Nothing to give at all

Abstract

Adlerian psychology has been publicly neglected for many years but has been used covertly in many modern psychologies. Social work theory owes much to Adler's philosophy and many social workers probably unknowingly use it — in whatever guise — as their starting-point. But if Individual Psychology is their spring-board, the casework relationship may be their life-raft — to the detriment of creative and therapeutic work with people. Adler's ideas and social work theory are of value only in so far as they are expressed in the relationship of the worker with the client. For the most part, certainly in statutory agencies, other demands make it difficult for workers to operate from anything other than a defensive position. Therapeutic community practice, in contrast, reflects both Adlerian psychology and the best of social work theory: an egalitarian approach springing from a commitment to self-determination for both clients and workers.     

Worker skill and client outcome in child protection

The research in child protection and in work with other involuntary clients suggests that the use of certain skills by child protection workers is likely to be related to positive client outcomes. In particular, effective practice involves: helping clients and client families to understand the role of the child protection worker; working through a problem‐solving process which focuses on the client's rather than the worker's definitions of problems; reinforcing the client's pro‐social expression and actions; making appropriate use of confrontation; and using these skills within a collaborative client/worker relationship. This study attempts to identify the extent to which child protection workers make use of these skills and how these skills relate to client outcomes. Data were sought through 50 interviews with child protection workers and 282 interviews with family members. The child protection workers provided information about 247 client families. It was clear that when workers used the skills, their clients had better outcomes—the workers believed their clients showed better progress, the clients were more satisfied with the outcomes and the cases were more likely to have been closed 16 months later. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Social work, modernity and post modernity

In this article we argue that current reform proposals coming from Robert Pinker and others are challenging the universalist premises of generic social work. Pinker et al. argue that social work should, for the sake of efficiency and performance, be a connected set of specialist activities. This ‘determinate dispersal’ which we recognise as falling within the remit of postmodern strategies, we contrast with the far more libertarian ideas of the noted post-modern theorist J.F. Lyotard. Thus we site the political and cultural meanings of Pinker's ideas between generic social work which upholds ideas of universal ethical values and universal provision, and those of Lyotard whose anti-foundationalism proposes a radically heterogeneous society with no central value-structure. We express our concern that the ‘new specialist’ remit may allow too much power to the social worker. Thus we have considerable sympathy for Lyotard's call for a radical anonistics – a field wherein the inequalities of power between say, a worker and her client, to some extent can be redressed.     

Clinical services to persons with AIDS: The parallel nature of the client and worker processes

Social workers working in the area of AIDS confront individuals struggling with a plethora of issues and problems related to an AIDS diagnosis.Especially important to this work is the interplay of themes between the worker and client; a parallel process emerges that provides both insight and potential dilemmas for the social worker. While the worker may attempt to maintain a posture of disciplined subjectivity, she is confronting in the professional relationship a situation that intimately touches the core of her own identity.Through a case presentation from practice in an AIDS clinic, this paper will examine the parallel nature of the client and worker processes. Key issues will be identified and potential responses will be considered.     

Contesting identity of Taiwanese home-care workers: Worker,daughter, and do-gooder?

One of the administrative dilemmas in home-care delivery is that an appropriate and trusting relationship between the home-care worker and the client must be developed; yet this relationship is not readily visible to service managers. Setting up organizational processes for building allegiance and turning the home-care worker into an ideal one become major administrative tasks for home-care managers. Within such organizational context, the home-care worker is then faced with the issue of developing her own identity. This study lays out the Chinese particulars of what being a home-care worker is all about on the ground in Taiwan. In the Chinese context of family and cultural prerogatives around filial daughter and doing good, being a worker (agency perspective) and being a daughter (client's desire) are both problematic. Many home-care workers view themselves as a do-gooder portrayed by the Buddhist discourse of karma. The findings suggest that administrative tasks, client, and worker relationship may appear similar on the surface but the dynamics are quite different.     

Accepting the unacceptable: the concept of acceptance in work with the perpetrators of hate crime

We consider the challenge presented to social workers in working with people who are the perpetrators of hate crime. We argue that in order to be able to bring about positive change in this group, as in any other, the work can only take place in the context of a constructive relationship between worker and client, a relationship which is underpinned by the acceptance of the client by the worker. We trace the development of the concept of acceptance from its early formulation in the work of Rogers, through other writers, to its contemporary manifestation, as is to be found in some examples of work with the perpetrators of hate crime and most explicitly in the work of Krafeld. We conclude that in this area of work the concept needs to be understood in terms of an active and dynamic rather than passive approach.     

Survival and change: Social work with angry men

Abstract

This paper discusses the risk elements in encounters with six angry male clients of a social services neighbourhood team. Their preoccupation with basic survival needs produced an identification of the worker with an elusive “stolen object”; this leads to a discussion of how we also felt we had become identified with an image of persecuting parent, rooted in their childhood experience. The key notion of our “struggle” with them is linked to that of “boundary-setting” and the therapeutic value of the characteristic escalation of client/worker conflict is examined. The worker's survival is seen as a confirmation of the client's personal integrity. The process of disengagement is then analysed with particular attention to the material transactions between client and worker that served to mark the end of the engagement. We acknowledge the minimalist nature of our strategy with these men, and attempt to examine outcomes.     

Michael,part one: A boy of twelve in conflict with the school authorities

A single case, brought to a seminar led by the author, is presented here to illustrate a dual focus inherent in the social work task. The core of the social work task is the process by which, in the course of an ongoing dialogue, the social worker's independent point of view is brought into relation to the immediate preoccupations and point of view of the client(s). In the case illustration, that of a boy with school behaviour problems, the family presented itself implicitly, but with a persuasive sense of closure, as a mother-and-son two-person family. The social worker thought beyond this to the question of a father (and a father's authority) as a significant line of enquiry. A detailed account is given of the process, calling for tact and a finely tuned sense of relevance, by which she bridged the two points of view.     

Understanding the Client/Social Worker Relationship in a Multicultural Setting:

As social work professionals, we need to be senstitive to the communication exchanges we engage in with our clients. At the best of times, cross-cultural communication has its difficulties and is even more problematic when interpreters are used. We need to understand the nature of these relationships and the lifetime of socialization that our clients have experienced which shape these relationships. The temptation of dismissing the difficulties as simply "a culture gap" reflects poorly on our individual practice and our profession as a whole. This paper examines the types of social bonding as they are applied to the client/social worker relationship. Two distinct forms of social bonding, interpersonal reciprocity and interdependency contract relationships, are examined and analyzed from a multicultural perspective in the social work setting. The role of interpreters is reviewed in relation to these communication patterns. The role of trustworthiness and the behaviors that enhance it are reviewed in light of the types of relationships professionals engage in with their clients. The paper then examines two classes of interventions, "changing" versus "supporting" the client, and how these intervention strategies relate to the ethno-cultural background of the client. The paper concludes with the suggestion that there are some very serious limitations on the professional's relationship in the cross-cultural setting. The professional may need to adjust his/her expectations of the relationship and adapt to more effective and realistic types of interventions.     

Getting Started: Psychodynamics,Racism and Anti-Racism

Abstract

This paper mainly addresses white social workers who want to practise in an anti-racist manner. It aims to clarify common confusions about the relationship between therapeutic and political goals in anti-racist practice, which can lead workers to feel immobilised and unable to get started. Analysis of a case example based on the author's experience is used to unravel the strands of personal distress and experience of racism which a client may bring to a social worker, and the corresponding strands of personal and institutional racism with which the social worker must wrestle. It is proposed that familiar concepts of transference and counter-transference can be helpful in understanding the confusions about racism which white social workers may experience in practice encounters with black clients. The importance of all this is seen to lie in the likelihood of white social workers unwittingly reproducing racism, unless they are clear about the boundaries between the therapeutic and the political domains.     

Faith and Religious Delusions in First-Episode Schizophrenia

ABSTRACT

Empirical research has not adequately examined whether social workers and clients discuss sociocultural issues when addressing mental health problems, nor the quality of the interaction when such discussion occurs. This exploratory mixed-method study examined the interactional process associated with discussion of sociocultural issues in the first three counseling sessions with four white social worker/client of color dyads. Findings showed that productive cross-cultural interactions were associated neither with specific sociocultural content nor client-worker composition, but rather with the social worker's perception and skill. Analysis differentiated one worker/client dialogue from the others, highlighting the importance of training practitioners to apply social work knowledge and skills in a synthesized manner.     

Policy-Practice in Social Work: Models and Issues

Abstract

The emergence of policy—practice is a recent development in social work. In this article, policy—practice is defined as a direct social work practice mode with the potential to strengthen the social work profession's abilities to meet its century-long commitments of providing policy-informed services to those in need of them. At the same time, policy—practice advocates for and participates in policy implementation and change. This article examines policy—practice and places it within the context of the profession's historic cause—function debate and identifies several barriers that have complicated development. Most important, the article reviews five policy-practice models found in the literature: (1) social worker as policy expert, (2) social worker as change agent in external work environments, (3) social worker as change agent in internal work environments, (4) social worker as policy conduit, and (5) social worker as policy itself.     

The evolving relationship between casework skills,engagement, and positive case outcomes in child protection: A structural equation model

This paper reports a study that aims to increase the understanding of the relationship between workers and their child protection clients through the development of a client engagement model. A conceptual exploratory structural equation model (SEM) of caseworker skills, engagement and client outcomes is presented. Results indicate that including parents in the planning, not ignoring problems parent identify as important, not asking them to do something they would not find helpful, and locating appropriate services, leads to higher client engagement. Although not directly related, having workers return clients phone calls acted as mediator between other worker casework skills and client engagement. Client engagement was also influenced by satisfaction with the case outcome. Worker engagement was also influenced by whether they included parents in the planning, which in turn was influenced by worker experience. Workers who were kind and considerate were more likely to be engaged. Worker engagement predicted satisfaction with the case outcome and whether workers' believed families would contact the agency in the future. Lastly, client engagement predicted worker engagement although it is our belief that this is an iterative reciprocal process.     

Social work and pastoral counseling: Empowering each other

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the divergent outcomes which can result from counseling services offered pastorally versus clinically. As faith leaders often have greater direct access than social workers to supporting religious populations, it is important to explore the intersection between religious pastoral support and clinical social work. Presenting six scenarios from the author’s own experiences as both a rabbi and social worker, this article processes each scenario first through the pastoral lens of an Orthodox rabbi, followed by the clinical lens of a social worker or other mental health professional. The client outcomes which are produced from each modality are radically different. This contrast demonstrates the distinction between the goals, values, and training of each profession, and highlights importance for future work to be done in linking religious and pastoral training to mental health services, as well as broadening the scope of cultural competence for social workers and therapists who may engage with tight-knit religious populations.     

Personality in those entering social work training in England: comparing women and men

The ‘person of the social worker’ has long been considered a crucial aspect of social work. Such terms as ‘the person of the worker’ are complemented by an emphasis on both client/service user and worker as conscious subjects, the ‘use of self’, and the overarching importance ascribed by many to the relationship. Surprisingly, in view of this emphasis, there has been little attempt to look at the personality of those entering social work, or social work education. This is further emphasised by the gender imbalance internationally characteristic of social work and social care, in which women predominate. This study, carried out in two diverse English Universities, whose provision nevertheless reflected the undergraduate and postgraduate expectations of the Bologna Declaration, compares systematically the personality of men and women recruited to their social work programmes. Considerable differences between the sexes are found in certain key areas, with a tendency towards what is termed ‘robustness’ in men and ‘responsiveness’ in women. While the characteristics associated with both tendencies have appropriateness for social work, and results are highly nuanced, this does raise issues about characteristics, selection and possible gender biases. These are discussed.     

Exploring Use of Self: Moving Beyond Definitional Challenges

Use of self is a central concept throughout social work history and theory, yet no unified definition and little empirical research exist. Thus, a qualitative exploration was required. Three focus groups (n = 10) were conducted with experienced BSW educators. Participants defined use of self in the context of their students’ beginning social work practice. The findings suggest that use of self incorporates personal self qualities such as openness, self-reflectiveness, attunement to others, commitment, and emotional maturity, and results in professional capacities such as nurturing the social worker–client relationship, reflective practice, and practice wisdom. Use of self is the integration of theory and practice embodied in the social worker and enacted in the worker-client relationship.     

The systems' approach and social work methods

Many social work courses are now using ‘system theory’, or as I prefer to call it, ‘a systems' approach’, in teaching social work method on a unitary basis. Most social work techers recognise that the systems' approach is not enough on its own and that traditional methods have a place in practice. What is not clear is how these methods relate to the systems' approach.

In this article the relationship between the systems' approach and various methods and theories of intervention is explored in a number of different ways. Firstly, there is an examination of the relationship of various client, target and action systems. Secondly. Lippitt's analysis of the ‘diagnostic orientations’ of change agents is discussed and related to strategies aimed at changing the goals and the power structures of target systems. Then certain counselling and casework methods are considered in relation to Lippitt's analysis, leading on to a brief comment on methods of intervention based on systems' theory. Finally, an educational strategy for presenting this approach is discussed.     

Working with neglected children and their families

Child neglect has proved a particularly difficult area for social work to address. In the first part of the paper a number of reasons for this are discussed. We go on to suggest that chronic child neglect characteristically involves the breakdown or absence of a relationship of care. Therefore, the social work response needs to include a focus on the relationship difficulties between parent and child which manifest as either an unwillingness or inability on the part of the primary carer to offer reliable, adequate care, and on broader relationship difficulties within the family. In arguing for an approach that pays attention to the intra-personal and relational dynamics of neglect, we draw specifically on attachment theory and consider how Ainsworth's (1978) typology of attachment patterns can shed light on parenting styles and patterns of family functioning associated with chronic neglect. We use the concept of the 'internal working model' to develop an understanding of the ways in which family members understand and live out their relationships—with each other and with the worker. We conclude by suggesting that this relational approach requires an ability on the part of the social worker to work both with and within relationships, and look at the contribution that a critically informed relationship-based approach can make to work with families where child neglect occurs.     

Staying with it: A case study

Abstract

This is a case study which illustrates some of the conflicts and dilemmas facing local authority social workers in child protection. The worker had to learn to understand and deal with his feelings about a client, who was at different times unable to communicate verbally, sexually procative and seductive, hostile and aggressive. For the client there was a gradual shift from acting out her fears and fantasies about men, to being able to verbalise and trust the worker.

The worker moves towards an understanding of the client's problems and also of his own difficulties in dealing with the case. He believes that his personal involvement was of value to the client.     

Why They Don't Come Back: A Clinical Perspective on the No-Show Client

Clinical writers love to publish their success stories. Treatment failures get shuffled to the bottom drawer. Perhaps this is why there is so little in the clinical literature about a problem so frequently encountered by the clinical social worker: the patient or client who never shows up or doesn't return. Why don't they keep their appointments? What are the most common dynamics? How much of the problem rests with the client and how much with the clinician or agency? What should be done when your client “no-shows”? When should you do it? This paper will explore these questions in an attempt to deepen the practitioner's understanding and management of this common clinical challenge.