Discussion: Social Work Competence

The term competence connotes a level of preparedness for addressing issues and maintaining a high standard of practice with clients. Competent social workers have completed adequate preparations for licensure, and they are appropriately credentialed. They adhere to ethical practices by maintaining professional boundaries and honoring commitments to confidentiality. How might you demonstrate your competence as a social worker? How can you recognize competence in other social workers?

For this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources. Think about elements in the articles that denote competence.
Post by Day 4 a description of at least two criteria that define competence in social work. Give an example of each criterion of competence and justify your selection

Discussion: Strengths-Based Perspective

Simply put, a social worker with a "strengths-based perspective" emphasizes client strengths as a starting point in addressing challenges. This perspective relies on the notion that every client has strengths that can be leveraged to create productive change and progress toward achievement of goals. Client strengths can include a variety of attributes, from complex professional skill sets or well-developed emotional intelligence to mobility, literacy, or good health.

For this Discussion, think about your family of origin. Consider the strengths particular to your family of origin. Imagine how those strengths might play a part in helping your family to overcome a challenging situation.

Post by Day 4 a description of at least three strengths that you can identify within your family. Describe how the strengths might support a strengths-based plan to meet a challenge.

Discussion 1: Engaging and Assessing Across Levels of Social Work Practice

Maintaining the perspective that people are in constant interaction with their environment and the social systems therein (the Person in Environment perspective) is a key concept in the field of social work. Social work recognizes that the concerns or problems individuals face might be due to many causes. This view also supports another goal of social work which is to empower clients who are marginalized and oppressed to collaborate in the resolution of their problems or concerns as experts of their life experiences. As such, looking at a problem and assessing the needs of individuals depends on a review of the challenges they have encountered on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Assessing the situation on all three levels will provide a holistic map for goal planning. For example, you might assess a client's individual strengths and challenges, the support or lack of support received from family, friends, and others in the client's life regarding the issue, and the societal resources available to address the problem.

For this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources. Select either the course-specific case study for Abdel or Pedro. Then, consider what information you need to gather and what questions you need to ask in order to complete a proper assessment for the client, based on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice.

4. Post by Day 3 a brief explanation of the information you need to gather and the questions you need to ask, in order to complete a proper assessment for the client in the case study you selected, based on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice. Be sure to reference in your post which case study you selected.

5. Support your posts and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Discussion 2: Engaging Mandatory and Involuntary Clients

You walk into the waiting room to greet a client for the first time and the client begins yelling at you, "I have done nothing wrong. I do NOT need to be here". How might you react to this behavior? During the intake session, the client exhibits classic signs of defensiveness and disengagement, such as eye-contact avoidance and folded arms across the chest. Working with clients who have not chosen to come to you for your services can be challenging at times. How might this behavior impact your feelings about this client? It likely could evoke your own sense of anxiety, frustration, or even anger.

What steps would you take to engage the client? Recognizing that the interaction is not truly about you will help you maintain a professional and calm demeanor, even when you begin to feel your own emotions rise. Many social workers engage with mandated or involuntary clients-for example in child protective service agencies, correctional institutions, and sometimes psychiatric facilities. Treating these clients with respect and attending to their concerns will demonstrate your desire to assist them. Furthermore, verbalizing that you understand that they are there against their will can begin a conversation about how they got there in the first place. In these situations, an additional dose of empathy, warmth, and genuineness will help you understand the client's position and exemplify your desire to help.

For this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources, including the Hernandez Family Case Study video and the assigned pages from Chapter 2 of the Krist-Ashman & Hull (2012) text. Consider the potential challenges of working with mandatory and involuntary clients, such as the Hernandez family.

Post by Day 4, an explanation of the challenges you might face when working with mandatory and involuntary clients, such as the Hernandez family.

Discussion: Planning and Implementing Treatment Goals with Clients

You are a social worker at an out-patient mental health facility. Your new client presents with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and noncompliance with her medications. To deal with the mood swings, she has been abusing painkillers and alcohol daily. Currently homeless, she has been sleeping on her friends' couches. Her boyfriend is emotionally and verbally abusive and has just taken her last twenty dollars. She works at a local gas station, but she has to depend on friends for rides to work. As a result, she missed several work shifts. Her boss, who was understanding until now, recently told her she could not miss any more days, due to a lack of transportation. There are many short, intermediate, and long-term problems the client could address in this scenario. How do you choose which problem to tackle first?

One trap for social workers is thinking that they know which problem or concern should take priority and what is best for the client. Rather, what the client feels is the priority is what should take precedence. In this scenario, how would you start the GIM planning process with the client? As her social worker, you might feel that going into drug and alcohol rehab is a priority. However, she might feel that keeping her job, and therefore getting a car, is much more of a priority. If you disregard her goals and instead refer her to an inpatient rehab program, how successful will she be at completing that goal?

For this Discussion, review this week's Learning Resources. Select either the course-specific case study for John or Debra and consider how the social worker applied the GIM in the case study. Also, think about any cultural competence techniques the social worker might have explicitly or implicitly used in the case. Then reflect on why working collaboratively with that client is vital to the treatment planning process. Then, select three of the eight planning steps discussed in the course text and think about how you might utilize those planning steps to foster empowerment during that process. Finally, reflect on the skills you might use to ensure the treatment planning process is mutually agreed upon by you and the client and consider how the treatment planning process affects implementation of treatment.

Post by Day 4 a description of how the social worker in the course-specific case study you selected applied the GIM. Include in your post an explanation of any cultural competence techniques the social worker might have explicitly or implicitly used in the case. Explain why working collaboratively with the client is vital to the treatment planning process. Then, describe the three planning steps you selected and explain how you might utilize those planning steps to foster empowerment during that process. Finally, explain one practice behavior skill you might use to ensure the treatment planning process is mutually agreed upon for you and the client and further explain how use of that skill might affect implementation of treatment.

Support your posts and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.