Week 4

Question 1

What is direct social work practice?

Answer 1

-A Series/Process of Interventionist Actions
-Direct social work practice consists of a step-by-step process intended to help clients achieve purposeful change
-Fundamentally related to decision making along a continuum of services
-from first encounter to the conclusion of the working relationship with a client
-The decision-making process must be transparent, purposeful, & free of bias
-Empirical research alone cannot validate decision making
-We must examine the varied and unique circumstances of each situation

Question 2

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)

Answer 2

-Evidence-based practice is a process in which the practitioner combines:
-well-researched interventions
-With clinical experience,
-ethics,
-and the client’s preferences & culture
-to guide the delivery of services.
-EBP helps clinicians collect and critically appraise the best evidence (from literature, self, and client) to guide an intervention or treatment decision.

Question 3

3 Fields/Areas of Direct Social Work Practice

Answer 3

Three Overlapping Fields
-Social Work with Individuals and Families
-Social Work with Groups
-Social Work with Communities

Question 4

The Helping Relationship

Answer 4

-A social worker works collaboratively with the client, not for the client, in a helping relationship.
-Three important attributes in the client-practitioner relationships are:
warmth
empathy
genuineness
-The helping relationship is central to social work when with a couple, a child and a parent, or entire families.

Question 5

The Skill Set Used in Direct Intervention

Answer 5

-Social work practice with individuals and families involves a set of skills that can be continually improved:
-Active listening
-Validating feelings
-Interviewing or dialoguing
-Paraphrasing
-Clarifying
-Summarizing
-Giving Information
-Interpreting
-Building consensus

Question 6

Critical self-reflection

Answer 6

-Is a frame of mind that helps practitioners understand how:
-their own identities and beliefs,
-as well as their professional and personal lives,
-are shaped not only by unique traits and personal experiences,
-but also by societal forces such as:
-parental influences,
-cultural influences, the media, educational institutions,
-and political movements.

Question 7

Working with Individuals and Families

Answer 7

1.Intake
2.Assessment and Planning
3.Evaluation and Termination
4.Intervention

Question 8

Social Work with Groups

Answer 8

-Group work involves assisting a collection of people who are dealing generally with a similar problem or issue
-Groups can be peers, a family, or a therapeutic group.

Question 9

Group Dynamics

Answer 9

-Difference between helping people in a group setting and assisting them one-on-one are sometimes referred to as a group dynamics, which include:
Communication patterns
Cohesion
Group influence and conformity

Question 10

Groups meaning

Answer 10

Collectives of people striving for change

Question 11

Types of Groups

Answer 11

-Self-help groups
-Educational groups
-Support/therapeutic groups
-Task groups
-Social action groups

Question 12

Group Facilitation Skills

Answer 12

A Combination of Skills
The skills for working with individuals also apply to groups:
Active listening
Expressions of empathy
Questioning
Paraphrasing
Reflecting
Summarizing
Providing information or suggestions
Building consensus
Reframing ideas

Question 13

A Combination of Skills

Answer 13

Additionally, group facilitation skills include:
Connecting
Focusing on process
Cueing
Supporting
Blocking
Demonstrating social empathy

Question 14

Stages of groups

Answer 14

-When Groups Come Together to Get Results
-Groups do not proceed systematically or linearly through stages but typically move back and forth between stages
The five stages are:
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

Question 15

Forming

Answer 15

Planning the group and getting it started

Question 16

Storming

Answer 16

Occurs when conflict emerges in the group

Question 17

Norming

Answer 17

Group expectations, standards, or common practices and roles are defined; members establish a sense of trust with each other.

Question 18

Performing

Answer 18

Group members work toward achieving the outlined goals

Question 19

Adjourning

Answer 19

The group moves toward termination

Question 20

What is a community?

Answer 20

-People, acting together
-Underlying community work is the belief that people acting together have the capacity to improve their own circumstances.
-Those involved have first-hand knowledge of their own situation and what is needed to change things for the better.
-There are different approaches to community work

Question 21

Rothman’s Model of Community Work

Answer 21

-Three Approaches to Community Work
-In the 1960’s, Jack Rothman summarized community work as fitting into three distinct types;
Locality development
Social planning
Social action

Question 22

Locality Development

Answer 22

focuses on issues relevant to a particular neighbourhood or geographic space

Question 23

Social planning

Answer 23

an expert-driven approach to community work, often found in social planning councils and city planning departments

Question 24

Social action:

Answer 24

often uses social protest to challenge injustices

Question 25

Saul Alinsky’s Approach to Community Activism

Answer 25

-Winning Battles for Marginalized Communities
-Alinsky did not believe that capitalism itself needed to be challenged, but that creating confrontation could redistribute resources within that system.
-Building community organizations is instrumental for community work
-Community work needs to be fun
-He used unorthodox, confrontational tactics for community organizing
-The element of surprise is effective for communities who challenge power holders

Question 26

Paulo Freire’s Approach to Community Mobilization

Answer 26

-Developing a Collective, Critical Consciousness
-Freire developed a radical approach to education that is applicable to community practice.
-Begin with a listening survey
-The organizer and a small learning group gather to go through the findings of the listening survey
-Codes are presented to the community to stimulate discussion & action
-Promotes PRAXIS: a process of reflection & action

Question 27

Community Capacity Building

Answer 27

-A Popular National and International Approach

-McKnight & Kretzmann believe that community work should build upon the strengths and assets of a community rather than focusing on the community’s needs, deficits, or disadvantages

-Some look at community work as healing

-members draw on community traditions and values as part of a process of healing

Question 28

Feminist & Women-Centred Community Work

Answer 28

-Women as Keys to Their Communities

-This style of organizing was developed by working-class women, Black women activists, lesbian activists, and middle-class white women.

-Meeting women’s needs impacts positively on families and the community more broadly

-Tends to rely on consensus decision making, shared leadership, and a process orientation

-Feminist-based community work believes that gender oppression is inextricably linked to social and economic justice

-A feminist framework challenges systemic oppressions

Question 29

Social Work with Communities/ Mobilizing for Social Change

Answer 29

-Bill Lee (1999) breaks down community work into a series of phases.

-These overlapping phases provide an idea of the process that constitutes community work.

Pre-Entry
Contact and Engagement
Community Analysis
Action Planning and Mobilization
Conflict Resolution
Evaluation

Question 30

Organizing in the Black Community

Answer 30

-Community organizing & mutual aid have been prominent with Black people in North America
-Group vs. individual orientation
-Africville, Halifax
-Hogan’s Alley, Vancouver
-There are different ways of building community

Question 31

In voluntary clients

Answer 31

have to be there
also called mandated

Question 32

Voluntary Clients

Answer 32

choose to be there