 1998, p.513.) Social workers as a change agent, aim to make a change and in this case, social workers were helping the people suffering from poverty. These challenges facilitate social workers to have an impact towards the people. This can also relate to person in environment, “Social workers realize that they must pay attention to the environment in which people live, and they work to change the environment so that if functions more effectively for individuals, families, and communities”(Segal, Gerdes, Steiner, 2014, p.7).
As social work professionals, we have a commitment to advocate for our clients. Because of our advocacy commitment, we also should be committed to social justice. Change cannot happen overnight; however, it also cannot happen if people are not willing to speak up about the things they are passionate about. Additionally, social workers must ensure that they are empowering their clients. As social workers, we should be committed to using a person first approach.
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