The Helping Process and Problem-Solving in Social Work

● ● ● ● ● ● Problem-solving process ○ Problem solving is an orderly life process directed towards solutions of problems and achievement of goals ■ Engagement and assessment ■ Intervention ■ Evaluation Phases of helping process ○ Three phases ■ Phase 1: exploration, engagement, assessment, planning ■ Phase 2: implementation and goal attainment ■ Phase 3: evaluation and termination Assessment and intervention on multiple levels ○ Micro: individuals, small groups, families ■ Ex: counseling families, linking them with additional resources ○ Mezzo ○ Macro Phase 1: engagement ○ Preparing for engagement and making contact ○ Clarifying purpose and expectations ○ Encouraging participation and the development of collaborative partnerships ○ Exploring and seeking to understand the client’s wants and frame of reference ○ Reaching agreement about preliminary goals ○ Agreeing to work together through a collaborative problem solving process Phase 1: assessment ○ Collecting, exploring, organizing, and analyzing information related to problem, situation, and possible solutions ○ Discovering strengths ○ Partializing and prioritizing problems and goals considering various action strategies ○ Collaborative decision making ○ Collaboratively developing a service agreement that outlines ■ The problem for work ■ Goals and objectives ■ Roles and responsibilities ■ Action plan Phase 2: intervention ○ Enhancing hope and motivation ○ Anticipating obstacles and envisioning success ○ Implementing action plans ○ Reviewing progress and modifying plans as needed ○ Deciding whether to ■ Conclude services through termination, transfer, or referral ■ Renegotiate the service agreement and continue work ● ● ■ Saying goodbye or reengaging Phase 3: evaluation ○ Deciding whether to: ■ Conclude services through termination, transfer or referral ■ Renegotiate the service agreement and continue work ■ Saying goodbye or reengaging ○ Reviewing progress and the implementation of action plans ○ Evaluating and celebrating progress towards goals and objectives Traditional problem solving versus empowering processes Problem solving: Empowering processes: engagement Forming partnerships Problem identification and assessment Articulating situations, defining directions, identifying strengths, assessing resources Goal setting and planning Framing solutions implementation Activating resources, creating alliances, expanding opportunities Evaluation Recognizing success termination Integrating gains ● ● ● Generalist practice: application of four-quadrant model ○ A. work with clients for their own behalf ○ B. work with clients on behalf of themselves and others like them (example: group therapy, any kind of group work on the mezzo level) ○ C. work with others (non-sufferers) on behalf of clients ○ D. work with others (non-sufferers) on behalf of a category of sufferers A B C D Basic principles of structural model ○ 1. Worker should be accountable to client(s) ○ 2. Worker should follow demands of client task ○ 3. Maximize supports in the client environment ○ 4. Proceed from the assumption of least contest (client won’t object) ○ 5. Identify, reinforce, and/or increase the clients’ repertoire of strategic behavior for minimizing pain and maximizing outcomes and satisfaction (enhance coping skills) Professional use of self ● ● ● ○ Apply principles 1-5 to self ○ Develop contracts with colleagues and supervisors ○ Look beyond self to see which colleagues face the same task ○ Use all four quadrants of activity within the social agency ○ Work with different numbers of colleagues at different times ○ Changing structures to humanize the workplace ○ Minimize obstacles and maximize opportunities ○ Engage peers before supervisors, supervisors before administrators ○ Assume collegiality until there is conflict; mediate conflict before taking sides Roles in structural model ○ Follow demands of the client task - move from one quadrant to another ■ Conferee ■ Broker ■ Mediator ■ Advocate ■ Case manager ■ Therapist ■ Group worker ■ Community organizer Practice applied to disability services: Brain Injury Association ○ A: work with clients with brain injury and families to assess needs ○ B: form support group for people with brain injury and their families to meet and advocate for community programs close to home ○ C ○ D Gomez Family ○ A: ○ B: ○ C: ○ D: