Strength Based Frame Work Identifies Those Reservoirs

In my future social work career, it is imperative to be cognizant of my personal experiences and preconceptions regarding mental illness. As I participant in evaluation and diagnosis of mental illness, I will utilize a blank slate mentality. I will strive to prevent previous clients’ behavior, the individual’s current diagnoses, and personal judgments to cloud my diagnosis or interactions.

Claireece “Precious” Jones came into the social welfare office for assistance. A psychosocial assessment was conducted that consist of information such as reason for referral, history of mental, medical, school, family, child abuse and any drug/alcohol information.

When working with a new client, it is important to have as much information as you can obtain to help determine what services may or may not be needed. The multidimensional approach can assess all areas of a person’s life. This helps the social worker not just look at a single facet, but the entire person as a whole. People are not one dimensional hence their treatment shouldn’t be one dimensional. In many instances, treating the presenting problem will only put a Band-Aid on the situation. As social workers, we should look at the underlining cause of the problem in order to give the best treatment available.

Prior to engaging with Ms X for the commencement of work, it is necessary to 'tune in ' to the case circumstances applying a holistic approach to gain as much insight to the service user(s) as possible before contact is made. Douglas (2008) states that "the pre-contact phase which helps to prepare the social work student for face-to face intervention, is a prerequisite for effective practice". With this in mind, I took the opportunity to contact the designated social worker assigned to this family to arrange a one-to-one meeting to allow for more information sharing. This meeting proved to be positive and it allowed me to gather more insight to this case from the observations and findings from another individual. However I must be sceptic in these circumstances and not take all information as face value. Referring to the conceptual model (...), each

My client is a young mother of one daughter who is unemployed. She struggles with finding a stable job, as she didn’t get a chance to go to college he was of “normal” age to. Her only source of income consists of government assistance, as well as babysitting her neighbours’ children a couple times per week. Her daily struggles include: paying for groceries, getting her daughter weather appropriate clothes and paying rent. I will be using a strength based perspective to use with my client; because someone in this situation may feel very insecure or pessimistic. Using a strength based practice can allow my client to see the positives in her situation, and what strengths she has, to move forward. I will first be discussing my clients presenting issues and how they have made her daily life difficult. Then, I will go over how the strength-based theory applies to my clients’ situation as well as an anti-oppressive approach. Additionally, I will present an intervention plan for my client that will help her succeed in finding her inner strengths and then perhaps, a career.

I conducted an interview with Robin Layton and I was given consent to use her personal information to write this paper. It took place in the library lasting for approximately 12 minutes on February 28, 2017. The interview’s purpose was to focus on the client’s story, strengths, needs and the goals. The purpose of this paper is to critique myself as a social worker. It is also important that I learn to analyze my performance and to see which areas I need improvement in when interacting with clients in the field. This will ensure advancement so that I can better myself and the situation my clients and I will have while working in the field.

When it comes to using the strength perspective it’s about building on strengths that a person has. When clients and social workers sit down one of the first things they discuss is the strengths the clients have. It doesn’t matter if the client has seven strengths or a couple of strengths. The important thing is to start somewhere. An example of using the strength perspective for a client is they have a negative support system. The strength perspective of this situation is that client can make friends and build a support system. In my opinion, I like the strength perspective because it shows the clients that they can find a little bit of good even in a bad situation.

Intake is an important first step in developing a helping relationship with clients. Hepworth et al. (2013) note that as social workers, we must conduct multidimensional assessments of the problem in order to “identify the systems that play a significant role in the difficulty,” and also be able to “identifying relevant resources that can be tapped or must be developed” in order for treatment to occur. Conversely, if these assessments lack important information, clinicians will be missing pieces of important information that are needed to begin a helping relationship. Assessments must be thorough and ask precise questions in order to procure effective treatment solutions.

The theory that will be discussed and reviewed is the Strengths Perspective, however, prior to describing the strengths perspective, social workers must first understand the term strength in order to implement the theory successfully. According to Greene and Lee (2002, p. 182) a strength involves, “The capacity to cope with difficulties, to maintain functioning in the face of stress, to bounce back in the face of significant trauma, to use external challenges as a stimulus for growth, and to use social supports as a source of resilience”. Saleebey (2006, pp. 82-84) explains that a strength has the potential to stimulate solutions and growth, and can involve any environmental or personal attribute, which can be within the community where the

During my initial interview process with Pacience, I learned about her past experiences and coping tactics. We developed goals for treatment, and then began to identify her strengths and needs. The client-worker relationship is a tool that can contribute considerably to the effective outcome of social work intervention. For treatment to be meaningful, it was important to lay a foundation that would set Pacience up for success. Being able to reflect an understanding of her situation in our assessment, intervention, and even during termination can increase her sustainability of possible outcomes.

Another example of this strength perspective is S.J. and Mike’s relationship. From the beginning of the movie, S.J. took a liking to Mike. He encouraged him and he talked to him when others did not. Throughout this movie, you see S.J. and Mike get very close. Not only does S.J. help Mike with football, and training/ working him physically, but he tells him he is proud of him and how good at football he is. S.J. video tapes every one of Mike’s practices and games because he know it will help Mike, This is an example of strength perspective because instead of focusing on all the wrong things that could happen with bringing a strange colored man into a white home, S.J. embraces the idea. He brings Mike up and he allows Mike to see the things he is best at.

The focus of this paper is based on the strengths perspective, which is also commonly known as the resiliency perspective. The belief of this perspective is that individuals carry a natural capacity to change and develop despite any difficult conditions. The focus of this perspective is to comprehend what processes, on a personal and social level, help people keep a positive level of functioning regardless of facing environmental difficulties (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2009). The resiliency perspective recognizes that there are different strengths among different cultures, and that culture can be an important source of empowerment as well.

On a macro level it educates the individual to become competent in social skills and communication and decreases the likelihood of behavior problems where it can relieve the negative impact they might have within a community by being socially positive. The pro’s was that she told me about her past experience with elderly care and I brought to her attention that those were skills she has. Strength can be noticed if both client and social worker can talk about the pros and cons. It can be developed into what works for them and how to plan out what they need in order to accomplish goals. Client can then recognize how much they can handle and what they cannot, that the issues they are tackling can be carefully organized Kirst & Hull, (2016).

In some social work settings, people may contact an agency or hospital intake department and have no more than brief contacts. Social workers can have an impact on people’s lives, even though their connection is of short duration. On the front line, social workers need to be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide effective screening, assessment, and referral with the intention of favorable results. This was the case early in my career, as a drug counseling coordinator, at an addiction council. This reflection may be helpful to social work students or new practitioners. In an intake interview with a caller, I learned how building rapport, showing empathy, being non-judgmental, and offering hope created positive

Working in a group or with an organization where they have diverse individuals with different characters is an important tool that helps people determine their strength and areas of development when working with others. It helps indicate one’s level of competency, self-efficacy and self-esteem; it also helps people to measure his or her potencies. Strength I have demonstrated thus far in my placement that I can strongly relate to this assignment is open-minded. I picked this because I am open-minded enough, and this makes self-disclosure easy for me to manage when working with different individuals. Within the context of my professional learning, it is required for a Social Service Worker to build trust with their clients in order to provide competent and effective services. Sometimes last month, I cannot remember the exact day. A gentle men client in his sixtyish walked into my placement, I did not notice who he was or exactly what he wanted at first, but he eventually walked up to my desk asking about our employment services. His name is Roger. At this time, one of the employment service worker staffs named Latoya was at her desk close to my desk since she and I share the same desk as an employment worker. That is, Roger, Latoya, and I were involved. The client in question came to me talking a lot of things about his life, how miserable he believe is life is because he could not secure a job. He mentioned how many times he has sent out resume to many job postings, but did