According to NASW standards, advanced clinical practice competency in depression care for social workers requires that clinicians demonstrate knowledge and skill in assessing and managing symptoms, communicating with patients and families, and providing evidence-based interventions (NASW Standards for Clinical Social Work in Social Work Practice, 2005; NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Health Care Settings, 2005). Depression is prevalent in later life with serious negative outcomes leading to further disability, higher health costs, and mortality (Hoeft, Hinton, Liu, & Unutzer, 2016). Chronic conditions such as cancer, heart failure, pulmonary and Parkinson’s diseases are significant risk factors for late life depression (Wu, Schimmele, & Chappelle, 2012). Delivering quality comprehensive care to older adults with chronic disease and depression is often a complex and challenging task, and thus, academic preparation for these situations is an important goal. Educational methods for evaluating depression care skills must include interactive performance-based strategies, common in other helping professions. For social work students, clinical exposure via field internships focused on geriatric depression care is one valuable method. However, not all students are offered these …show more content…
Yet, current educational methods on measuring and evaluating clinical skills lack robustness and academic standardization. The gap between academic coursework and field internship performance remains challenging. Previous reports (Badger & MacNeil, 1998; Emlet, 2010) have provided strong justification for the use of standardized patient methodology, especially in an era of research-informed practice with an emphasis on client
Social workers seek to enhance the capacity of people to address their own needs. The mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values of service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Clinical social work is a practice specialty of the social work profession and lives by these same core values. The knowledge base of a licensed clinical social worker encompasses all of which defines a social worker in addition to that of a clinical mental health professional. The practice knowledge of a licensed clinical social worker integrates theories of social, biological and psychological development also known as biopsychosocial. A licensed clinical social worker is a healthcare profession structured by the theories, prevention and treatment in methods of providing mental healthcare services. Emphasis is placed primarily on services in psychosocial diagnosis, assessment and treatment, consultation, client advocacy, evaluation and even limited research. LCSW may choose to branch of in various specialties. Some prefer to work with families others with only children. There are also those who specialize in geriatrics or substance abuse. Some choose to work as school social workers and some in the new field of military social worker.
I personally view social work as a structured, multi-faceted platform that provides necessary, practical assistance and aid to those who direly need it. This comes in numerous different forms and reaches across all walks of life, but ultimately, the unequivocal similarity that all social workers in any branch of social work share is the ability to plant and foster the seeds of positivity and growth in even the darkest, bleakest of places. I have experienced the transformative power of this very work firsthand and, frankly, I believe social work to be one of the most admirable and necessary professions to exist. As the late journalist Alexander Chase so aptly put it, “Social work is a Band-Aid on the festering wounds of society.” It is the role
As a medical and health social worker, I would act in many of the roles that make becoming a physician fulfilling to me. The most important part of entering the health care field is to care for the health of others, especially those facing barriers to good care. As a social worker I would not be able to directly provide a diagnosis or treatment but I would play a necessary role in helping people access care, whether assisting through navigating the health care system, financial problems, or other barriers. Furthermore, I would still be able to work face to face with patients, provide emotional support and provide the education to help them make important medical decisions. I plan to play as many of these roles as possible as a physician, but
The social work discipline offers a lot of opportunities for research. Social work can offer materials and avenues to advocate for those dealing with social, economic, health, and family issues. Social workers also intertwine with different disciplines to aid in research efforts which can offer some insight as to what is important and needs to be addressed within that particular discipline in an effort to advocate for those in the community. Because of all the research information in the social work discipline knowing where to begin this search can reveal many challenges because the information available to them could be very limited or quite extensive. When getting started one may choose to conduct research efforts by referring to scholarly
Diana Ake, B.S.W, is a social worker currently working at Family Adult Day Health Care in Lomita, CA. Their mission is provide high quality services and programs in a caring and safe environment in order to enhance the physical, psychological, and social health of individuals, preserve their dignity and self-worth, and improve quality of life. Through March 31, 2012, ADHC services were an optional benefit most Medi-Cal eligible individuals could receive. Due to the Darling et al v. Douglas lawsuit, who challenged the elimination of the ADHC Medi-Cal benefit, as of April 1,
Chapter two, three and four taught me the basic concept of welfare, the history of social work and it also gave me a broader perspective on social work as a profession. It thought me more about the Progress Era, the Great Depression and how these major events influenced on the change of principles of social work.
If you are looking for an exciting and meaningful career working with people, social work could be the career for you. Social workers are people who care about people and who work to make things better in their environment. Social work as a profession is about helping people find solutions that enable them to function as best they can in the environment in which they live.
Through the session the clt at first seemed to be disassociated with her real feeling. Clt shift from crying while talking, to getting really tense up when expressing her self in a angry matter.
All my life I’m always passionate about helping people in need one of the major that really work with my character is social work. Social work has a broad definition, one of the definitions of social work according to the book is a profession that has been developed to administer the very large and complex human service system put in place by society. Social work has been divided into many departments such as social security and public welfare, mental health service and correctional services.
I am a social work intern at Edgewood Primary School in Indiana. The agency is school composed of student Kindergarten through Second Grade. Edgewood Primary School’s “mission is to work in cooperation with the community and families to provide students with an education that promotes responsible citizenship and encourages problem solving and creativity” (http://www.rbbcsc.k12.in.us/eps-home). It is in a rural area outside a large college town and its targeted population are students and their families.
During my time at my practicum, I have not experienced any practice related ethical dilemmas. In fact, as I am writing this, I have only been on the phones once since I just recently completed training. For this assignment, I am going to use a hypothetical dilemma based on things I have witnessed during my observation shifts, my knowledge of Headquarters Counseling Center, and my role as a social work intern. The emotional reactions I discuss will be true of how I feel while imaging the situation.
In this video, the social worker’s role was that of a therapist. Dr. Siri Singh sat with his client to discuss some of the issues Kathryn Hudson and her alter ego Katy Perry has been experiencing over the years. Kathryn sought guidance, acceptance, affirmation and explanation with this session and I do believe the therapist was able to achieve this for his client. The therapist, or Dr. Singh, created a safe environment for Kathryn to speak her mind. In the very beginning of the session, the therapist tells Kathryn to sit back and relax, in an attempt to help Katy feel that this is a nurturing and comfortable space for her; and I perceived it to have been an effective strategy for therapist and client in this situation. Dr. Singh was asked probing questions and actively listened through out the entire session, which builds trust with the client. I perceived his body language to be very open, because he had his chest facing towards her; this arms by his side and legs leanly outwardly. This type of body language suggests openness and that the person is willing to receive information.
As usual, during this month at field, I have learned about new aspects of social work and dealt with unique experiences. Every time I go to the nursing home, I cannot wait to see the latest project that I will get to tackle. From researching resources for families to working with the activities department, there is always something for me to become more familiar with. I have certainly come to the conclusion that social workers take on many different roles and if someone does not know how to handle a situation, the problem is almost always sent to our office.
My internship is at McKinley Children’s Center. McKinley Children’s Center provides a wide range of services from emotional trauma to reading difficulties to children. I am interning at the Foster Family and Adoption program in Palmdale, CA. I will oversee about eight foster youth. I will meet weekly with the youth and complete the needs and services assessment. My goals for this internship is to learn the protocols of Los Angeles county, documentation, how build relationships with resource families, and gain a better understand about what youth and family’s needs.
The work I do at my current internship is within the John Wayne Cancer Center (JWCC). The JWCC is an outpatient cancer center within a hospital and strives daily to give quality care to patients. All patients within the JWCC are newly diagnosed with cancer and figuring out their treatment plans. My caseload comprises patients from the chemotherapy and radiation oncology departments. The social work department at JWCC gives every new patient a distress screen to measure their distress level and practical needs (transportation, insurance, fertility preservation etc). The distress screen allows for the social work department to meet with the patient and assess what services and psychosocial support would benefit him or her most.