Social Worker Administrator - Article Example

Social Worker Administrator s Social Worker Administrator The quality of life individuals live depend highly on the ability to cope with real life challenges such as conflicts, unemployment and the alike. Today’s life has been characterized by many of these challenges; some that require more than just the resolution of the family in question, but the help of a specialist. The issue of social work comes in under these circumstances. Social workers are specialists who work with people to support them during times of turmoil and ensure that the vulnerable lot such as the children and the elderly are safeguarded from harm. They provide support to the ones in problem so that they can help themselves (Amodeo et al., 1997). Social work therefore, is a profession that is dedicated to the pursuit of social just and normalization of lives of the oppressed and the marginalized. It deals with improving the quality of life of families, couples, groups, individuals and communities through research, direct intervention, community organizations and teachings for the sake of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, disability, social injustice and violation of their social rights and privileges. This research paper will look at the description of a social worker, their duties, job description as well as their importance in the society (Tovey, 2007). There has been a major restructuring of healthcare set up in the recent years. Healthcare care centers recognize the fact that they need collaboration for effective patient care and for the survival of the organization. Taking care of the sick and those with health challenges is one of the core activities that social workers embark on and healthcare facilities realize that they stand a chance of losing the patients (clients because they are a business) to social workers. The article compared 50 pairs of social workers and physicians who collaborated in acute care hospital setting. Upon examining each profession’s outlook and other roles and responsibilities, the results indicated many similarities especially on their endeavor for patient care. However, the article reports that there was a disagreement in that a social worker was more likely than a physician to identify the problems of the family or the patient that was related to the illness and the connection to the community resources as well (Abramson & Mizrahi, 1996). The scope of work for the social worker runs deep into the social life of those affected and is always willing to give the professional advice so as to make things right for the victims. However, there is a need for oneness in running the matters of health in regards to the community welfare and improving the lives of the vulnerable. Unlike physicians, who are satisfied after administering medication to the victims and ensuring that they become healthier, social workers are always willing to listen to the issues that led to those circumstances of poorer health and offering them assistance. This is contrary to the physician and the article stipulates this fact vividly (Abramson & Mizrahi, 1996). Drug and substance abuse has been on the rise recently and it is a phenomenon that many social workers are dealing with in many societies. From smoking of marijuana to cocaine to other drugs like alcohol; all that has plagued many in the society. Many people may have wished to pull themselves out of the debacle, but they have been unable. Social workers are therefore mandated to help them to pull those victims clear and offer them their professional advice on how to m maintain themselves without going back to the addiction. Social worker must therefore possess adequate skills and expertise to help these victims out of addiction into a new meaningful way of living (Amodeo et al., 1997). Social workers are realizing more opportunities in the criminal-justice since many abusers are rather being sent to treatment programs rather than in jail. Their role is to bring these people back on track. The responsibilities of substance-abuse social workers differ by the settings or the agreements between the parties. However, most perform intakes of clients and assessing their progress throughout the rehabilitation program. They are also responsible for developing treatment plans, counseling of these clients, helping the families of the affected to cope with the effects of addiction and they refer patients to other social service organizations. These social workers earn about $33,000 a year and are always working with other groups who facilitate their work like the physicians, nurses, addiction specialists and the like. Clients are usually ordered by the court or some other entity into treatment programs, although it is not usually a smooth job for the social workers (Roberts & Watkins 2009). Social work is definitely one difficult task to handle, especially when dealing with correcting other people’s messes and trying to make things right for them. There is always a challenge in the midst of all this, and sometimes the decisions that the social worker has to make may affect them away from professional context. Children are a vulnerable lot in the society. Beggs in this book explains how social workers deal with challenges of child welfare and how they manage burnouts, decision making, how they handle stressors and how they are able to remain satisfied with their jobs (Beggs, 1996). There are many challenges of child welfare in today’s societal set-ups. Domestic violence, poverty, racism; are some of the issues surrounding children to date. Social workers must ensure that children do not have long-term effects of these vices. On this note, social has been deemed to be very stressful because of significant administrative, societal and political changes that have impacted the role of social workers. A stressor is a demand, situation or circumstance that tampers with a person’s equilibrium and initiates stress. Research shows that social workers that are more empathic are more exposed to stress and burnout and it is a result of them being unable to control their emotions towards the clients and therefore failing to act according to their professional guidelines. To deal with these circumstances of stress and burnout, social workers need to focus on their jobs firmly and evade being carried away by the situations of their clients (Brooks, 1987). Social workers remain satisfied by their jobs due to the feeling of self-worth in the society and direct contact with clients. Social support by the society has also lead to a higher job satisfaction and a decrease in stressors and burnout, enhancing social workers to stay in their jobs. Social workers are mandated to sensitize people in the society on the effects and the impending danger of child abuse. Brooks, in this project, puts across the need to prevent child abuse in rural communities but it all goes down to the acceptance by that very community; training local school teachers and other means to convey message across. Children are most vulnerable to abuse, such as sexual abuse because they fall short of protection from the adults. Children are always surprised at the fact that the adults who are supposed to protect them are the ones abusing them. Socials workers and the community must lead by example by ensuring that the welfare of children comes first before anything else (Brooks, 1987). Communities must therefore accept and embrace the work done by the social workers. Training local school teachers on how to aid child abuse would also go along way in curbing this monster. Teachers must make close follow-ups to identify any cases of child abuse amongst those in school. Students and learners are sometimes faced with difficulties in their learning or sometimes struggle to find their feet in their learning due to social issues or any other factors. This may subject them to stress and a feeling of discontent. Teachers are therefore mandated to ensure that these eventually find their feet and feel important in the class again. The relationship between the teacher and the students is very important in determining the success of the students. Improving this relationship has important, long-term and positive implications for students’ academic and social development (Brophy, 1996). A student who has a connection with the teacher(s) will experience frequent communications and as such are free to talk about social turmoil that might be affecting the performance of the student. Such students will receive more guidance and praise at the expense of criticism from the and consequently, the student is more likely to be trustful of the teacher than not. The student will therefore more engagement to academics, improve on the attitude and the behavior as far as learning is concerned (Firestone, 2002). Once the student is open to the teacher about issues that affect their performance in the studies, the teacher uses this information to collaborate with the parents, the school administration to find ways in which this student can be assisted. This is where counselors, social workers, special educators and other professional specialists at the institution come in. Counselors and social workers are very essential in cases where social assistance and counseling of the student is required. It should be assumed therefore, that students’ failure in school is entire due to their inability to grasp ideas and concepts in a learning concept; special help could be required to really identify the possible detriments that may have been irking the student. Social workers therefore play an important part in breaking down this kind of situations. To enable that the work done the social workers, trust on the part of the clients is an imperative element. Clients need to trust their social workers so that work is done based on mutuality. Carroll, his project model sought to find out how clients can help in improved services, increased understanding, client participation in decision-making and overall improvement of the services offered by the social workers. Mutuality was a key component in this process (Carroll, 1980). Social workers are mandated to make other people’s life better and whilst working with their clients, professional boundaries must be maintained to ensure professional integrity and responsibility from social workers part. However, the clients must be committed as well and should trust social workers entirely so as to yield better results in improving their situations. Trust will enable clients be directly involved in the processes to rectify and improve their lives in decision-making and other activities by the social workers. By so doing instances of violation of confidentiality and deviation from the mandate of the social workers will be minimized, hence improved understanding, improved communication and service delivery. The model developed in this project by Carroll depicts an improvement of services in all areas by social workers upon the receipt of clients’ trust and working on mutuality. Lack of collaboration between both parties has shown a rough relationship between the clients and the social workers and even others facing law suits, suspensions, being fired from their work and clients never moving on to a better living due to lack of trust and involvement by both parties. Therefore, there should be collaboration between the clients and the social workers to ensure that the work done is as smooth as possible (Brooks, 1987). Firestone (2002) explains who a social worker really is and their importance in any given economy. As it is mentioned earlier, a social worker is a person who works with people to aid them through difficult times and ensure that those vulnerable in the community are safeguarded from the claws of harm in the society (Firestone, 2002). They ensure that these individuals improve their lives out of situations like drug and substance abuse, addiction, child abuse and family violence to a more relaxed and safe life. They use their professional know-how to carry out their mandates without being carried away by the situations of their clients. The role of social workers in the society include being involved in the process of referring a person or a family to needed resources, not just providing information but also making follow-ups needed. This ensures that the needed resources to help the client out of a situation are attained. They are also advocates for the rights of others and work to gain needed resources by convincing other on the legal rights of the members of the society. This is usually done especially for the vulnerable and those who cannot speak for themselves. Advocacy can occur in different levels; from local, county, state and national level (Gambrill, 1997). Further, other social workers are also involved in the international human rights and advocacy forums for those in needs. Social workers also act as case managers. This is locating services and assisting their clients to access services that they are deprived of. Case management usually occurs in complex situations for the homeless, elderly, those who have chronic mental health or physical issues; those that are victims of domestic violence and vulnerable children. Social workers are therefore essential to the economy as they help people reach their potential and by so doing, they can be involved in the development of the economy (Carroll, 1980). By retaining people’s full potential is very important as they will be meaningful in the society once again be involved in the national development again. Social work, despite its tremendous assistance to the community has also been associated with controversial issues. Cases of personal involvement have been reported in the past in addition to emotional attachment between the clients and the service providers. However, social workers can make their work as much professional as possible by prioritizing, ways of problem solving and decision-making. Social workers need to be as much professional and flee from any personal connection with the clients. Solving clients’ problem should be the top priority for determining the social issue or dilemma; is there conflict of values, rights or responsibilities? The social must identify the areas to be dealt with at once and the principles involved (Gambrill, 1997). Confidential information must not be revealed by the social workers; it should remain between them and the clients. For better results, decision-making should be a collective responsibility, or better yet, all the parties must be involved in it. Otherwise, some decisions may result to conflict and/or lack or trust by clients to the social workers. They should realize that their clients should be involved so that an effective impact in the process is gained. Social workers must implement their plans; using the most appropriate practice skills and competencies there is such as sensitive communication, skillful negotiations and cultural considerations as well. Reflection on the outcome or the consequences of the decisions by the social workers should also be a core value in executing services to the clients. Putting all this in mind, the services offered by the social workers should produce the best results (Roberts & Watkins 2009). Students who deal with clients but lack sufficient experience must apply their academic experience and expertise to deal with clients without breaching their code of conduct. Social work needs back ups and collaboration to for a bigger and better success. They cannot work alone and therefore they collaborate with other entities like physicians, healthcare centers for medical supplies and so on. The urge to improvement and effectiveness of teamwork in the field of social work has been recognized and the team development tactics have been sought to improve teamwork skills (Iles & Auluck, 1990). These are usually reviewed and employed into teams with the aim of improving their social work performances. Collaboration with a community drug team in the social work helps in curbing the misuse of drugs and substance as well promoting team work. Social work has become wider and wider in recent years. This implies that, social workers cannot work alone; they are not able to cover all the areas that to be covered hence the need for collaboration with other players in the sector. Clients with chronic mental issues and physical problem cannot be dealt by social workers alone; specialists are necessary in this situation. For better social work, the need for collaboration and team work with other agencies has been urgent now, organizations are coming together to bolster the functionalities of one another. In this regard, it very important to team social work with agencies and other organizations that have the same affiliation of improving team work in the sector (Tovey, 2007). . Social work focuses on the vulnerable, exposed and the neglected. The number of children who have been a subject of neglect and abuse has been on the rise. This trend has put workers from child welfare and mental health agencies under immense pressure, prompting collaboration from both systems. When there is collaboration and coordination of both agencies, the probability of positive outcomes is high than when each system focuses independently on its own issues. Collaborations have proved to yield better and more results especially when there is a parent with mental illness and at the same time protection of the children (Knitzer &Yelton, 1990). The study reveals that workers are engaging in considerable inter-agency collaborations, with the view of safeguarding both the mental problems and the welfare of the children involved. However, there has been a significant amount of challenge on their way especially lack of support from the respective agencies. Workers believe that collaborative practice is essential in social work but their efforts are dealt blows after blows by lack of supportive structures and practices at the organizational fronts. Further, inadequate training, mistrust, inadequate resources, unrealistic expectations are among the challenges that this collaboration is facing. It is important to note that collaboration are meant to make service delivery better and the organizations should offer the required support to make this adventure a success (Iles & Auluck, 1990). Social workers are faced with different scenarios and situations to deal with. This source gives explanations on how to deal with varied cases. In the case of crisis management, social workers play an imperative role. Management of crisis involves planning, organizing as well as coordinating. Social worker come into the picture when the use of available resources such as food, water and the need for counseling (Roberts & Watkins 2009). Crisis management is always aimed at reducing and preventing loss of lives, reducing the number of victims and damage of property, assets and the environment in general. Social workers are the right people for this assignment. In terms of risk assessment, social workers are the right people for the job. Child protection work is essentially risk management strategy and the complexity of child protection can be well handled by social workers. Social workers provide counseling to people suffering from disorders such as eating disorders. Disorders can affect one’s career and other activities such as learning. But with social workers, management of disorders has been dealt with by their professionalism and expertise. Social workers help clients with dealing with their social problems in the community by offering them their assistance. They implement life skills workshops for the affected, substance abuse treatment programs as well as assisting in keeping a track on the clients’ rehabilitation (Knitzer &Yelton, 1990). Social working is a very sensitive and crucial field of occupation as it requires individuals with great interpersonal skills and self-motivation. Apart from that, academic qualifications are also required for one to be a good social worker. Professional social workers are generally those who hold a degree in social work, although the qualification differs with countries of practice. For instance, people practicing in the United States require a doctoral degree, a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in the field of social work. Those intending to practice social work must have had an internship program too, to acquaint themselves with the environments of social work and gain some working experiences as well (Tovey, 2007). These individuals must also have strong interpersonal communication skills, training in psychology, human behavior and law and ethics. These qualifications will render their forces to reckon with in the field and will experience less or no problems in handling clients of different calibers. These qualifications will also be useful in advocating for the clients’ rights in the court, sharing important health information and helping them shape up public policies. As such, the study conveys vividly strong information on the importance of social workers in the society. It is important that they are treasured and honored. References Abramson, J. S., & Mizrahi, T. (1996). When social workers and physicians collaborate: Positive and negative interdisciplinary experiences. Social Work, 41(3), 241-336. Amodeo, M., Schofield, R., Duffy, T., Jones, K., Zimmerman, T., & Delgado, M. (Eds.). (1997). Social work approaches to alcohol and other drug problems: Case studies and teaching tools. Alexandria, VA: Council on Social Work Education. Beggs, M. (1996). In a day’s work.Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers. Brooks, J. B. (1987). Sexual abuse prevention: A rural interdisciplinary effort. Child Welfare, 66(2), 166-172. Brophy, J. (1996). Teaching problem students. New York: The Guilford Press. Carroll, M. (1980). Collaboration with social work clients: A review of the literature. Child Welfare, 59(7), 407-417. Firestone, M. (2002). Social workers. Mankato, Minn.: Bridgestone Books. Gambrill, E. (1997). Social work practice: A critical thinker’s guide. New York: Oxford University Press. Iles, P., &Auluck, R. (1990). Team building, inter-agency team development and social work practice. British Journal of Social Work, 20, 151-164. Knitzer, J., &Yelton, S. (1990). Collaboration between child welfare and mental health.Public Welfare, 48(2), 24-33. Roberts, A., & Watkins, J. (2009). Social workers desk reference. Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press. Tovey, W. (2007). The post-qualifying handbook for social workers. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Read More