Human Service Organization Approach to Alcoholism - Essay Example

Human Service Organization Approach to Alcoholism: Alcoholism is seen in the social work field as a complex problem that requires consideration of many details. These are difficult times for alcohol- and other drug-involved individuals, as well as for social workers who are committed to helping them. Despite recent declines in drug use (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA] 1997), persons who suffer from addictive disorders continue to outnumber those experiencing most other types of major mental disorder in the United States. (Hanson 64) An ideal way to examine the problem is to examine through the eyes of the client himself and then from the eyes of the worker. The problems that a client will typically face involve the issues of Resistance, Communication barriers, Personal and Family background and Ethnic community identity. All these terms will be elaborated on in this paper. Following the examination of the problem through the eyes of the client it is valuable to view the scenario through the eyes of the social worker that must treat the individual through the style of communication that is predicated on the style of the customer, the degree of professional self-disclosure that the worker will exhibit, the Relationship protocol, Understanding of the client's community and the availability of multicultural service delivery . The Client: This is defined in social service organizations according to Jones and Alcabes as someone who accepts his problem and is ready to accept the authority of the workers charged with him to undertake a mutually understood path to rectifying his problem. Without acceptance of the problem and the belief that there are ways to treat it, there can be no designation of client status and therefore the role of the social worker is limited to make this change through persuasive means. In terms of an Alcoholic this can be most difficult because of the high degree of resistance seen in the problem. 1. Resistance. Resistance in clinical terms describes the degree of insight that an individual has into his own affliction. In terms of an Alcoholic it would mean whether that person realizes that he does indeed have a problem. Recognition of problem status is a large part of the challenge in Alcoholics;it is perhaps the biggest challenge in treating Alcoholism since this problem is characterized by a lack of insight.. The difficulty also is that until the problem is recognized, there can be no meaningful treatment modality, that is until there is internal motivation by the patient to undergo some sort of treatment protocol. Resistance is colored by many factors including genetic susceptibility, social support, education, cultural outlooks, and the stage of the problem. In our scenario this would be a man who clearly does not acknowledge his problem and this is typical of the cases that are referred to social work agencies. The problem here is that much of social work is based on the idea of a client and often in the case of Alcoholics those who are referred they are often considered “visitors”, that is individuals that cannot fully receive the help of the worker because that help is based on the recognition of the problem. 2. Communication Barriers. This describes the problems that client faces in both a literal and psychological and cultural sense. The problem of Communication barriers describes the obstacles that that a client has in expressing his problem, this can be a language barrier or it can be in the form of a cultural restriction that prevents full disclosure. If an individual is unable to speak the language then this would present the extra obstacle fear of judgment of his language abilities to compound the problem of his alcoholism. Unless the social service center is equipped with workers fluent in the language in question the subject is resigned to visitor status because the very service of social work treatment of the problem of alcoholism requires a fluency in the language. A language barrier is also associated with a sense of being apart from society at large and thus presents a further form of reservation about discussing the problem of alcoholism. 3. Personal and Family Background. The personal and family background plays a huge role in the degree of disclosure that a subject will have. A family support system that encourages open communication is one that has a higher degree of success but it is not typical in individuals with Alcoholism. Often there is a genetic correlate in addictive behavior and this is reflected in the fact that there is often a family history of alcoholism in individuals that come in for treatment of alcoholism. Since the problem of Alcoholism is recognized as a multi factorial problem there are also often established patterns of family dysfunction in families of Alcoholism. This too adds to the difficulty in changing the status of the subject from visitor to client, that is a willing participant in the treatment protocols, without which there is no way to remedy the problem. 4. Ethnic Community Identity. Particular ethnic communities will have different traditions about disclosure of problems. Since the problem of Alcoholism depends on the personal admission of the problem this can be a real problem in individuals who come from more traditional ethnic groups where talk of personal problems is not given the same forum that it is in the society of the social workers that treat alcoholism. For some traditional societies the label of Alcoholic is associated with the stigma of village drunk and this association will be denied despite the best efforts of workers to set a non-judgmental atmosphere. In our scenario a man with a drinking problem would not likely to admit he has a problem if in his cultural context this would significantly diminish him. The Social Services organization worker: The Social Worker dealing with a Alcoholic subject is charged with a most difficult responsibility, that is in trying to persuade the potential client to become a client or in other words accept that he does indeed have a problem and that this problem is treatable if he accepts the authority of those professionals helping him. Since Alcoholics are characterized by a high degree of resistance they will encounter considerable problems in dealing with the subject. The need to gain the authorization of society in order to treat particular kinds of individuals occurs when the society fails to perceive that certain behaviors can be modified through a profession's technology. A good example is the social work profession's insistence that alcoholism is a treatable disease rather than a criminal or an immoral activity and that alcoholics should be referred to social work agencies for appropriate treatment (Jones, and Alcabes 54) 1. Style of Communication. The first challenge that social worker will have in dealing with an Alcoholic is adopting a style of communication that is best suited to the subject. While there are methods this is often as much art as science where the worker will have to adopt the style that most makes the subject comfortable with his surroundings and make preconditions most amenable to the subject coming to a self realization of his problem. This typically encourages a two way dialog and an understanding that all discussion is confidential. The promise of confidentiality is essential to ensure trust. Without trust there is way to progress with the process of creating a client out of visitor. 2. Professional Self-disclosure. Professional Self-disclosure entails the gradual impression on the subject that the worker has the knowledge and skills , technology to effect a positive outcome in the subject in the treatment of their problem, once of course the subject has accepted that he has a problem, which is no small task. Professional Self-disclosure as it is thus defined requires that the worker make the potential client aware of all the treatment avenues and the risks and benefits as well as the idea that at all times the treatment is voluntary. 3. The Relationship Protocol. The Relationship Protocol is an outline of the relationship of the worker to the potential client. If at this point the subject has accepted that he has a treatable problem and recognizes the authority of the worker and agrees to comply the treatment the relationship protocol is at this stage well established. The rules of the relationship are established by the professionalism of the worker who has maintained a non-judgmental approach with full disclosure of all the conditions of the treatment. In the case of an Alcoholic patient this would mean that the patient is informed that he has a problem which he has admitted to at this time and realized that the needs a support group and that he needs to understand the underlying reasons for his affliction. 4. Understanding the Client's Community. This means that the worker must have some understanding of the community from which the client has come. This community will reflect socio-economic status and by implication means. An individual with limited economic means will display a different set of challenges than someone with more means. Essentially being poor is also associated with more other problems that come with less access to health care and living life in more desperate terms. An Alcoholic on the margins of society will have less of a support network and will be on the danger of becoming homeless which will only compound the problems of Alcoholism. 5. Multicultural Service Delivery. A great deal of the problem of dealing with the problems of Alcoholism in a multicultural world that we currently live in is through agencies that have the resources to deal with multicultural clientèle. This provides an enormous boon in treating Alcoholism, so much of which is based on convincing the patient to first accept that he has a a problem and then accept the authority of workers to help him involves communication therefore workers familiar with all the various cultures is invaluable. “It has been argued that “multicultural social work must offer a pan cultural perspective, which encompasses the various ethnic groups and also the dominant … culture in which they must coexist. … Fundamental to the pan cultural perspective is the conviction that the culture and ethnicity of all people are important factors in the helping process” (Lum 2000, p. 97). (Potocky-Tripodi 3) The problem of Alcoholism offers a unique challenge to social workers but it is a challenge worthy of pursuing because it is a problem that with the subjects insight can be remedied Works Cited Gitterman, Alex, ed. Handbook of Social Work Practice with Vulnerable and Resilient Populations. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. Questia. 14 Apr. 2006 . Hanson, Meredith. "3 Alcoholism and Other Drug Addictions." Handbook of Social Work Practice with Vulnerable and Resilient Populations. Ed. Alex Gitterman. New York: Columbia University Press, 2001. 64-88. Questia. 14 Apr. 2006 . Henderson, George. Social Work Interventions: Helping People of Color. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1994. Questia. 14 Apr. 2006 . Jones, James A., and Abraham Alcabes. Client Socialization: The Achilles' Heel of the Helping Professions. Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1993. Questia. 14 Apr. 2006 . Potocky-Tripodi, Miriam. Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Questia. 14 Apr. 2006 . Read More