Role of a Social Worker Faced with Ethical and Legal Dilemmas - Case Study Example

Ethical and Legal Dilemmas Introduction What would be the role of a social worker faced with financial or legal issues that clash with other professional and individual values? It could be extremely challenging to stick to ethics within these evolving times. My paper will address a case study concerning an older service user who undergoes an assessment. He is in dire need of equipment but due budget cuts, the social worker is unable to provide it. It goes ahead to address the effects to the social worker, and to the service user. It talks about the system, the legalities, ethics and values. In summary, the essay could be said to be about budget cutting, the duty of social workers in meeting the standards of service users although the equipment ordering does not. It may be crucial to point out that social workers may be faced with a couple of ethical dilemmas including ensuring that packages delivered could suit the needs of individuals yet maintain low department. Issues that regard finances often catalyze several ethical dilemmas hence the present economic dilemma would deduce that there might be a great challenge posed to ethical reasoning. According to Banks, a couple of the workers might be undergoing what could be referred to as moral distress since they might have a clue of the exact steps to take in situations yet be could be unable to make those steps (Banks, 2009). As a way of coming up with a solution to this upcoming threat to social work, the Social Work Reform may be said to have encompassed ethics and values into the professional capabilities framework’s nine core values. The framework may be said to aid in the setting of the way in which the skills and knowledge of social workers would be developed in the course of their careers. As regards ethics, the framework might be said to require that the social workers need to develop the ability to apply the principles that relate to ethics together with ethical values in order to ensure an effective guidance within professional practice. The three significant sections covered within this framework may be: Managing one’s individual values The reform board may be said to have proposed the breakdown of values and ethics into seven distinct elements, including a breakdown of the individual values of social workers. All students may be said to have been made aware of the core values and the various ways in which they might be different from others that may be owned by individuals from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Earle Michael, a qualified social worker and an employee of Bristol Council, had been reported saying that he had been advised against giving his gut feeling a cold shoulder. He went ahead and said that one’s individual values would always remain with him, which may be an advantage thus the most crucial thing to consider might be to know how to integrate those values, and it may be a skill developed all through the career (Bowles, 2006). Andy O’Brien, a professional practitioner working with London’s Wandsworth Council and an interim board member in the College of Social Work had been noted stating that supervision must be strictly used by social workers in the critical analysis of their personal feelings and in the reflection of personal beliefs. He noted that it would be extremely beneficial for them to understand that since they all originate from different backgrounds, viewing the differences in personal and professional life would be easier. A number of individuals often have a desire to compare themselves to others in terms of individual successes or just personal attributes. They fail to understand that everyone has come from different backgrounds and the way they behave reflects the way they had been brought up within their respective backgrounds. If any progress ought to be made, then individuals have to start understanding and appreciating themselves and handle issues according to their own individual abilities, and not in reference to others (Bradway, 2009). Making use of social work ethics The British Association of Social Workers may be said to have an ethics code, which may be divided into: social justice, human worth and dignity, competence, integrity and service. The code requires all social works to have respect to every individual and see oversee the ultimate protection of vulnerable people. Every human being deserves a right to be treated and handled without any discrimination or prejudice hence the power abuses that often arise from unfair workers should be considerably challenged. Ruth Cartwright, the England’s BASW’s national chairman noted that she struggled to perform the functions of a social working manager in order to maintain human dignity within the team’s practice’s core. She went ahead to recall struggling with a case whereby an elderly lady had been at the peak of being relocated to a home that had been cheaper and less suitable than the one he had been residing. She said that the local authority had said that in case she needed help in paying for care, then the only solution would be to relocate to another cheaper residential home than where she had been living in, a step which would have drifted her further from those she loved (Brammer, 2003). Ruth had an idea that the relocation of older individuals from places that they often regarded as home would have a significant impact in their health together with their well-being. Despite the disciplinary action’s threat, she had out rightly argued in favor of the elderly lady thus she won the case. She finally commented that a social worker would have to be ready to get extremely involved with other people. Whether the qualities under review may be innate or could be learnt may be debatable, although Banks makes it clear that these qualities could be efficiently developed and adopted through experience, education, working and practice with individuals’ role models (Braye, 2007). THE CASE STUDY: Consultation A social worker has been assigned a service user, and has undertaken an assessment of needs. It is identified that the client requires equipment, which would improve the service users’ safety or mobility. The department previously provided equipment but due to cuts no longer provide it and now clients must seek and purchase it themselves. The client can be described as a vulnerable adult who has no friends or family and yet still the social worker cannot provide or help with this service but ethically wants to do it. Client issues The service user would be said to be faced with a dilemma. He needs to execute his duties but the social provider may not be in a position to offer it due to budget cuts. He opts to seek help as regards this problem. According to this case, the job mobility and service would be considerably improved and, perhaps, he might stand a chance of developing his career through a promotion even though the organization may lack the financial back up in order to execute the plan. The habit of budget cutting may be said to have been an extremely unpleasant and common tasks that confront a variety of managers in non-profit organizations. While the normal cycle might often include budget reductions in order to create a surplus in profits, most organizations might tend to misuse their workers into working under extremely low budgets in a bid to attain that organizational goal and create demise and growth. Using less to do more may be considered a virtue that may be worth pursuing in its own sake. In this case, the organization may be said to be doing a lot of disservice to the social worker for the purposes of gits growth. According to the British Association of Social Workers, the code of ethics may be said to feature core values including human worth and dignity, competence, service, integrity and social justice. An organization could maintain human dignity and social justice yet attain its growth. The issue of exploitation must not appear in any organization that aims at maintaining its integrity. This code requires every social worker or service provider to offer respect to every being and make sure that vulnerable people are protected. This may not be the case in this study. There should be a challenge as regards power abuse. It should be every social worker’s core aim to strive hard to maintain the dignity of everybody within the core of his or her practise (Golden, 2007). In this scenario, the social worker has sensed an injustice against his client. It had been stated that the duty of the organization had been to provide the equipment necessary for the execution of the service. However, the equipment could not be offered by the organization anymore because of the fact it does not exist and that the organization is working on a budget hence requires the client to purchase it himself. How can an organization expect to grow yet be unable to make a contribution to its growth? It must be the responsibility of the social worker top summon enough courage and challenge his service provider to provide the necessary equipment so that an injustice may not be said to be done to the client (Dewees, 2006). Sarah Banks, a Dunham University professor on social work ethics mentions in case a social worker views himself as a section of his profession that may be related to the rights of other individuals, he should stand out and act on his judgments. What would a social worker do in case the organization’s law clashes with the ethics and values within their profession? This might be said to be the dilemma faced by this social worker. He might be said to be in a constant tag of war concerning his duty to meet the service users’ needs within an extremely strict legal framework. The best way for him to address such an issue would be by ensuring that his client is aware of the risk he could be plunging himself into in order for him to make informed decisions regarding the how best to face the problem. It may be crucial to note that the minimum cost needed in the execution of organizations’ delivery model when making use of budget cuts. It may be said to aid in the evaluation of sustainability, affordability and offer provision to business and financial planning techniques in order to aid in the reduction of costs having medium term perspectives. Organizations may be said to possess a number of choices as regards budget cutting yet they must still make informed decisions on how much they should try cutting, within what time frame together with the approach. It may be critical for the leaders within an organization to recognize their deficit nature before plunging in budget cutting. This organization could be faced with a non-cash deficit which according to business could be considered an extremely serious issue since it may not be able to generate enough resources to replace it thus resulting to long-term negative effects thus more time may be required in order to enable it develop a response. Certain organizations may have budget systems, which may be inclusive of implicit and explicit rules concerning the best way to handle deficits in the budgets. In case this organization may have made use of a Responsibility Centre Model, it would be advisable for the service provider who might also be the manager to reverse the equipment units that have fallen short of its expectations within the finances of their own. The organization under review might have the premonition that when budget resources might have been assigned to the whole year’s units, they might not be liable to withdrawal in the middle of the year hence it would be best if adjustments of the mid-year originate from the resources that may have been retained by the central section of the organization. Since the deficit sounds extremely bad, it may be productive for the service provider to suspend overlook its rules as a result of the situation’s extreme exigency. The service provider would thus have to acknowledge that he is changing, suspending or even bending the rules and should make preparations to provide an explanation regarding the explicitness of the situation that resulted to the strong response of bending the rules. Diagnosis The service user may be said to be his harshest critic since he already feels unworthy to face the organization that employed him and may be worried of committing mistakes in addressing his concerns. He may be said to be hesitant to asking for what he expects from others, yet he may not intend to offend them by his inabilities thus he exhibits signs of extremely low self-esteem together with inadequate assertiveness. This may also extend to his problem of not addressing the issue at hand. In the rapidly changing world, there might be a need for one to posses the courage to address what seems like an injustice either towards him or towards the people he serves. He may be said to be procrastinating hence experiencing difficulties in making changes, yet may not be willing to take up the responsibility of taking any steps in a bid to make changes to the status quo. His relationship status with others could also be lacking hence a cause for concern thus he might seem to be a loner and might have not had the ability to gain assertiveness from his peers, or even shift to the adult-adult relationship in order to assert and confront his needs to his management so as to improve his life. Despite all these, there could be a positive sign in his professional life. His commitment and perhaps loyalty to the organization may be said to have earned him a great advantage over his colleagues, since he had been chosen to perform the assignment amongst everyone. On the basis of the above diagnosis, it may be practical to believe that there had been proof of lack of confidence, issues of assertiveness together with low self-esteem against him. The issues’ root cause, in my opinion, may not be his inability to make friends. There might be two distinct and primary low self esteem sources; first, would be the way in which he had been raised up at an early stage of his life and the second, would be his own individual images and thoughts since his childhood. It may be unfortunate that a hypnotherapy session may not be able to get him friends or make changes on the way he had been raised. Neither can it be able to talk his management into reading from his script. At this point, as a therapist, it could be perfect to only help in changing his thinking patterns which may comprise of negative images and thoughts, which may be responsible for locking him into low self esteem. Treatment plan As my initial step towards helping the service user, it would be extremely keen to ask him questions concerning his medical history. It could be clear that he requires a hypnotherapy session in order for him to get rid of the negative perceptions that he might possess through an improvement of self-image and a change in the negative input. In order to do this without any resistance, it would be better to first make a few definitions which may include the meaning of hypnosis and the way in which it works. It would be significant to be keen at addressing the fears that he might have towards the entire process hence making him understand that hypnosis could just be a natural awareness state and he that he would not perform anything out of the usual, and would still control his actions. At this stage, he may be free to ask any questions. This process mainly could be aimed at making an individual to realize that in life there could be a variety of things that cannot change. Hence the need to accept himself the way he may be. This process does not just aim at getting rid of negative tendencies but also planting positive ones in order to induce positive changes. He may thus acquire the ability to realize that he might be the largest saboteur, and could be the creator of the negative elements thus it permanently releases these elements. This thus could offer an allowance of the goal and belief reprogramming within a useful productive way hence boosting his confidence. In the three designated sessions, it would be crucial to strive to make a creation of chances that would aid in the correction of the low self esteem problem through a creation of positive images in the screed. The service user may not want to be rejected or fail hence the suggestions on the solution may be centred around the way in which the successes ought to be and their impact on his feelings. Immediately the suggestions are integrated, it would enable him to encounter positive effects in his relationship with his organization’s management together with other people (Yelaja, 2007). Sessions He may be said to exhibit a primary visual m9odality, hence, I made use of my PMR visual induction in order to produce a perfect working state. Immediately after the induction that consumed ten minutes through the use of a deepener, he fell into a deep state of trance. This suggestion had been related to a garden having gathering leaves’ piles, which may symbolize the negativities that exist in his life, together with inadequacy, inferiority, uncomfortable and embarrassment feelings. I could occasionally confirm through his head’s nod that he could have been in the garden. The move may also aim at targeting his negative feelings with refusals, rebuttals together with any form of resentment that may have grown for many years. By burning the piling leaves, he may be getting rid of the negative elements and beliefs of self defeat. After that, it had been crucial to ensured a focus of his subconscious on positive elements, so moving on with this garden intuition together with seed planting, there could be a provision of a perfect basis to making a fresh start. I introduced the positive suggestions in order to make improvements to his self esteem, healthy energy, positive attitude and confidence. Winding up with the screed through the use of the colour violet, his favourite colour, and having it related to a couple of feel good choices in order to create positive emotions and thoughts would be critical (Pierson, 2009). End of the Treatment and Diagnosis I had been extremely happy with the response of the service user to the screed particularly the garden imagery. He had been able to plunge himself into a deep trance state thus I got the confidence that those suggestions would be effectively directed to his subconscious. He felt less anxious and lighter than before, had renewed energy and, to top it up, had extreme confidence in the therapy. This, in my opinion, would be extremely effective in providing positive benefits and feelings. He later said that he had more positive feelings than before and had been anxious to attend the next session (Lymbery, 2004). Limits and Flaws It had been necessary to carry out in-depth discussions with him concerning the limitations of hypnotherapy and its inability to provide solutions to every problem especially those that concern his inability to make friends. It would therefore be significant to ask him to seek counselling services since such a move may result to direct change effects and, in fact, may greatly improve his ability to express his concerns to the management especially as regards his inability to raise the required financial resources. The negative self talk might also be extremely difficult to adjust hence, would require his determination in order to make any change through hypnosis (Hugman, 2005). Strong suspicion existed due to the fact t that the service user might have had several other hidden motives and came looking for their answers from me; whether he should take up the job, whether he should spend money on it and a reassurance of his situation. He ought to acquire the confidence to take responsibility and decisions on his actions. He may also need to develop an individual mechanism of coping with negative situations and feelings. Conclusion There might be recommendations made to concerning my belief the effectiveness of the three sessions. They would be significant in tackling self esteem and confidence issues since the initial session had just been a primary cleansing session that prepared new ground for positive adjustments. A second session, and, to a greater extent, a third one would see me put down points regarding a confidence and self esteem booster. This would also comprise of a little work in the inner self esteem affirmation with the use of a mirror in order to always make a positive statement concerning him. Any time the affirmation may be mentioned, it may offer an allowance for him to undergo the experience of positive feelings concerning the statement. I then would go ahead to give him homework as regards the listing of positive qualities or successes that he might have acquired and finally make him read the list regularly (Morales, 2007). References Banks, Sarah, and Ann Gallagher. (2009). 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