Greene (2008) chapter eight explains how the social worker utilizes the client’s history and narrative when deciding on the best intervention to use and also to inspect where in the client’s system or history it is right to intercede. The main objective of social work interventions are to recognize, resolve, or reduce problems occurring from an disproportion between, individuals, families, groups, and their environment (Greene, 2008). The ability to independently age in place requires an appropriate match between a person and the environment, or Person-Environment fit. Life review therapy is often utilized in geriatric social work practice. Life review can consist of more than merely recalling past events. Life review can encompass restructuring …show more content…
This chapter discusses functional-age model more in depth in terms of working with individuals and their families. When practitioners are applying the functional-age model they chose interventions centered on assessment to deal with recognized needs in every part of the person’s bio-psycho-social functioning (Greene, 2008). The individual helping process includes six phases which include, “engaging the client in treatment, conducting an assessment, formulating a collaborative evaluation., devising a mutual treatment plan, then implementing the treatment plan, and finally terminating treatment” (Greene, 2008, …show more content…
The next part of the functional age model encompasses in what way an older adult’s functional capability is interrelated to their family’s assessment and the administering of a family-focused intervention plan (Greene, 2008). Family therapy is beneficial when the family’s capacity to execute its essential mechanisms becomes stressed (Greene, 2008). Family therapy is concerned with how the family changes, and they focus attention on the influence of one family member’s behavior on another (Greene, 2008). The functional age model proposed that a main treatment goal during a crisis is to support the family in restoring its balance so, the tension may be reduced and the elder client is supported and helped (Greene, 2008). It can be difficult for a practitioner to work with the intergenerational family members of their elder client, especially when they are the care giver to the elder client. It is important to understand how to connect to the client’s system, define their issues, reframe their situation, set mutual goals with the family, mobilize the families strengths, and finally evaluating and terminating services (Greene, 2008). This steps are all important for a geriatric social worker to utilize when helping a elder client and their
While practicing social work it is important to understand how an individual’s system and environment can
For this assignment, two different theoretical approaches will be discussed, Bowenian family therapy and structural family therapy, and they will be used individually to construct a treatment plan to help clients reach their goals. Within each treatment plan discussed, short-term and long-term goals of therapy will be established and the family’s presenting problems will be defined. Two techniques that will be assigned to help them reach their therapeutic goals and any expected outcome from using those techniques will be discussed.
Darby, S. Marr, J. Crump, A Scurfield, M (1999) Older People, Nursing & Mental Health. Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann.
For the purpose this paper, my role is a social worker, who is part of a multidisciplinary team at Sunnydale Public Hospital located in the Geriatric Ward. My fictional client is Megara Leopold, who is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and is sixty nine years old. A full description of my role, my psychosocial assessment, and my risk assessment is illustrated in Appendix A, B and C.
Social workers must strive “for a full understanding of the complex interactions between the client and all levels of the social and physical system as well as meaning that the client assigns to each of these interactions” (Andreae, 1996, p. 605).
Social work professions need to understand the importance of how individuals interact both with other people and their environment, to have an understanding how individuals are affected by these interactions (Rogers, p. 2). According to Rogers (2016), “Social workers are knowledgeable about human behavior across the life course; the range of social systems in which people live; and the ways social systems promote or deter people in maintaining or achieving health and well-being. Social workers apply theories and knowledge from the liberal arts to understand biological, social, cultural, psychological, and spiritual development (p. 2). Their work with clients begins with assessments to evaluations of intervention and is based in and supports of the core value system of the profession.
In social work practice, client assessments are important because they allow social workers to gather information from clients. This information helps the acting social worker better understand clients presenting problems. The assessment also helps social workers evaluate a client’s progress and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions used. In this paper, a multidimensional assessment will be performed on a client I have been working with at my internship placement, Urban Ministries of Durham. Once all relevant information is presented, and intervention and treatment plan will be discussed.
The final article I analyzed was titled “Aging Parents of Adults with Serious Mental Illness” and was written by Jennifer Van Pelt. This article sought to address the type of support parents caring for special needs adult children require as they age. It discussed how parents are the primary caregivers to children with a severe mental illness, or SMI, throughout the majority of the child’s life. The amount of care provided to adults with SMI by their aging parents is so substantial that if parental caregivers stopped providing care, public programs could never handle it. The author of this article wanted to put more focus on assisting the aging caregiver population, increase their emotional well-being, and lower their stress burden through the use of a social work home-based intervention program. In the pilot study, families received instruction on problem-solving techniques, education about the adult child’s particular mental illness, and sessions that included cognitive therapy, stress management, behavioral management, and future planning. This initial study yielded promising results, including greater life satisfaction and less emotional stress reported by aging parents. The author concludes the article by discussing the importance of planning for the future and how the adult child with SMI will be taken care of after the parents’ deaths.
A social worker in a long-term care facility helps the person who is entering a facility to make the transition from a previous living environment to life in an institutional setting while meeting the social/emotional comfort needs of that resident. Once the resident is established, the social worker assures the resident's continuing needs are met and that the person is given the opportunity to participate in planning for continued care in the facility, transfer, or discharge back into the community. Although the resident is the main focus, it should be mentioned that much of the social worker’s time may be spent working with the
Family therapy is a technique that has many alternative approaches to every aspect of treatment which Nichols (2014), states may present a challenge when describing a basic technique. The two models of family therapy in which I feel that I would be most effective and comfortable with would be, experiential family therapy and solution-focused brief therapy. I feel most comfortable with these models because, I adapt to the role of the therapist of both therapies naturally. According to Nichols (2014), when families seek therapy they are stuck in a life-cycle transition, sometimes they are obvious and sometimes they are not obvious. I’ve found that during the first session an excellent question is to ask the client why now so that they can
Approaches to Family Therapy: Minuchin, Haley, Bowen, & Whitaker Treating families in therapy can be a complex undertaking for a therapist, as they are dealing not only with a group of individuals but also with an overall system. Throughout history several key theorists have attempted to demystify the challenges families face and construct approaches to treatment. However, there have been key similarities and differences among the theoretical orientations along the way. While some have simply broadened or expanded from existing theories, others have stood in stark
Provided that, when an older adult’s mental health is healthy, their overall well-being is balanced; physically, mentally, and socially. In essence, their happiness is more apparent than their oppression. It is not that these groups of people do not have feel the discomfort, heartache and stress that comes with life (Mental Health America, 2017). It is because these people either know, or have learned how to deal with day-to-day anguish, ambiguities and turmoil. They are survivors, and they have the ability to see and live through their obstacles differently than others who do not, not become deeply affected by them.
Thus, intergenerational and psychoanalytic family therapies “share several key concepts and practices: examining a client’s early relationships to understand present functioning; tracing transgenerational and extended family dynamics to understand a client’s complaints; promoting
The program that will be evaluated is a closed ten-week psychotherapy group focused on increasing support and connection around the aging process. Several topics will be discussed during this ten-week period. These include: increasing
This essay is intended to evaluate one therapeutic intervention or theory that may be used in Family therapy. The theory being examined is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or for short CBT. The essay will begin with defining CBT and discussing the underlying principles, techniques and concepts of the approach. Some practical examples and scenarios of utilizing CBT will then be explored. Then the essay will proceed to a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of this therapeutic intervention. Finally a conclusion regarding employing such techniques will be made.