Analyze how each of the examples reflects a generalist social work practices
Joannie Devereaux describes her practice in a nursing home:
The Nursing and Retirement Center is a long-term-care facility. We currently have over 200 residents. Most of the residents are older adults. However, recently the center has added a program for younger persons who have disabilities that interfere with their living independently. One wing of the center houses a program for residents with Alzheimer’s disease.As one of three social workers at the center, I work mainly with the older adults in our program. One of the things I really like about my job is its variety. I am involved in a lot of different activities, such as admitting new residents, counseling with residents and their families, preparing social histories, participating at the interdisciplinary team care-plan review, and leading staff development in-service workshops. Recently we’ve begun a support group for family members of our residents with Alzheimer’s disease. I cofacilitate the meetings along with the family member who has participated in the planning process for the group.I’m also involved in professional activities in the community. I chair a professional group of nursing home social workers that meets monthly to review issues that are critical to long-term care. But our group does more than comment on the issues. We try to find ways to take action. For example, we’re concerned about the fate of public-pay residents in nursing homes. State programs pay a fraction of the actual cost. Even more problematic, payments are usually six to nine months behind. Currently we’re consulting with area legislators about this pressing need.Professor Johnston, you’ll be pleased to know that I have found the information from the research class quite helpful. Right now I’m involved in evaluating a new technique that increases residents’ participation in deciding to live at the center. We hope to be able to demonstrate that residents who are more actively involved in making their own decisions will make a more positive transition to living in a nursing home.
Karen Ostlund describes her role as a legislative caseworker in a congressional office:
I certainly didn’t realize that social work practitioners worked in legislative offices before I started school here. In fact, the first I heard of this kind of a job for a social worker was at a panel presentation like the one we’re doing today. But when I heard Elaina Conteros talk about her work, I liked what I heard. Now I’m her colleague as a legislative caseworker.Many of my daily activities involve advocacy for constituents. People call with questions about various federal agencies. Often I am able to refer them to appropriate local and regional resources. Frequently a crisis of some kind precipitates their calls. In my opinion, bureaucracy magnifies the crisis all too often. Using response techniques that calm people down and clarify their situations, I am able to help them find some solutions. Actually, I find that good communication skills are essential, whether I’m talking with clients or I’m trying to find my way through the bureaucratic maze.Those constituents who seek congressional assistance include a large number of veterans. I serve as the office liaison with a consortium of agencies that provide services for these veterans and their families. This means that I attend monthly meetings with representatives from the various agencies. This gives us an opportunity to keep up-to-date about programs and services, and it provides a forum for working out any difficulties in service delivery that we encounter.I, too, draw on research skills, but I use research somewhat differently from Joannie. Elaina and I often gather background information for proposing new legislation. I am currently conducting research in the congressional district on the impact of welfare reform.
Mike Nicolas talks about his work as a social worker with County General Hospital’s hospice unit:
Thanks for inviting me to speak on this panel. It gives me a chance to talk about something that means a lot to me—my work as a medical social worker.Hospice Care is an interdisciplinary health-care program at County General Hospital. Members of our interdisciplinary team include a doctor, nurse, physical therapist, dietitian, chaplain, and me—the social worker. Our hospice program coordinates medical, emotional, social, and spiritual services for people who are terminally ill and their families. Its purpose is to make it possible for people to exercise the option of living and dying among family and friends. Our program provides various health care, social, and psychological supports.As a social worker in the hospice program, I work with participants and their families in a lot of different ways. For example, they participate in planning activities as team members. I provide counseling services and coordinate the services participants select. Family members often continue to use the support services of our program after their loved one has died. I facilitate the bereavement group that our hospice program sponsors. Grief counseling before and after the death of a participant is a very important part of our program.We at the hospice are aware of the impact of AIDS. I am the social work representative on the community force on AIDS. We have two projects right now. One is a community education effort. You’ll see the publicity soon about the AIDS quilt display that will be at the community center next month. We hope that the display itself and the related media attention will heighten awareness of the needs we have in our own community. We’re also instituting a volunteer befriender program. Currently I’m also on the committee that’s collecting demographic information and other data to prepare the statistical portion of a grant request to get funds for this program.The holistic approach of the hospice means that I have opportunities to work with professionals from other disciplines to provide an alternative approach to caring for people who are terminally ill. A lot of people ask me, “How can you immerse yourself in death?” You may be asking that question, too. Paradoxically, working with issues of death, I’ve immersed myself in life. I’ve learned a lot about living from people who are dying! And I have come to appreciate the significance of working in an atmosphere of collegial support.
Mary Ann Grant, a rape crisis worker, summarizes her social work practice:
I work at the Rape Crisis Counseling Center. Our program provides support for people who have been sexually assaulted. The sexual assault treatment program has three components, and I participate in all of them. First, I provide counseling services to rape survivors and their families or significant others. Up until last year, all of our counseling services were offered individually. Now we’ve added group sessions and find them very helpful.My responsibilities also include advocacy for clients at hospitals and police stations and during various legal procedures. Advocacy certainly takes on different forms, depending on the situation. Often I help clients anticipate medical procedures and legal processes. Advocacy also involves reviewing options and accompanying clients as they proceed through legal channels.Third, there’s the community education component of our program. My colleagues and I provide a lot of community education programs on sexual assault and rape prevention. We make presentations to schools, hospitals, law enforcement personnel, and other interested groups. We realize that we need to extend our services among African American, Hispanic, and Asian American members of our community. Currently we’re expanding ethnic representation on our advisory board and in our pool of volunteers. We also are making plans to translate informational material into Spanish and concurrently ensure that bilingual staff will be available.One of the types of rape we often read about is date rape. Currently, very few of our clients indicate their assault was an acquaintance rape. However, our hunch is that this is more widespread than our program data indicate. At present we are participating in a university study on date rape. As part of the initial stages of the project, we are field testing a questionnaire that focuses on the incidence and dynamics of date rape.