Linking the Client to Formal and Informal Supports, Intervention Planning and Resource Identification - Case Study Example

Assessment Two Task Description Student’s name Institution Assessment Two Task Description The development and Critical Analysis and Evaluation of a Model/Strategy of Intervention based on one of the provided scenarios Introduction/Overview Mrs. Tiens, a widowed woman of 65 years was living in dilapidated building in the outskirts of the town where she had been ignored by her people. After her admission in our health facility, we realized that she was faced by lots of problems and therefore I decided to intervene. I felt the need to help her soon after she was discharged from our health facility and therefore together with other social workers, we went to her home and interviewed the neighbours who told us that they did not know more about her but that what they knew was that she was an Aboriginal. As a result, we discussed with other social workers and we opted that the best remedy was to take her to the Home for the Elderly where other Aboriginal people and others were being. We later on checked her progress and noted that she was doing well and very happy indeed. It is quite clear that in making this happen, I used a combination of both the Case work and Case management approaches. According to Greg (2007) Case management refers to an approach which is used in the provision of access towards the required social and health services which is diverse in the context and foci of its practice. This therefore implies that case management is actually about the management of personal well being through the facilitation of vulnerable individuals’ access to care just like I did in Tiens case. In essence, it is therefore a form of care which includes or comprises of a mixture of support, compassion and the services which are required in order to pursue social inclusion and personal independence. Case management is thus characterised as being a form of social care in which case managers are involved in caring about, taking care of, care giving and care receiving. Casework implies the negotiation of goals which have to be accomplished in order to address a specific issue and it may involve either a formal or informal contract between a worker and a client (Corcoran, 2011). On the other hand, despite the fact that case management may involve or comprise of the mutual negotiation of the goals, it should however be noted that it also comprises of a package of programs and services which are tailored. In addition to that, case management also includes the timelines for sufficiency, utility and fiscal accountability. Case management will normally have plans indicating the service arrangements, the identification of the formal or informal preferred providers and the frequency of contact. Initial Contact Tiens, my client in this case was able to access my services through being referred to me by her neighbour which I had earlier on served. She had been told that I was in a better position to solve her problems and therefore she came looking for me. She had also been told that I was capable of providing her with essential service through minimal costs and that was what motivated her to look for me as soon as possible. While engaging the client, I had to have some clear information about the culture of the Aboriginals so that I would be in a better position of understanding her problems to ascertain the effective type of assistance that I could provide her with. I therefore requested the help of another Aboriginal Social Worker who better comprehended the values and culture of the Aboriginal people. I therefore clearly understood that before I engaged this client, I had to better comprehend their culture or their social way of life. Intervention Planning and Resource identification The contemporary intervention planning and resource identification is done by social workers in a wider field of case management (North Carolina Department Health & Human Services, 1994). These includes among others, the gate keeping provision done through systematic collection and recording of client information, imposing of eligibility requirements, and the basing of service coordination on the efficient working relationships between the service organizations and disciplines which comprise the service systems. It is always prudent to note that the direct social workers who are tasked with the responsibility of working with couples, individuals, groups, families and other systems normally draw upon the contrasting theories of the behaviour of human beings, adopt different practice models, implement the use of different interventions and serve clients with varied needs. Despite of these varied factors, it should be realized that indeed, almost all of the social workers are known to share a common goal of ensuring that the clients are assisted to effectively cope with the problems of their living and enhance the quality of their own lives (Bass, Norton & Morris, 2013). It is of great importance that social workers should formulate an assessment of their clients’ problems through the identification of systems which play a great role in the identification of the required resources and the difficulties which must be tapped or even be developed. As a result, social workers should simultaneously formulate rapport with their clients or customers and also ensure their problems are well explored. The Ecological System Theory It was prudent for me as a social worker to obtain good housing for Tiens and ensure that she was well maintained and therefore the Home for the Elderly ensured that this objective was achieved. I also ensured that positive changes with her neighbours were enhanced and ensure that she was well rehabilitated in the Home for the Elderly. While in the Elderly home, I ensured that Tiens accessed both Physical Health Treatment and Mental Health treatment. In addition to that, I have to ensure that Tiens is able to get a new role in her life and also be able to live independently and access leisure time and recreation facilities while at the Home of the Elderly. The case study 1.2 titled “Joseph’s strength leads to employment” is a good case study that can be used to depict how good intervention planning can help such clients (Roberts, 2009). The case management help which was offered to Joseph was quite beneficial because it helped the client to focus on both his health and social care as well. It can be ascertained from this case study that both the case work and the case management approaches should be adopted. The case management is regarding one of the agencies I worked with which was seeking to become more consumer driven in its “service delivery approach” (Cress, 2007). It therefore represented a large “human service system” that was comprised of various mental and rehabilitation health programs was known to initiate a “centralized case management component”. The major aim of this case management component or programme was the establishment of a well coordinated approach towards service delivery for individuals having most severe disabilities (Hepworth et al., 2013). But however, just one year after the implementation, it was discovered by the agency that indeed, the component in the case management was not espousing the initial consumer-driven values which it was intended for, but rather, it was focussing on the rationing of services, costs and the oversight of individuals having behavioural challenges that were found by the mental health staff to be quite a nuisance and bothersome (Sebba & Chaplin, 2013). In order to clarify the differences that existed between the system driven management approaches and consumer driven management approaches, I decided to conduct a workshop. Linking the Client to Formal and Informal supports When deemed to be acceptable and appropriate upon the client, then an intervention plan should be given consideration which should draw on the available resources within the support network of the client like for example friends, family, faith groups and neighbours (Zastrow, 2009). Such groups and individuals are quite important because they will provide the client with the relevant information which is required and they will also provide the client with emotional support, encouragement, physical care like taking drugs incase of illness, material assistance like money and housing and in some situations, they will also be able to assist the client in mediating any arising interpersonal conflicts. Informal supports is important to a client and the care givers as well because they are available 24 hours a day at no extra or no costs at all and in addition to that, one does not actually need to be diagnosed, categorized or meet the requirements of the agency so as to get such assistance. In most of the cases, most informal resources or supports normally involve the relationship among the peers or equals instead of the client-expert relationship which in most circumstances is part and parcel of the professional helping social process (Dudgeon, Garvey & Pickett, 2000). Self help group despite the fact that some may be affiliated with either a national or state level organization are good examples of an informal resource (Toseland & Robert, 2009). Another important informal support is “the natural helper” who is a person who has lived in a specific community for a long period of time and as a result is known because of the ability to help other people. Agency clients can also form a good source of informal support because they are capable of exacerbating each other’s problems. Challenges associated with Informal Supports or resources Despite the fact that informal supports are known to be the oldest and popular type of helping activity, some of the social work professional has actually been reluctant in advising or encouraging their clients to adopt them (Summers, 2011). This is due to the reasons that the professionals assume that formal resources are more effective regardless of the situation or problem of the client and due to the fact that such professionals also have no or little awareness regarding the informal helping supports and informal resources which are readily available to their clients. In addition to that, such professionals also make an assumption that their clients have already thought about using the informal supports and therefore for some reasons, they have rejected the ideas and they doubt the capacity of such informal supports to protect the right of their clients’ confidentiality. How to address potential challenges towards formal and informal supports When making considerations regarding the relevancy of searching for an informal resource as a source of additional help, it is prudent for the social worker to observe various guidelines. For instance, the major goal or aim of the social work practice is to help clients enhance their social functioning. As a result, the resources to be used whether informal or formal or even both are only a means towards the end and thus professionals should never feel threatened regarding the preference of a client for any or all of them. In addition to that, the social support network of the client should always be regarded as being a potential reservoir of the helping resources and thus any merits or demerits of such supports should be discussed in earnest with the client (Bennett, Gilbert & Bessarab, 2012). However, it should be put in mind that the client has the final say on this issue. Lastly, the legal and ethical codes regarding the confidentiality of the client should never be a barrier towards the application of informal resources or supports. The Goals that I set There are various goals that I set due to numerous reasons and these included making positive changes in relation to the association with the family members, obtaining or maintaining mental health rehabilitation or treatment services, the recognition of the precipitants towards hospitalisation and taking of relevant action and obtaining or maintaining of social employment (Orsini, 2007). In addition to that, other goals which I set out included were making positive changes in relation to the stressors and the coping strategies or mechanisms, getting legal assistance on legal issues obtaining assistance with issues to do with finance and developing of realistic goals aimed for the future. I then finally came up with a treatment or goal plan in which I filled in all the relevant information that was required from the client. Reasons for Goal Setting Goal setting is important because it reinforces or cements the notion that indeed, change is possible and empowering and it is also a product of the desired end. The Helping Process Phases There are three major phases in the helping process and these include the Beginning Phase, the Middle Phase and the end phase (Dudley, 2009). During the Beginning Phase, the client accesses the health care provider, engagement is done and there is monitoring and evaluation (Jacobs, Robert & Riley, 2009). The Middle Phase includes various processes like for instance planning, contracting and referral, intervention and monitoring. The final End Phase includes the review, evaluation and closure of the client’s case. Monitoring and Reassessment Monitoring is quite important in case management because it provides a continuous feedback action that can be used in ascertaining whether or not a specific service plan is meeting the needs of the client effectively or whether it meets the conditions of the clients. Monitoring, as a result, normally happens when intervention is occurring (Gitterman & Robert, 2009). Monitoring is therefore quite an important principle and ethical consideration that I was guided with in the case management because apart from ensuring that it ensured there was evaluation of the effectiveness of the change interventions and strategies, it also ensured that the efforts of the clients in the scenario were guided towards the attainment of the goals. In addition to that, monitoring was also of great importance to my case management because it enabled me to keep abreast or updated regarding the reactions of my clients to progress and even the lack of it and thus helped me to better concentrate on the attainment of my set goals and the evaluation progress. One of the best monitoring methods is talking to the clients on a regular basis. This can actually happen through developing a practice of not only asking for relevant information but also receiving it as well in order to keep the practice not only to grow but to change as well. As a service provider, my role will be to ensure that I create an environment in which the clients not only feel safe but are also in a good position of offering honest feedback to me. My responsibility in this process will therefore be ensuring that from the beginning of my work, I inform the client that I would always like regular feedback. Other service providers also play a great in the monitoring of the clients because I will be able to observe some of the vital service delivery processes or even I will be in a better position of either obtaining or phoning written feedback from such provides. Feedback obtained from the meetings or conferences will also be helpful in the monitoring process. In order to ascertain if my intervention has been helpful to the client or not, I will evaluate the progress of the client from the beginning to the end and ascertain if there is need to either continue or discontinue the service. The discontinuation of the service will imply that indeed, my intervention has been quite helpful to the client and vice versa. Asking other informal supports and services and existing records as well can provide good alternatives of the monitoring process (McWilliam, 2010). It should be noted that there are various timeframes for assessing the outcome of an intervention like for instance, it should be done during the period of the intervention, at the closure or termination of the intervention and if possible within a period of 6 to 12 months after the closure of the intervention. This is vital because it will be possible to carry out any corrective measures before it is too late. Some possible challenges in the Monitoring Process It should be noted that despite the fact that monitoring is quite beneficial, it also has some challenges like for instance scrutinizing of some of the professionalism divergent practice values and cultures, disagreements regarding the needs of the clients and also the authenticity of the feedback which is received from the clients. Evaluation and Critique It is always prudent to ascertain if my intervention was indeed successful or not and therefore this can be achieved through evaluation (Watson & West, 2006). In a direct practice such as mine, it is important to assess the intervention and the effect that it has on my clients because like for instance, formative evaluation will be able to not only inform but also guide me on the practice ongoing decisions which are liked to my chosen intervention and which is also similar to monitoring (Garvin, Maeda & Lorraine, 2004). In addition to that, summative evaluation is also quite important because it will help me to better assess the final outcome of my strategy ad identify the major factors which significantly aided to either the relative failure or success of my chosen intervention (Hong, 2008). In essence, evaluation of the programme will therefore be aimed at evaluating both the efficiency and effectiveness of a program in both the summative and formative aspects. Evaluation can either be done internally or externally through reflection in a team or supervision, through the suggestion boxes in the organization, through the focus groups, through Random Client review and exit interviews, through research, audits and clinical scales. Reasons why Case management or Case work may stop or end There are various major reasons why either a case work or even case management can end and these includes among others, the attainment or achievement of the set goals, the client’s refusal of support, leaving of the client or their unavailability, and the death of the client (Turner, 2011). Others are the ending of funding from the source for the service being rendered, the client being banned from the service, inability of the client to meet the threshold or target of the group, need to transfer the customer to another service and inability of the client to meet the needs of the client. Strategies to Implement to ensure that the issues are overcome and they don’t impede my strategies For the case of closure, due process should be following to ensure that my strategies are not impeded. For instance, referrals or resources should be given to the clients to help them have social connections and help them cope well. In addition to that, care givers should be able to collaboratively work with their clients to ensure that they are willing to end the termination and ascertain if there is an open door policy in the organization to help the client come back whenever there is need. One should also ensure to plan ahead for what will be done as coping measures just incase the plans don’t go as earlier planned. Finally, one should review the success of the client to date and ensure organizational policies regarding closure of a case file if followed to the latest procedure. References Bass, S., Norton, J., & Morris, R. (2013). International perspectives on state and family support for the elderly. London: Routledge Publishers Bennett, B., Gilbert, S., & Bessarab, D. (2012). Our Voices: Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander social work. Melbourne: Palgrave Macmillan. Corcoran, J. (2011). Helping skills for social work direct practice. New York: Oxford University Press. Cress, C. (2007). Handbook of geriatric care management. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning Dudgeon, P., Garvey, D. & Pickett. H. (2000). Working with Indigenous Australians: A Hand book for Psychologists. Perth: Gunada Press. Dudley, J.R. (2009). Social Work Evaluation: enhancing what we do. Chicago: Lyceum Books. Garvin, C., Maeda, G., & Lorraine, G. (2004). Handbook of social work with groups. New York: Guilford Gitterman, A., & Robert, S. (2009). Encyclopaedia of social work with groups. New York: Routledge. Hepworth, D.H., Rooney, R.H., Dewberry Rooney, G., & Strom-Gottfried, K. (2013). Direct social work practice: Theory and skills. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning. Hong, S. (2008). Contribution of coping patterns to health status of informal caregivers: Conceptualizing heterogeneous coping patterns. Washington: ProQuest Jacobs, E., Robert, M., & Riley, H. (2009).Group Counselling: Strategies and skills, 6th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, McWilliam, R. (2010). Working with families of young children with special needs. Guilford: Guilford Press North Carolina Department Health & Human Services. (1994). Beginning the adult and family service plan: The checklist for change and goals. Retrieved from http://www.ssw.unc.edu/cares/rk/ Orsini, C. (2007). Essays on informal and formal care for the elderly. London: ProQuest Roberts, A. (2009). Social workers' desk reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press Sebba, J., & Chaplin, S. (2013). Team parenting for children in foster care: A model for integrated therapeutic care. Jessica: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Summers, N. (2011). Fundamentals of case management practice: skills for the human services. Andover: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning. Toseland, R., & Robert, R. (2009). Introduction to group work practice, 6th ed. Allyn & Bacon. Turner, F. (2011). Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches, 5th Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press Watson, D., & West, J. (2006). Social work process and practice: Approaches, knowledge and skills. New York: Palgrave Macmillan Zastrow, C. (2009). Social Work with Groups, 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole,. Read More